Television and the Rest of Life: A Systematic Comparison of Subjective Experience

One-hundred-four adult workers' affective and cognitive responses to television were studied via the recently developed Experience Sampling Method in which respondents are supplied with radio controlled electronic paging devices and signaled to report their mood states at random times over the course of a normal week. The activity of television viewing was examined within its typical social contexts (family versus solitary viewing) and in contrast to daily activities such as working, eating, and reading. Television viewing was found to be a relatively unchallenging activity requiring little cognitive investment and consistently tied to feelings of relaxation, passivity, and drowsiness.