Terre Haute Tribune Star

What we got here’s a chance to communicate

Stephanie Salter

December 16, 2006

Excuse me? Um, hello? HEY!!!

Sorry to interrupt your TV viewing. I know how engrossing those reruns of “Friends” can be. I wanted to ask you …

What? Yes, of course I’ll speak up! I didn’t notice the earbuds! What have you got on the iPod?! Beyonce! Always a good choice! So, as I was saying …!

Oh, I’m sorry! I didn’t realize you were reading that Sports Illustrated! I wouldn’t have moved it! I just thought, with the TV and the music and that BlackBerry you’re text messaging on and since you’re trolling on MySpace on your PC, I thought the magazine was just lying around!

Say, could you maybe take the earbuds out for a couple of minutes! My throat’s starting to hurt!

Thank you, thank you. I’m just going to turn the volume down a few notches on the TV, too, OK? I wanted to tell you about these two studies I heard about recently. One of them is part of …

Sure, sure. Get the cell phone. It might be important. Then, maybe, you could put it on “silent” for just a little while? I won’t take long to tell you about these studies, I promise.

All done? Super. OK, the first study is part of a U.S. Census survey about Americans’ media use. You know, like all this stuff around you right now: the iPod, the BlackBerry, the TV, computer, magazines, newspapers, radio, cell phone imaging, the Internet?

Well, this survey found that we’re now spending five full months every year using some form of media. TV’s the big leader. The average use per person is 65 days a year. Yes, those are 24-hour days.

Radio is next with 41 days. That’s where I heard about this census study, on “MarketPlace” on NPR. The reporter said that …

Wow, look! Your cell phone is kind of hopping around on Sports Illustrated. That’s some “vibrate” mode you’ve got. Sure, sure, go ahead, check. Oh, only him? Right, let voicemail take it.

So, as I was saying, the census researchers said there have been two shifts in our media usage since the last survey: More people use the Internet now than read newspapers, which is not the best development for people like me, but I can’t say I’m surprised. And it’s not all bad. Because of the Internet, more people are reading the content of newspapers, they’re just not picking up the three-dimensional version.

The other shift is that we’re multi-tasking with media more. You know, using several at once. Like, um, now.

Yeah, yeah, I’ve seen this “Seinfeld” about five times. It’s really funny. Yeah, that part when Elaine goes out with the guy, yeah, I know. So, since we’ve both seen it, do you think we could maybe, actually turn the TV off? I notice you’re recording something on another channel. That’ll still work, right? Good.

This is exactly what the second study was about. These researchers at Purdue? Well, they decided to try to quantify something we all sort of know but ignore, that TV is a major distraction when people are talking.

What? Yeah, I agree, it is really weird when you turn it off. It’s like some 6-foot-5-inch-tall 2-year-old has left the room. Especially with a screen the size of yours.
Did you ever read Ray Bradbury’s “Fahrenheit 451”? It was about this futuristic society where firemen burn books instead of put out fires. The main character has an out-of-it wife who wears a tiny radio in her ear and is hooked on this government-supplied soap opera they call “the family” that runs 24/7 on three giant TV wall screens in their house. Ha. Sounds like iPods and reality shows, only it was written in 1951.

Anyway, this Purdue communications professor, Glenn Sparks, and a former grad student, Hannah Kirk, conducted experiments to see how much of an effect TV has on people’s conversations.

They asked the participants to bring a friend to the sessions. After they signed all the proper forms, the people sat in a waiting room for 10 minutes where their interactions were recorded. Sometimes a TV was on, sometimes not. After the 10 minutes, the subjects were separated and given questionnaires about the quality of the previous 10 minutes.

When the TV was off, the researchers found, people talked lots more and made twice the amount of eye contact: They looked in each other’s eyes half the time when the TV was off, only a quarter of the time when it was on.

The big surprise to Sparks and Kirk was the aftermath. When the TV was on during the 10-minute wait, 67 percent of the participants said they enjoyed the time with their friend. When the tube was off, the enjoyment rate shot up to 94 percent.

Sparks used the findings to suggest an experiment ordinary folks can try during the holidays. Here’s what he told the Purdue News Service:

“People ought to consider turning the TV off when they are in the family room with others. When you do that, it may attract some attention because the familiar background sounds are suddenly gone. But it may be a great way of forcing the conversational participants to pay more attention to each other, and that is what we often really desire when we are visiting each other.”

Especially during Christmas, Hanukkah and New Year’s.

“These are people you don’t get to see often,” Sparks said. “And when the environment is cluttered with TV noise, it impedes the quality of interaction.”

Don’t you think that’s kind of interesting? Yeah, me, too. The eye contact thing. When you look at somebody you tend to really hear what they’re saying — and remember it.

OK. That’s all. I’ll turn the TV back on now. Same channel? Whoa! There’s your cell phone hopping again, and I think I heard at least five e-mails hit your handheld.

What? “Fahrenheit 451”? Oh, yeah, you can get it on Amazon, for sure, or at the library for free. It’s a quick read, not even 200 pages. I won’t ruin it for you, but there’s this really great part in it about the way an underground group of people preserve the books that are being burned.

Oh, you’re welcome. Anytime. It’s been nice talking with you.