Electronic Drugs

[RoboCop]

I found this very interesting. Take a look.

Television was the first of a growing group of high-technology drugs that deliver the user into an alternative reality by acting directly on the user's sensorium, without chemials being introduced into the nervous system. No epedimic or addictive craze or religious hysteria has ever moved faster or made as many converts in so short a time. The nearest analogy to the addictive power of television and the transformation of values that is wrought in the life of the heavy user is probably heroin. The illusion of knowing and of control that heroin engenders is analogous to the unconscious assumption of the television consumer that what is seen is "real" somewhere in the world.
Not unlike drugs or alcohol the television experience allows the participant to blot out the real world and into a pleasurable and passive mental state. The worries and anxiieties of reality are as effectively deferred by becoming absorbed in a televion program as by going on a "trip" induced by drugs. Television viewrs similar to people with alcoholism over estimate the control over their television watching. Television is an addictive and all-persuasive drug that delivers an experience whose message is whatever those who deal the drug wish it to be. Could anything provide more fertile ground for fostering fascism and totalitarianism than this? Television is by nature the dominator drug par excellence. Control of content, uniformity of content, repeatability of content make an inevitably a tool of coersion, brainwashing, and manipulation.
Television did its job and created a postwar American culture of the "Ken&Barbie" variety. The children of Ken&Barbie briefly broke out of the television intoxication in the mid-sixties through the use of hallucinogens. "Oops" responded the dominators, they quickly made hallucinogens illegal and halted all research. A double dose of TV therapy plus cocaine was ordered up for the errant hippies and they where quickly cured and turned into consumption-oriented yuppies.

[sauvage]

Could this forum be a cure for tv addiction? I suppose it helps if you're here in France where the telly is truly awfull.

If TV is a drug, then my XBOX is an even Harder Drug!!

[Benga]

Originally Posted by sauvage

Could this forum be a cure for tv addiction? I suppose it helps if you're here in France where the telly is truly awfull.

I quit a few years ago. Simply took the receiver and but it in the basement. Felt withdrawal for some weekslike a kind of emptiness, not that I watched a lot, but when it's just so easy to turn on and watch something before bed....then it disappeared. more time, and also more headspace because when you quit you realize how stimulating television is, in that it's a constant flow of input, and tiring... even if you only watch a hour each day, it still bombards you, by the way tv is edited, so many shots, always something happening... the extreme are modern cartoons, something has to happen every 5 seconds...


yeah so more space.


But ARTE was good, especially for their choice of movies, documentaries were not all that good.


oh btw, TV is an expensive dope in france as you're supposed to pay $120 if you have a tv set. The redevance...


b

[Benga]

[QUOTE=RoboCop]Television is an addictive and all-persuasive drug that delivers an experience whose message is whatever those who deal the drug wish it to be. Could anything provide more fertile ground for fostering fascism and totalitarianism than this? Television is by nature the dominator drug par excellence.QUOTE]


I think nowadays television, under the pressure of technological developments, is going towards customisation of program. You get to choose what you consider good for your personality.


maybe this is more akin to a cannabis like high ?


otherwise, I don't really believe that television is controlled by a political force with totalitarian ideals a la 1984. The political force is that of a market dominated culture, ie the american model.


Totalitarianism has never been good for economy, for numerous reasons, notably because wars can only last a certain time, and since the last conflicts war isn't as easily accepted. television sells it's own model, own of pleasure and identification through material elements. In fact i think that television's message is "buy more stuff", even if this stuff is "culture" or "knowledge", it's almost always formatted and "easy", "more for the buck". This more for less model is also a political one.

[Diphenhydramine]

I totally can see tv perceived as a drug...there's a lot of testing out there that shows it can cause ADD, etc, simply because of the amount of images portrayed in a few seconds:your mind cannot keep proper focus.

However, do movies fit under this category? With no commercials to break up the flow, are they still destructive to our capabilities to pay attention?

[Caliform]

I don't really agree because TV isn't mind-expansive or self-selecting. It's a one-way communication by a major 'organ' instructing you what to see and when. It's definately not like mind-expanding drugs, showing you other perspectives and more of yourself. I can't really find a relevance to other drugs either. But TV is addictive, and it keeps most people in their seats. My advice is to get a library pass and start reading because it is so much better than watching TV.