Do you also have TV ADD? | FerrariChat

Do you also have TV ADD?

Discussion in 'Other Off Topic Forum' started by tundraphile, Jan 9, 2009.

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  1. tundraphile

    tundraphile F1 Veteran

    May 16, 2007
    5,083
    Missouri
    #1 tundraphile, Jan 9, 2009
    Last edited: Jan 9, 2009
    I was thinking about this last night, how my habits have changed over the years, and I wonder if anyone else has noticed this about themselves. I have a theory about the cause(s) that I will present below. Allow me to explain. The term I have came up with to most accurately describe it is TV ADD (television attention deficit disorder).

    When I was growing up or even a younger adult, I could watch TV for hours. A long movie was no problem to sit through and enjoy. Say three plus hours of the English Patient, no problem. I could watch my favorite movies (Star Wars, Aliens, the usuals) over and over and enjoy them each time. Never had an issue with attention span in school. My job requires concentration and attention to detail, no problems.

    Symptoms:
    Now I find that I am incapable of sitting through even the most enjoyable programs. The premiere of Nip/Tuck was this week, but I flipped back and forth and actually got bored. Like I was wasting an hour for nothing. I am probably the only person I know that watches zero sit-coms. None. Ever. BCS championship game was great last night, flipped between it and something on History Channel that I don't even remember. I can't remember the last complete movie I sat through at home without getting up or flipping the channels (it probably was months ago, the awesome documentary Cocaine Cowboys, highly recommend BTW). I rarely go to movies because unless it is an incredible masterpiece I can't make it through. Greatly enjoyed The Dark Knight this summer but was looking at my watch halfway through.

    The only time I find a program really interesting is if I am completely ignorant of the subject, the aformentioned Cocaine Cowboys is a good example of this. Most topics on NatGeo or History Channel are recycled from other shows, after watching these channels for several years they all seem to blend together into this forgettable sameness interspersed with annoying commercials.

    The Cause(s)?:
    1) We didn't have the internet, wikipedia, or chat boards a decade ago. In the finite time I have each evening to relax, this is my preferred way to do it other than family time. But even the very nature of computer use affects other entertainment mediums IMHO, the internet is like instant gratification. In the old days, if you wanted to look something up, you went to the library or pulled out your encyclopedia. Now Google will find you 10,000 sites in 0.027 seconds. The other night I was up until three just reading about the Khmer Rouge. I am not Cambodian, I don't plan on living there. I just became engrossed in the horrific story and visited probably 20 sites to learn information. Probably not spending more than 10 minutes at each of them of course. Get the information as quickly as possible, move on to find the next tidbit regarding the subject. I don't even watch Sportscenter because I know I can get the scores in seconds online.

    2) Could it be that as I get older I have had my lifetime fill of TV? I don't pretend to know it all, but most TV is so amazingly DUMB. If the TV is on for hours at a time at the house I actually feel depressed, as if my brain is being sucked out by the noise even if I'm not watching. Over the holidays I was home for several days and had the "opportunity" to experience some daytime TV shows. How anyone can watch that drivel and not blow their brains out is beyond me.

    It is not that I really want to change, I think my "information gathering" is far more efficient online than sitting through an hour or two of programming to get the relevant points. But is there anyone else out there like me?
     
  2. ND Flack

    ND Flack Formula 3

    Sep 18, 2007
    1,051
    DC
    I have the same prob -- I dropped and broke my laptop a few weeks ago, but before that, I couldnt just sit and watch a show without having something pulled up on the laptop at the same time. Now, unless I'm completely engrossed in the show, I'm playing brickbreaker or something like that.
     
  3. wax

    wax Five Time F1 World Champ
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    Jul 20, 2003
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    tundraphile - you do not, I repeat, do not have a problem. Quite the opposite, in fact.
     
  4. climb

    climb F1 Rookie

    Sep 19, 2006
    4,866
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    Stuart K. Hicks
    #4 climb, Jan 9, 2009
    Last edited: Jan 9, 2009
    I didn't read all of your post cuz i suffer from something similar to what i think you've described in said post.

    I have the TV on while on the internet and have a xbox and PS3 going on both of the HDMI inputs. Constantly texting as i'm watching TV too.

