Thirty years of research data found that people who considered themselves unhappy watched significantly more television than people who considered themselves very happy. The very happy people had hobbies and socialized with friends, among other things. I don't know if this finding is such a revelation except to the people who watch a lot of television.
I do have a few questions:
Do people start out depressed because they don't socialize with friends or have hobbies and watch television as a consequence? Or vice versa?
Could watching a lot of sports (on television) be called a hobby or would it be lumped together with general television watching? (I need an answer to this question immediately. Baby Rhino's list of hobbies might need some adjustment depending upon the answer.)
Since the majority of shows on television are crap and a sign of the end times, could the overachieving t.v. viewers be unhappy because of the terrible shows they are watching?
When I am at home my television is usually on but, 95% of the time I am not actively watching it. It is on for background noise with a moving picture. Does that count?
On an up note, sleeping in until noon on Saturday is listed as a source of happiness. They were a little slow catching on to the joy of sleeping. They could have called me and I would have told them, as long as they called after 1 p.m. on Saturday of course. "The One Common Habit of Unhappy People" is the name of the article.
