TV makes you die faster. Apparently.
Hold hands everyone. We're all doomed. Media says so.
- Published by David Knox
- on
- Filed under News
I just love these surveys that come up with this stuff.
The latest survey that has media all agog reckons the more TV you watch the less longer you’ll live. Well pass me my Last Will and Testament papers at once and get Elton John on the phone. Folk like me are done for.
And that goes for you pesky network execs too. Here you were thinking you were working hard. No, you’re just on a faster travelator to the Angel Gabriel.
Researchers estimate that for every hour an adult spends watching TV their life expectancy shortens by almost 22 minutes. Is that supposed to be irony? After all a half hour of television is actually 22 minutes plus ads. Could we just arrange to zap all the ads in our life and live a little longer? Let’s commission a study on that, pronto.
If you’re glued to the box for six hours a day then you can kiss goodbye to about five years of your life. Double it if it includes Two and a Half Men.
If you have a Foxtel subscription you’ll be lucky to make it to Christmas. Sorry.
The latest survey comes from research via the the University of Queensland who based this on data from the Australian Diabetes, Obesity and Lifestyle study, which began in 1999 and asked more than 11,000 people aged over 25 about their weekly TV viewing.
They found that in 2008 Australian adults watched 9.8 billion hours of TV and for every hour spent in front of the box their life expectancy dropped by 22 minutes. Those who watched for six hours a day lived 4.8 years less than those who watched none.
Not too sure what the results were for those who were sitting on the couch reading for the same amount of time, but I’m guessing it would be about the same. But that’s not as sexy a headline.
So is the real culprit here the TV set, the lack of individuals exercising, the limits of the data or the media jumping on the story?
Of course you won’t live as long if you don’t exercise. But does that mean we have to give up The Bolt Report? Oh wait a minute…
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- Tagged with The Bolt Report, Two and a Half Men
28 Responses
im dead
This is a little alarming!! Can it really cut years off your life?! o_O
Its probably just media fearmongering but wow…suddenly I don’t feel so happy about those three True Blood episodes I watched today…
Homer Simpson: Aw, people can come up with statistics to prove anything, Kent. Forty percent of all people know that.
87% of statistics are made up.
Anyway, you’ll be fine as long as you balance your TV hours with a similar amount of time watching porn. Apparently.
Well if you pass on David I shotgun running the website – although on that theory I’ll probably go not long after lol.
Um well I’m a believer in reincarnation so I’ll watch all I like…cark it..then come back and watch some more:)
Love the pic btw,I have a fascination for vintage tvs.
“Aw people can come up with statistics to prove anything. Forfty percent of all people know that”.
But should relaxation lengthen your life, your heart beating slower and such?
Is there a new series of Hungry Beast coming soon or is it April 1 already?
Wow what a revalation, Yes thats me being sarcastic. Anyway iam sure this is common knowlege by know. I just wonder why money on this study was wasted, we already know the dangers of doing too much of anything. Studying too much hurts your head, eating too much makes you fat and diabetic, too much excercise can make you too skinny, and yes too much of Tv watching is not good for you either. This is no surprise at all. They should have researched something that was more unknown.
Like many statistics, “life expectancy” is meaningless, and easily fudged to say anything you want it to.
Hey – what’s the likelihood of this being the lead story on TT/ACA tonight?
😆 Excellent writing as always……had a real good laugh!!!!!…
And what a wayyyyy to go!!!!!!
@ ozinoz….totally agree with you as to the cause of our demise… :grin
What a big big load of crap if i say so myself.
Most TV executives should be fine, they don’t actually watch any of their programming…
goodbye world, hope there is tv on the other side
hahaha very funny read.
we’re all ####ed D:
TV doesn’t make you die sooner – it is the stress and aggravation of dealing with the results of the of the programming gibbons and chasing your favourite programme around the calendar that does you in.
(still fuming over Modern Family last week)
Cheers
Depending on what you watch, it only seems faster. Bolt Report makes it seem longer. Much, much longer…
As long as there’s a tv in heaven
the thing which i find most shocking about this survey is that there are actually people who watch no tv a day to compare to
good point about the sitting down and reading!
Oh well. There are worse ways to go to the big TV room in the sky.
I saw that on TV so it is beneficial me watching TV.
Ouch.
I wonder how many minutes come off the other end as we read ‘TV Tonight’?
Or maybe we add minutes of life thanks to the energetic typing we do while commenting?