“Television”, or in its current avatar “netflix” and “youtube” or whatever new fad exists these days, is really the modern day opium and alcohol. David Foster Wallace understood this. So did Don DeLillo. I have only recently started noticing this pernicious quality about telivision. This is what Aldous Huxley meant by Soma. We have created Soma without even realizing it. We partake in its consumption, both individually and as a society, and it makes us less individualistic.

The idea that you get home and you relax by watching TV is just your addiction speaking. You’re really doing two things here.

1. The first is feeding the addiction. Like any other addiction, the more you do it the better it feels the more you want to do it in the future and the more you need to do it in the future.

2. Then there is the numbing down. You think less deeply and become less receptive and less sensitive to the environment.

For me, this second effect is the more harmful of the two. All addiction is bad but not all forms of addiction numb you down, e.g. tobacco. While it is harmful for your health to smoke, your thinking isn’t muddled by it. Which is why, before we knew it’s deleterious effects, many thinkers used to smoke constantly and still be greatly productive.

Television is not like that. It numbs you down and prevents your brain from working, from feeling, sensing, and most scarily thinking. I do love good comedy and good TV shows and I go to movie theaters almost every week. My problem is not with the content itself. You can drink alcohol to appreciate it, try out new kinds of drinks, socialize and have a good time, or you can drink because your life is shit, to numb your pain, and prevent your brain from thinking. You can start with the former and move to the latter. The same thing happens with television. I am exaggerating. I know that there are no rehabs and addiction groups for television. But I think it does the same harm that opium did when it was a thing. We have created a form of opium which is socially acceptable.

In the end, it all comes down to choice and intent. Before you open the Netflix or youtube tab take a moment to ask yourself the reason for doing so - is this your addiction making your choice for you? Are you trying to numb your brain down and “make it stop thinking”? Do you need background noise because otherwise you’ll have to face yourself and you’re too scared of it? Or do you really want to watch a good show and have good time?