Americans are watching more TV...
At least that’s what The Nielsen Company is telling us. In a report released last month, the numbers authority revealed individual small screen viewing in this country now averages 151 hours per month. That works out to about five hours a day -- an increase of more than three percent from the figure derived by Nielsen in the study it did the year before. Couch potatoism is at an all-time high.
Should that come as a surprise? Not really. With all the stress, strain and scares coming at us on a daily basis, what better (and cheaper) way to find a temporary respite from it all than television? It’s a lot like comfort food, which is also booming in popularity in these troubling times. We zone out for a few hours, enjoy something comfortably familiar, and attempt to reset our heads for the next struggle. The only way to improve the experience is to watch with a plateful of meatloaf and mashed potatoes in front of us.
Americans still have a ways to go before we reach the 720 mark. (For all who don’t work for Nielsen, that’s the maximum - 24/7 - viewing hours in a 30-day period.) So there’s still a lot of potential discomfort time during the day. In an effort to make this a little bit more bearable, here’s a quick bite of TV comfort. Hopefully it will tide you over until you can get home and cozy up to the remote.
Monday, March 2, 2009
