[lit-ideas] Addictive Behavior

Seems worth bringing David Foster Wallace into a discussion of addiction. 

In his essay "E Unibus Pluram" from the essay collection _A Supposedly Fun 
Thing I'll Never Do Again_, he describes some of the hooks TV employs on the 
"pommes de terre sur Couche" (Francophones, help!) caught in its blue glare. To 
summarize one of Wallace's points, TV:

1. Gives the mildly agoraphobic viewer the impression of a fuller, richer 
life outside his or her immediate experience. Adventure, romance, the exotic, 
the 
enlightening--it's all out there waiting for you!

2. Convinces the viewer that this world consists of attractive, witty, 
good-natured, intelligent, successful people who don't watch TV because they 
have 
such exciting and varied lives.  

3. Conditions the viewer to believe that the only way he or she can access 
this world is by watching television.


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