The addictive influence of TV over its viewers is a serious malady which has reached alarming proportions. Viewers become so addicted to TV that it become most difficult for most viewers to live without TV. Research in this field of the ‘addictive influence of TV’ has established that if those who are addicted to TV are deprived of television they become increasingly nervous, short-tempered and unhappy.
In an article captioned: Millions Addicted To The Box, the Eastern Province Herald of the 23rd October, 1975, reports:
"Television’s addictive grip was emphasized some months before when their socially varied ‘guinea pig’ families agreed to try a switch-off for a month. The lowest income family could stand the deprivation only a week; the other two lasted for four weeks, hating every minute of it. They said they felt as if they had lost a friend, were depressed and thought their work was suffering too."
"In an earlier psychological experiment 182 West Germans volunteered to try to give up television for a year, with the inducement of payment as long as they kept off. One brave family stood the strain for nearly six months - till they wanted to watch a crime serial. The first volunteer, a bachelor, failed after three weeks. Others become increasingly nervous,short-tempered and unhappy…"