e39. Media Addiction

Once any TV show is on the air for long enough, a curious thing happens. It amasses enough devoted fans that watch it every week that they begin to turn on it. They constantly rave about how they now hate the show… it’s not like it used to be… but they’re still watching it anyway. The same thing happens with any franchise entertainment: movies, comic books, video games, bands. Is it inertia? Is it hate watching? We sometimes call it media addiction. But why is that a thing? On today’s show, Hannah, Katya, Wayne and Mav welcome two psychologists, Stephanie Siler and Ashley Bobak to discuss the nature of addiction and try to figure out if it is indeed possible to be addicted to TV show or other type of media and what are the ramifications thereof. Citations and Links: * This episode’s Call for Comments* “The Likely Cause of Addiction Has Been Discovered, and It Is Not What You Think” by Johann Hari * Thank you to Maximilian’s thoughtForm Music for our theme (and check out his new Christmas music video)* Follow Hannah on Twitter: @hannahleerogers* Follow Mav on Twitter: @chrismaverick* Follow Katya on Instagram: @justthatnerdkid * Follow Mav’s Personal Blog: http://chrismaverick.com* Follow Wayne’s Personal Blog: http://wayne-wise.com * Follow us on Twitter: @voxpopcast* Follow us on Facebook: http://facebook.com/voxpopcast* Make sure you subscribe on iTunes, Stitcher, Spotify or wherever podcasts are found and please leave us a review!

Om Podcasten

Vox Populorum is a blog and podcast devoted to pop culture criticism. We believe that the best way to understand culture is to discuss it. But we also believe that it's a lot more fun to have these conversations throwing back a couple beers at the bar rather than in a classroom. Please join our weekly round table of media critics, academics, creators, artists, professors, students and fans for an engaging discussion about movies, novels, comic books, television, video games, music or whatever else we happen to think of! Nec audiendi qui solent dicere, Vox populi, vox Dei, quum tumultuositas vulgi semper insaniae proxima sit.