    I miss the days of watching a TV show for an hour or so without doing other things.

    To counter this i have been net flixing many of the classic movies (Bergman, Truffaut, Argento etc.) with my girlfriend and i force myself to sit there with her and watch the entire movie. I also record Jeopardy nightly and watch it with her while we eat.

    Once she goes to bed it's back to blogging, texting, mashing buttons and flipping channels.

    It's a new age.
     
  5. venusone

    venusone F1 Rookie

    Mar 20, 2004
    3,238
    I bought a 60" widescreen last year & sit pretty close. When my cable goes out I try to read but am so fidgety until it comes back on. I flip all the time too between >150 channels.
    The new season of Nip/Tuck has nothing to offer as they have clearly run out of shocking material to present & Christian looks way pudgy naked. I watched from the beginning & loved it the 1st 2 years. I especially enjoyed the episode w/ the peanut butter & rottweiler. Now that was sick - yet creative.
     
  6. Dcup

    Dcup F1 Veteran

    Jan 3, 2005
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    Claude Balls
    watch porn
     
  7. luv2detail

    luv2detail Formula 3
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    Mar 30, 2006
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    I do have ADD, so I couldn't get through the original post.
     
  8. Gershwin

    Gershwin F1 Veteran

    Feb 21, 2005
    6,375
    Kentucky
    Wow - great subject and very well conveyed. I've been looking for an explanation as I experience the same behaviors.

    I can only watch tv if I DVR/TIVO it - commercials are an absolute no-no anymore. Movies better be riveting.

    I love finding answers to questions on the net and love to dive into subject matter.

    I only find that the one thing that suffers is spelling through the use of spell/check. In that, I am being dumbed-down
     
  9. kovachian

    kovachian Karting

    Jun 27, 2006
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    central Indiana
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    Ron
    Welcome to the largest and the fastest growing segment of the adult population.
     
  10. AustinMartin

    AustinMartin F1 Veteran

    Mar 1, 2008
    5,445
    Los Angeles/Idaho
    1+ I dditn udnertsadn hwat yuo siad.
     
  11. darth550

    darth550 Six Time F1 World Champ
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    I DVR everything I want to watch so I can FF it at will.
     
  12. Tobias

    Tobias Formula 3

    May 22, 2004
    1,672
    NY
    Television is garbage. Reality programming is more scripted than scripted shows. Sitcoms are rehashed. News lacks any semblance of objectivity. Commercials about herpes and tampons will make you squirm in discomfort.

    Awful.
     
  13. Z0RR0

    Z0RR0 F1 Rookie

    Apr 11, 2004
    3,470
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    Julien
    I can't watch a movie without my laptop.
     
  14. ryalex

    ryalex Two Time F1 World Champ
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    Aug 6, 2003
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    I'm the same way. Regular television is written for a viewer with obviously different tastes, and yes, it's mostly a steaming pile of crap. I crave information and ideas, so I have to be careful around wikipedia lest I get lost for hours clicking one link to another.

    BTW, read this:

    http://www.nytimes.com/2008/11/20/health/research/20happy.html
    "Happy people spend a lot of time socializing, going to church and reading newspapers — but they don’t spend a lot of time watching television, a new study finds.

    That’s what unhappy people do.

    Although people who describe themselves as happy enjoy watching television, it turns out to be the single activity they engage in less often than unhappy people, said John Robinson, a professor of sociology at the University of Maryland and the author of the study, which appeared in the journal Social Indicators Research."
     
  15. ryalex

    ryalex Two Time F1 World Champ
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    Aug 6, 2003
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    Ryan Alexander
    BTW I wouldn't say you have TV ADD, you've just outgrown the content. Get documentaries from the library.
     
  16. tundraphile

    tundraphile F1 Veteran

    May 16, 2007
    5,083
    Missouri
    Every so often there will be something new and interesting on Discovery, History, or National Geographic. Banned from the Bible was a good one on History a few months ago that prompted me to explore more into the subject (online of course).

    I mentioned Cocaine Cowboys in my original post, there is also a part 2 which deals with southern California that wasn't as good but still enjoyable. Another good one is the documentary about Angola prison in Louisiana which followed the lives of a diverse group of prisoners of varying ultimate fates.
     

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