Addicted to Reality TV by I. Burtan

Ms. Burtan met us via the Chicago Extension Office.  That is, she was a friend of Janelle and the Shots in the Dark crew.  After meeting up with us at one of the more legendary Wizard World Chicagos, she joined the group both here and at Newsarama, on occasion.  She's here to lend some professional insight into a rather modern addiction . . .

Perhaps because I have spent the past semester poring over textbooks on addictions, perhaps because as a psych grad student I am overeager to find patterns everywhere, perhaps because I have watched one too many episodes of My Strange Addiction on TLC (the last lady was addicted to her breasts. Her breasts!!), I am starting to suspect that reality television has become far more addictive over the past decade or so. Come with me, if you will, on a magical journey through my loose logic.

I Can’t Quit You, Reality TV

The barebones definition of having a process addiction, or an addiction not involving a chemical substance of some kind, involves the compulsion to keep doing a set of behaviors no matter the consequences. The pull to engage in behaviors such as gambling, sex, playing video games, watching hours of The Little Couple on TLC, etc. is akin to pursuing the chemical high of a drug. The problem is that television watching is such an everyday task, something done so easily even while doing ten other things, that it becomes easy to keep swimming in denial. I have often defended my Kardashian-spawned-show-watching as nothing but a small diversion from my otherwise hectic life. That is, until I tried--and failed--to give it up for one week.

I take full responsibility for my own compulsion to using reality television as a way to unwind, and perhaps for what you might call my lack of willpower or moral ineptitude. The problem is, real addiction is not a matter of will or morality, but rather complex biological, psychological, and social process. The same way drug dealers manufacture new, cheaper, and more dangerous highs that become more alluring to chase, reality television executives are toying with our psychology to do the same.