happy people spend a lot of time socializing, going to church and reading newspapers — but they don’t spend a lot of time watching television, a new study finds.
that’s what unhappy people do.
although people who describe themselves as happy enjoy watching television, it turns out to be the single activity they engage in less often than unhappy people, said john robinson, a professor of sociology at the university of maryland and the author of the study, which appeared in the journal social indicators research.
while most large studies on happiness have focused on the demographic characteristics of happy people — factors like age and marital status — dr. robinson and his colleagues tried to identify what activities happy people engage in. the study relied primarily on the responses of 45,000 americans collected over 35 years by the university of chicago’s general social survey, and on published “time diary” studies recording the daily activities of participants.
“we looked at 8 to 10 activities that happy people engage in, and for each one, the people who did the activities more — visiting others, going to church, all those things — were more happy,” dr. robinson said. “tv was the one activity that showed a negative relationship. unhappy people did it more, and happy people did it less.”
but the researchers could not tell whether unhappy people watch more television or whether being glued to the set is what makes people unhappy. “i don’t know that turning off the tv will make you more happy,” dr. robinson said.
still, he said, the data show that people who spend the most time watching television are least happy in the long run.
since the major predictor of how much time is spent watching television is whether someone works or not, dr. robinson added, it’s possible that rising unemployment will lead to more tv time.
原文链接：
快乐之人会在社交，做礼拜以及读报上花上很多时间——但是一项新研究发现，这些快乐之人却不会在电视上挥霍大量时间。
不快乐的人才会那样做。
尽管那些觉得自己快乐的人也喜欢看电视，但是唯独看电视是快乐之人参与的频率比不快乐之人参与频率要低的一项活动。马里兰大学的社会学教授约翰·罗宾逊 （john robinson）说道，他也是这篇发表在《社会指数研究》（social indicators research)上的研究论文的作者。
绝大多数对于快乐的研究关注于快乐人群的统计学特征之上——诸如年龄和婚姻状况之类的因素——而罗宾逊博士和他的同事设法找出幸福之人热衷参与的活动。这一研究主要依仗两大类数据来源：一个是芝加哥大学35多年来通过综合社会调查（general social survey）收集到的4，500个美国人的回复。另一个数据来源是公布出来的记录有参与者每日活动的“时间日志”（time diary）研究论文。
我们留意了快乐之人参与的8到10项活动，对于每项活动，那些参与频率高的人——像拜访他人，去教堂做礼拜， 以及所有诸如此类的事情——会更为快乐。“罗宾逊博士说道。”看电视是唯一一项显示与快乐有负相关关系的活动。不开心之人看电视看得比较多，而快乐之人看电视看的比较少。“
但是研究人员无法弄清楚到底是不开心之人会多看电视还是沉迷于电视导致了人不开心。“我并不知道关掉电视会不会使你开心点。”罗宾逊博士说道。
然而，他说道，这些数据显示那些在电视上花的时间越多的人长远来看越不会快乐。
因为在电视上花费时间的多少这一主要预测因子（major predictor ）对于有些人是否凑效还不得而知”罗宾逊博士补充道：“而且不断上升的失业率也是有可能导致人们在电视花费上更多的时间。”