No TV for a year

Back in the early 1970s, a German research group called "The Society for Rational Psychology" challenged 184 people (all regular TV watchers) to go without TV for a year.. with financial incentives to encourage them to stick to the plan.

Briefly all went well, but then things quickly began to go downhill. Frustration grew. The people started to become moody and aggressive. After five months they were all back to watching TV.

The lesson the researchers concluded: "people who watch television regularly are likely to become so addicted they can no longer be happy without it."

What would they conclude about the Internet?

Of course, the study probably needs to be taken with a grain of salt because I can't find any info about this Society for Rational Psychology. Was it some kind of market research group? Nor can I find the write-up from the study itself. Just lots of references to the study in the media.

Buffalo Evening News - May 8, 1972

Posted By: Alex - Fri May 17, 2024 - Comments (3)
Category: Addictions, Television, Psychology, 1970s

Mabel the Lush

The artist.

Posted By: Paul - Mon Feb 05, 2024 - Comments (0)
Category: Addictions, Alcohol, Music, 1940s

Follies of the Madmen #471

Posted By: Paul - Fri Apr 03, 2020 - Comments (4)
Category: Addictions, Business, Advertising, Innuendo, Double Entendres, Symbolism, Nudge-Nudge-Wink-Wink and Subliminal Messages, Tobacco and Smoking, 1960s

Follies of the Madmen #470

Imagine your lungs as a barn...

Posted By: Paul - Sat Mar 28, 2020 - Comments (1)
Category: Addictions, Business, Advertising, Tobacco and Smoking, Surrealism, Twentieth Century

The Mystery of the Leaping Fish

In this unusually broad comedy for Fairbanks, the acrobatic leading man plays "Coke Ennyday", a cocaine-shooting detective who is a parody of Sherlock Holmes. Ennyday is given to injecting himself from a bandolier of syringes worn across his chest, and liberally helps himself to the contents of a hatbox-sized round container of white powder labeled "COCAINE" on his desk.

Wikipedia page.

Posted By: Paul - Tue Mar 24, 2020 - Comments (3)
Category: Addictions, Detectives, Private Eyes and Other Investigators, Drugs, Humor, Parody, Movies, 1910s

The Obesity of Emperor Maximus

The things you learn from perusing old comics!



Source (page 19).




Source.

Posted By: Paul - Wed Dec 04, 2019 - Comments (2)
Category: Addictions, Eating, Body, Differently Abled, Handicapped, Challenged, and Otherwise Atypical, Obesity, History, Historical Figure

Edmund Love and His Restaurant Quest

In 1964, THE SATURDAY EVENING POST profiled Edmund G. Love, who intended to eat his way through approximately 5000 NYC restaurants.





By 1973, when THE NEW YORK TIMES took notice, his quest had ballooned to 6000.





His 1990 obituary in the NYT says he managed to hit 1750 of them.

Posted By: Paul - Thu Nov 07, 2019 - Comments (4)
Category: Addictions, Bums, Hobos, Tramps, Beggars, Panhandlers and Other Streetpeople, Eccentrics, Food, Restaurants, World Records, Twentieth Century

Fabulous Furry Freak Brothers Film

Alas, some four years after this teaser, the film seems no nearer to completion.

Posted By: Paul - Sat Jan 26, 2019 - Comments (3)
Category: Addictions, Cops, Drugs, Psychedelic, Movies, Stop-motion Animation, Stupid Criminals, Bohemians, Beatniks, Hippies and Slackers, Cats, 1960s

The Encyclopedia of World Problems

Do you not have enough problems in your life? Do the internet and other media fail to bring world problems to your attention? If this is your dilemma, rest easy! A solution is at hand! Simply visit THE ENCYCLOPEDIA OF WORLD PROBLEMS. There, you can choose from thousands of problems to worry about. Maybe you want something concrete, such as VIOLENT CRIME. Or maybe you'd like to focus on something more numinous, like UNMEANINGFUL RELATIONSHIPS TO PLACE. Whatever your worrying needs, you can rely on THE ENCYCLOPEDIA OF WORLD PROBLEMS to provide grist for your anxieties.

Here is a picture and review of the first (print) edition from 1976.





Source of article.

Posted By: Paul - Thu May 31, 2018 - Comments (2)
Category: Addictions, Annoying Things, Armageddon and Apocalypses, Destruction, Disasters, Emotions, Moral Panics and Public Hysteria, Excess, Overkill, Hyperbole and Too Much Is Not Enough, 1970s

Messies Anonymous

This seems to be the current home page.

Posted By: Paul - Sat Mar 24, 2018 - Comments (1)
Category: Addictions, Domestic, Eccentrics, 1980s