Thanks to how easy technology has made everything for us, people are becoming lazier and lazier by the minute. At work, people would rather wait five minutes for the elevator than take the stairs. And as I've stressed in some of my other posts, people are relying heavily on technology to do everything from send out wedding invitations to wish people a Happy Birthday. The world has gone digital -- in the process, our relationships with people have grown more impersonal. Traditional Hallmark cards? Written letters sent by mail? These things have gone the way of the dodo bird. While technology certainly has made it possible to do things at the push of a button -- things our ancestors could only dream of -- it has also made us lazy and complacent. I've said it before and I'll say it again here: I think people are spending too much time watching TV and surfing the web. This has contributed in part to what pundits and academics have been saying for years: Society is b...

Ever wonder why we put such a high premium on television and music? It's not just about the entertainment value they deliver. Essentially, TV and music rescue us, if temporarily, from the humdrum of everyday life. We watch everything from reality shows to soap operas on television. These programs have no basis in reality -- and that's precisely why we gravitate to them. We like to immerse ourselves in love stories and action-packed adventures that break the monotony of real life -- annoying bosses, cubicle boredom, bickering with your inlaws, endless chores. Every episode of shows like The Walking Dead and Game of Thrones leaves viewers hungry for more. It gives them something to look forward to. The feeling of being on the edge of your seat -- the unpredictable -- is a tremendous high. Movies with various installments -- Twilight, The Avengers, and Rocky are a few examples -- have the same effect on audiences. Further, music serves a similar purpose. Think about a ti...

These days, the popularity of television series is quite remarkable -- the likes of which we've never quite seen before. Whether it's friends, family, or co-workers, it seems everyone watches at least one TV series. Among the most popular ones are: The Walking Dead Game of Thrones Empire Breaking Bad True Detective Sherlock  Now, I've never been one to watch these kinds of shows, but when I first saw True Detective being advertised, it looked interesting -- and so I figured that watching one episode couldn't hurt. I became instantly hooked! It was only then I understood why so many people I know become so enthralled by these shows.  I started thinking about the reasons why these shows resonate so closely with us, the viewers.  Here are a couple of reasons that may explain their surge in popularity in recent years: They distract us from our daily lives : Considering that our lives seem to be getting busier and more stressful by the day, these shows ...