Critics have long warned that too much television rots your brain, but new evidence suggests at least some time in front of the tube may actually benefit your mental health. In a study published in the Journal of Community & Applied Social Psychology, researchers combined their own investigations into leisure time with information from the United States Census Bureau on household size, stress levels, and screen usage. People who take some “Me Time” at home after work appear to have an easier time bouncing back to their daily responsibilities.
“Household size is really about how many demands a person experiences when they go home,” Soo Min Toh, a behaviorist at the University of Toronto Mississauga and study co-author, said in a university profile. “We tend to think that home might be a place of rest, but when you have more people—at least when you look at it in terms of number of children—it could create more demands for someone and so it’s not necessarily a place for recovery.”
To reach their conclusions, Toh and Ohio University colleague Xian Zhao reviewed answers from over 61,000 married adults recorded in the U.S. Bureau of Labor and Statistics’ American Time Use Survey. They specifically focused on the amount of time respondents watched T.V. versus their number of children, as well as how tired or stressed they generally felt. Although they weren’t surprised to see a spike in reported anxiety and fatigue for households with young kids, they noticed a striking caveat: parents who watched more television said they “experienced” less exhaustion and stress.
From there, Toh and Zhao surveyed over 100 Canadian college students on home life, asking them to rate statements like “I can’t hear myself think at home.” After the questionnaire, the study volunteers recorded nightly reports on their smartphone use and overall daily moods. Once again, hectic houses coincided with negative emotions—but those feelings weren’t as intense for people who spent more time on their phones.
A final survey tasked another group of college students to list their total number of roommates, the amount of time they spent playing video games, and any difficulty returning to daily responsibilities the following morning. Similar to the previous two phases, young adults with more living companions found it harder to bounce back to class or work the next day, but those who played more video games didn’t find it as troublesome.
“There is a buffering effect of screen time to household demands, strain and chaos, number of people, and responsibilities,” Toh explained.
However, the team warns against using their findings as an excuse to veg out for as long as you want every night. For example, their work didn’t factor in issues like online addiction, which often negates any potential short-term mental health benefits. At the same time, there may still be a “Goldilocks Zone” for many people when it comes to checking social media or trying to beat that next video game level and not seeing the negative health impacts.
“We’re not suggesting you should spend more time on your phone…[but] it allows you to take a breather and be in this space where you get a break from all your responsibilities,” said Toh. “And that can be quite restorative for recovering our resources.”
