"The term 'TV addiction' is imprecise and laden with value judgments, but it captures the essence of a very real phenomenon.

Psychologists and psychiatrists formally define substance dependence as a disorder characterised by criteria that include spending a great deal of time using the substance; using it more often than one intends; thinking about reducing use or making repeated unsuccessful efforts to reduce use; giving up important social, family or occupational activities to use it; and reporting withdrawal symptoms when one stops using it. All these criteria can apply to people who watch a lot of television . . . The amount of time people spend watching television is astonishing. On average, individuals in the industrialised world devote three hours a day to the pursuit - fully half of their leisure time, and more than on any single activity save work and sleep. At this rate, someone who lives to 75 would spend nine years in front of the tube."

- Robert Kubey and Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi, a media expert and a psychologist, writing in Scientific American, February 2002