What happens to consciousness when you watch TV?
Jeroen
Luminous beings are we, not this crude matterNetherlands Veteran
Since Buddhists are experts in states of mind and consciousness, I thought I would ask this here. I've noticed by observing myself that my consciousness does some odd things while watching TV or at the cinema. For example, if I find a really good movie I will find myself totally drawn in and engrossed - it's like I become the movie, my awareness of my body vanishes, my awareness of time drops away, and I'm aware just of what's on the screen. Eventually something will jog me out of that state but it is a totally focussed state of awareness.
When watching TV more generally I encounter a similar state, but which is not as extreme. I tend not to lose body awareness, I still see the frame and the wall behind the to, but I do still get a similar time distortion effect. Certainly the mind seems to stay engaged, but filled with the TVs content rather than the world in general.
what do people think? Are your experiences similar?
Comments
I once read that the physiological reaction to TV shows -- any TV shows, from extremely violent to hysterically funny -- was the creation of alpha waves... conscious but relaxed.
@genkaku what kind of function have alpha waves?
(is it good or bad)
^^^^
I believe, but don't know, that it falls into the yummy classification.
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alpha_wave
Apparently, the brain...
1. Falls into a hypnotic state within seconds of watching tv
2. Within 3-30 seconds reaches an alpha state, often associated with meditation or deep sleep
3. This provides direct access to the subconscious mind
4. Brain activity switches to the right half, reducing capacity for logical and critical thought
5. Watching tv causes the body to release endorphins, possibly causing physical addiction
6. Reduces higher brain functions
(Source: http://www.eruptingmind.com/effects-of-tv-on-brain/)
Apparently our brain is more active while sleeping than while watching tv. All of which I suppose explains some of the effects I notice on my state of consciousness.
So does that mean that all tv watching counts as meditation
That's not good (#'s 1 thru 6)!
Glad I don't own a tv.
Very similar. Practically identical.
Movie meditation? TM TV?
It seems a form of trance. Perhaps a totally focussed awareness of the meditative kind also requires some gamma waves ...
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gamma_wave
There isn't much that draws me in in that way anymore. I find most tv to be mindless chatter and I have to shut it off. It's rarely on during the day and if it weren't for my husband's baseball addiction we probably wouldn't have it. The closest theater is 50 miles away so we don't go often. But, I do know what you mean. And there are a few things I watch. Sometimes I wonder why. I observe my reactions and the stress that builds in my body just watching tv, even knowing it's not real. I wonder how that can be, and how I can still enjoy something that induces that reaction. I had that walking the finale of The Walking Dead. It was so stressful I was almost sweating. Why? Why put myself through that and in some twisted way enjoy it? Seems weird to me, but I do it anyhow.
I suppose there is an art to making people feel those kinds of things. I get that. I love the complicated stories that the human mind can weave, and enjoy following them. But most of what I like has quite a bit of violence and I wonder about that effect on me, too. I sometimes wonder what life and my thoughts about it might be like had I never had the influence of tv and movies. But alas, it wasn't meant to be.
I find it an interesting topic. I think there can be some great things you can watch on tv, and learn about the world around us that we never get to see. Of course, we only see what someone else fond worthy to show us.
The book is always better, however
"What happens to consciousness when you watch TV?"
-That would depend upon whether the tv is turned on or not :-)
(There's always one smartass. I should know....
)
I knew I liked your husband for a reason
My biggest attachment is probably TV and movies. Growing up the books I read were usually series style and the longer the movie the better so I could really get to know the characters. So with the quality of today's serial dramas pretty much all my buttons are being pushed and I'll unabashedly say I love many of them despite the often twisted worlds they portray. (The only one I couldn't keep watching was Sons of Anarchy)
I've made a few concessions, with on demand these days I don't channel surf or watch commercials anymore and I try to only watch quality shows rather than finding anything just to be able to watch something. With my mindfulness practice I can really notice how the suffering sets in after watching for a while and no doubt not having an itch is better than scratching an itch so it would be beneficial for me to give up but I don't see it happening any time soon, especially with Game of Thrones starting up again soon!
Maybe I'll just try to cut back more.
@Kerome, good job finding that info on consciousness! I just had that experience earlier this week, when I went to a movie I wasn't expecting to enjoy, particularly. I thought it would be an oversimplified, though billed as somewhat comedic, documentary. But at one point, I found myself suddenly coming out of an altered state of consciousness, an intense focus on the subject matter that I hadn't been aware I was in. So your topic is very timely.
