Alex Hutchins
Opinions Editor
Somewhere among the collection of toddler photos of me frolicking through a variety of colored water jets at Disneyland and the dozens of me sleeping (which is somehow not creepy when you are under the age of 5), there is a photo of my sister and me laying out on a quasi chair/couch, mesmerized by the unhealthy but irresistible glow of our 12-inch deep television set. I like to think that this picture marked the beginning of my descent to the depths of TV addiction.
Back then, when my television knowledge was limited to Nickelodeon and Cartoon Network, shows like Rugrats, Dexter’s Laboratory, and Hey Arnold! were havens for my childhood imagination all the way until naptime eventually pulled me back down to the harsh reality of real-world problems like sleeping and eating that all four-year-olds know (the struggle was real for sure).
But in an age when new TV shows seem to sprout up from nowhere almost every other week, who can blame a guy for wanting to experience all of the instances of edge-of-my-couch suspense, gut wrenching plot twists, and those all too familiar (yet still enjoyable) moments of third-person insights on yet to be resolved conflicts?
Take Breaking Bad for example. While the show may have only been a 30-second conglomeration of action shots coupled with phrases of promotional jargon flashing on my screen when it first came into my life, it became an obsession; a strange yet enjoyable recurring event that guided how I planned my post-academic day.
While it may just be a coincidence that the show revolves around a character who is a teacher by day and a meth cook by night, there is no denying that the show’s subtle and carefully crafted ability to grab my attention by the horns is frighteningly similar to the psychosis of a drug addict. But again, I’m sure it’s just coincidence.
Even so, coincidence or no coincidence, Breaking Bad, and many other new programs like it (i.e. FX’s Fargo, inspired by the 90’s classic film by the Coen brothers), can serve as valuable and effective means of escaping the stresses of everyday life. I mean, what better way to relax your mind about that chemistry final than to sit back on your couch and immerse yourself in a world where you can witness brutal destruction come face to face with tests of fragile moral values?
What’s more, mainly because of its incomparable accessibility to people of all ages, TV shows can also serve as a way we develop the manner in which we interact with other people in our lives. For instance, when we deliberate along with a protagonist who is forced to juggle the problems of paying his cancer treatment bills and family’s welfare with the mounting danger that a life of cooking and selling methamphetamine entails; while we hope that we won’t have to make that exact decision, there are lessons to be learned about problem-solving, decision-making, and a variety of other crucial life skills that may remain unearthed without the vicarious thrill that TV shows present.
While TV tends to get a bad rap for its tendency to kill innocent brain cells and motivate negative actions in those people who can’t seem to distinguish between reality and TV reality, television can be an efficient means of cooling down after a hard day’s work and can even inspire people to develop important life skills by tackling major societal and personal challenges by means of an accessible and engaging format.
