Earlier this week I asked for some feedback on the phenomenon of using TV to relax and the moral repercussions (seeing as your TV watching time is being resold). The good levelheaded readers of aov have responded and each response is very much appreciated.

The consensus (how many people to do you need to have a consensus?) seems to be that, like most things, there is nothing inherently wrong with watching TV. It all depends on what you watch and why you watch it. While this is certainly the case, I still think Neil Postman is right when he points out that TV is incapable of serving as the medium of coherent public discourse. But I guess that’s not the point of TV, is it? Don’t think I’m a pretentious preaching critic. I’m not sure I have any constructive criticism. I’m just thinking out loud and interested in the thoughts of others.

The feedback I received was encouraging on a few fronts. Firstly, the half-hour of TV I was complaining about was quickly put to shame by the amount of TV most people watch. Also, several alternative methods of relaxing were also suggested, some more interesting than others (use your imagination).

Bottom line according to the readers seems to be: Don’t watch it if you don’t want to. I don’t think I can argue with that.