Why's watching Television so addictive?

[James B]

Whereas reading books isn't in general (no doubt there are some avid readers but I am talking about the majority).

[FrodoBaggins]

The root cause lies in choice. With over 300 channels, there is an overload of content, inducing a zombie like state in TV viewers.

[randomtruth]

I'd say that TV is more popular than books because it is multimedia and much more closely matches how we normally take in information. TV is video and audio. You can see and hear it and thus more information can be squeezed into a short amount of time while also giving a much richer experience. Next time you're watching TV, consider how much you would have to write just to completely describe a single frame.Last, TV is also much easier because it's a passive medium. Reading requires your brain to work harder to both read the words and then interpret them into visuals. TV is already visual and can be watched with much less focus & energy.