While this experiment was conducted on teens, a larger experiment could easily be done with adults and television. I am notorious among my peers for being "even keel" - never giddily happy, never angry, never frustrated - and I attribute that to having given up my television in 1994. Even then, I recognised that the popularity of shows like "Jerry Springer", the precursor to a whole new genre of "who gives a shit TV" which is currently represented in all of the various "reality" shows, was due to the people's addiction to drama. When there's no drama to be found in one's immediate vicinity, people will create drama where none exists. This is true all the way to the international level - we call that "war". Sports create drama, weather creates drama, news creates drama. I see it as man's lowest common denominator. My quip about this is that God created man and gave to him all the gifts in existence, then smiled wanly to Himself as He saw man ignore the gifts for the packaging, much like a baby plays with the gift box rather than the toy inside.
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