The Game of Death

Reality TV has taken dark turns but none more sobering than the Game of Death. Documentary film makers in France tricked 80 people into believing they were contestants on a game show in which they administered electric shocks to contestants. Echoing the famed experiments of psychologist Stanley Milgram in the 1960s, were told to "electrocute" a fellow contestant - actually an actor - if he got answers wrong while the audience chanted “punishment.” All but 16 of the volunteers punished the contestant until he appeared to die.

Is this a demonstration of the power of television? An indication that most people will submit to the commands of an authority figure no matter how evil (as with the Nazi death camps) in a fit of blind obedience? Or an example that contestants on what appears to be a reality TV show are savvy enough to assume the producers won’t really let someone die. So, they “play along” in a make-believe world of performance for the camera?

Here's a video about the experiment.

TV & Depression

The more a teen watches television, the more likely they’ll become depressed later in life. That’s the finding of a new study detailed in Archives of General Psychology.

It doesn’t necessarily mean TV viewing causes depression. It may just mean people who become depressed as adults tend to watch more TV in their younger years. Excessive TV viewing may be a warning sign.

Nevertheless, the University of Pittsburgh’s Dr. Brian Primack who led the study, believes there is strong evidence that television watching contributes to the problem of depression.

The participants in his study were surveyed while in school during 1995. They were surveyed again in 2002. Those who indicated they battled depression had watched 22 more minutes of TV each day than the other participants in the survey.

The researchers speculate that TV viewing could have cut into their sleep or the time they might have spent in socializing or organized after-school activities. It could have been the shows they decided to watch were disturbing or lowered their self-esteem.