In view of the info you posted, though, I'm glad I got rid of my TV years ago. I miss the occasional good documentary, but other than that, TV programming has deteriorated (even PBS!) to the point that there's nothing else to watch, anyway. Although recently, while stopping at a hotel on a road trip, I discovered the National Geographic channel. OMG! It would be worth getting TV and cable (I've never had anything but free TV) just for that!
But I don't like the way TV ends up inadvertently monopolizing one's spare time. Even if we're learning something from it, it seems like not the best way to spend a precious lifetime. Though I suppose that spending that time reading in order to learn new things, which is how I spend a chunk of my free time, isn't really all that different. But reading seems like more active engagement, whereas watching TV shows, no matter how brainy and informative, seems like a more passive affair.
Are you not entertained?
Yes it is actually somewhat needed to enjoy a movie to be drawn in. For some years during the course of my mental illness I lost that ability and was unable to watch movies because I would have the sensation of sitting there and my body and not be drawn in. I would watch movies with my mom at home some time and have to stop watching for the session maybe after a half hour.
@Kerome
As conditioned photon addict, the best I can do is approach any bright screen as a meditative concentration exercise, where a focus of the sensation of my breathing, matches which ever sense gate is trying to be top dog in my media moment,
Much of such a concentration exercise is a statement of commitment or priority towards putting a greater focus into manifesting equanimity, than in enabling any one sense gate to obscure another.
What I used to see as evidence of my meditative limitations, turned out to be the very doorway through a plethora of conditioned impulses that I might not of otherwise illuminated.
Like anything else, I try not to do it (watch tv/movies) mindlessly. I try to revisit often if what I am doing...whatever it is...is only serving as a distraction so I'm not "bored" and if that is the case, i find something else to do where I can be more mindful. But there is some mindless entertainment that happens here in the winter, it's hard to get away from when winter lasts 6-7 months. You get so tired of being indoors for such a significant period of time and I, at least, can only do yoga or meditation or writing for so many hours a day, lol. So I zone out, in part just to kill time, because I don't know what else to do. I also deal with SAD for a few months of winter and that contributes as well, I think.
From what "I" gather (a theory of sorts I suppose...) nothing special happens to the consciousness per se (consciousness just 'is' as it has always been) ......However the five aggregates that the consciousness flows through, well that's another story...
The eye & ear ( form) consciousness comes into contact with the activity on the box, perception and sensations might fire up, along with the old habitual patterns ( likes, dislikes, neutral) making their presents felt (mind)....All the while, there's an awareness of being aware of what is now the focus of attention ( ie, the ego that is now watching the tv)....
In the conventional sense, Dharma practice never stops, the activity on the box (actors & actresses at play) is no different to the reality unfolding on the big screen called life....Monitoring of thoughts words and deeds continue, ie the awareness of being aware...
BTW I don't have a TV
That's a really fascinating perspective. If your eye and ear consciousness start following what is on the tv, along with perhaps mind consciousness, then it is like being present as a pure observer in some very unique situations.
At some level you may be aware that you are still sitting on a couch, but if you become totally absorbed in what you watch to the extent that you're focussed in those senses to the exclusion of all else perhaps it is like becoming temporarily bodiless, for the sake of karmic formation.
I wonder if the mechanisms that create karma from sensory activities are aware that in those situations we do not have the option of becoming an active participant. For example, you see a shooting on tv but you do not have the option of stopping and helping the man. But I suspect that if you are aware of your body on the couch then that is your karma, and if you are not you become like a bodiless observer and that is your karma for that time.
Btw I have a really large tv, like 42"
Hey, if you watch Game of Thrones, then you get the gift of accepting impermanence, as no doubt your favorite characters will meet their demise, lol. I love epic stories. It amazes me the things that people can think up and follow through with for so long and with such detail. King's Dark Tower series, Harry Potter, Narnia, Outlander, Game of Thrones/Song of Fire and Ice, Tolkein. It's just astounding what the human brain can come up with.
We are what we consume. Feeding ourselves with violence and lust is what we do when we watch some shows. Is that what we want to feed our body and mind?
I watch shows only while on the treadmill.
So the trick to addressing violence and lust is.......only doing it while running??
Yeah. My heart is already racing you see
I DO like watching GOT. But now I am sure that my palpitations are not caused by the scenes