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The television set is a unique new factor in the hum an environm ent, as im portan t in its way as the development of w ritten language or the invention of the printing press. Occasionally it is used by a hundred million viewers in the United States as a source of significant local, national, or world inform ation or as a guide in periods of tem porary natural crises such as floods or blizzards. However, it is mainly a form of entertainm ent, a daily resource for pleasure seeking and distraction. As an entertainm ent medium in a relatively affluent society in which considerable leisure time is available to a large m ajority of the population it must compete with card playing, attending movies, theatres, sports events, athletic activities, dancing, and bar-hopping. Aside from its obvious convenience (availability in the home) and rem arkable affordability, what special appeal does television have for us? Why do we turn the set on alm ost autom atically on awakening in the m orning or on returning hom e from school or work? W hat special characteristics does the television m edium have to draw our attention and to compete as a leisure activity with reading or card playing or conversation? A recent popular book (W inn, 1977) sets forth the thesis that TV viewing has all the properties of an addiction, and at least some evidence is adduced therein to support this extreme position. If television does have at least some of the power that W inn asserts can we find a theoretical approach to the psychological reason for its attraction?
Jerome L. Singer (2014) studied this question.