Add television to the list of things destroying marriages.
Married couples are less likely to watch television than single adults, according to the American Time Use Survey, but the time married couples do spend watching television might be destructive. Indeed, higher amounts of time spent watching television have been associated with lower levels of happiness and poorer physical health, scholars at the American Enterprise Institute found.
This makes sense: Television is often used as a way to fill or waste time, and dedicating an excessive amount of time to your TV screen will inevitably have costs. In the context of marriage, that cost is less time devoted to a relationship that depends on communication.
This finding is especially important right now since the vast majority of people have more time on their hands than they know what to do with, thanks to the coronavirus. A lot of that time has been spent streaming Netflix shows and favorite movies. In the first two weeks of March, total streaming hours on connected televisions were up 24% from a year ago, according to Comscore. Movie buying and renting have nearly doubled, AT&T reported.
Nearly half of people said they’re watching television more often than before the crisis, according to a new survey from the Consumer Technology Association, and a quarter of American households invested in online streaming services they had not needed before the shutdowns began.
After nearly two months of lockdown, it would be unfair to fault people for doing more of one of the only things they’re allowed to do. But we shouldn’t let the continued quarantine become an excuse for negligence, especially when that negligence could mean trouble down the road.
