I am definitely not saying that TV is so good and so engrossing that if I watch it I won't be able to stop. TV is insidious like alcohol and many other addictive substances - eventually you stop looking at it qualitatively and it becomes part and parcel to your daily existence. I know people that don't have this problem and can moderate their TV watching, but those people are few and far between.

Like alcoholics most TV watchers are in denial about the amount of TV they watch. The similarities between alcoholism and TV addiction are quite stunning, actually. Not in terms of the effect of the drug but in terms of the pathology of the addiction.

I'm one of those who could waste his entire day in front of the TV without even knowing it. It goes by in an instant - and while it's happening I'd feel guilty about it, tell myself that I should be doing something else, complain that there's nothing to watch, and yet not actually turn it off.
And some would respond, "so what? It's only TV. It's not like it's a drug - there's nothing bad about it." To that I would respond, "I'm sorry you see it that way."