The Psychological and Physiological Impact of Television Consumption

Hypnotic and Dissociated States of Mind: A central premise is that the majority of people, during the majority of the time they spend watching television, are actually in a hypnotic, dissociated state of mind.
Motivation for Consumption: The primary motivation for many viewers is the desire to disassociate from their own internal experiences. Television serves as a functional excuse to be interested in external narratives rather than internal ones:
- It allows individuals to avoid being interested in themselves.
- It facilitates a disassociation from personal feelings, thoughts about life, and self-perception.
Suggestibility and Trances: When an individual is in this dissociated state in front of a television, they become highly suggestible. This state is frequently referred to as a "hypnotic trance," making the viewer extremely prone to external influence and hypnosis.

Daily Consumption Habits: The average person spends approximately $4$ hours per day watching television.
Commercial Exposure: On average, a viewer is exposed to $40,000$ television commercials per year.
Violence Exposure: According to estimates by the American Academy of Pediatrics, the average person will have witnessed over $200,000$ violent acts on television by the age of $18$ .
Intelligent Design of Content: Television programs and commercials are described as being designed "with great intelligence" to ensure they "stick" in the viewer's mind like glue.
- The goal of shows is to keep the viewer thinking about the content to ensure they tune in for the next episode.
- The goal of commercials is to make the viewer more likely to purchase the advertised products.

Internal vs. External Thought Processes: As television fills the brain with external thoughts, ideas, and emotions, the individual's own internal emotional and cognitive landscape is displaced.
Self-Estrangement: The accumulation of external content causes individuals to get "further and further and further away" from themselves.
The Path to Healing and Vitality: True emotional vitality and healing require a person to go deeper into themselves and become increasingly sensitive to their own internal states. Because television consumption works in direct opposition to this process, its minimization is strongly advocated for personal growth.

Source Material: Dr. David Hawkins, a medical doctor, provides a summary of his findings in the book titled Power versus Force.
Kinesiological Research: Through the use of kinesiological research, Dr. Hawkins analyzed the physical effects of television on the human body.
The "Weakness" Response: The research discovered that during an average one-hour television program, the human body would go "weak" a total of $113$ times.
Mechanism of Fear: The phenomenon of the body going weak is identified as a direct fear response. Therefore, the average one-hour program triggers a physiological fear response approximately $113$ times.

Cortisol and Stress Hormones: Every instance of fear triggered by television content leads to an increase in cortisol levels within the human system.
Obstruction of Peace: The combination of repeated fear responses and the subsequent flooding of the system with cortisol is characterized as "very, very obstructive of peace of mind."
The Spectrum of Peace: Fear is positioned at the opposite end of the spectrum relative to peace of mind. Frequent viewers face significant hurdles in achieving tranquility because:
- Stress hormones like cortisol cause viewers to become more emotionally detached from themselves.
- Constant exposure leaves individuals feeling increasingly "wound up" and disconnected.