Why watching TV after work makes you 'feel like a guilty failure'

Researchers found that watching TV after work can actually make you feel less relaxed and recovered.

15:56 25 July 2014

After a hard day’s graft, many people watch TV as soon as they get home from work. However, those who do may find themselves ‘feeling guilty and like a failure’ – a symptom that has now been explained.

Scientists, who published a study in the Journal of Communication, explained that the sedentary undertaking of watching TV can actually make you feel less relaxed and recovered.

The study, which was conducted by the researchers at the Johannes Gutenberg University Amsterdam in the Netherlands, was participated by 471 individuals who were asked how they felt about watching TV after work or school the previous day.

The study found that participants, particularly those who were very stressed and especially fatigued, said they felt guilty because they feel less productive. Instead of watching TV, they could have completed more important tasks. This leaves them feeling guilty, less recovered, and less revitalised, which negatively impact the effects of using media.

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Dr Leonard Reinecke, from Johannes Gutenberg University Mainz who co-authored the report, said: “We are beginning to better understand that media use can have beneficial effects for people's well-being, through media-induced recovery.

"Our present study is an important step towards a deeper understanding of this. It demonstrates that in the real life, the relationship between media use and well-being is complicated and that the use of media may conflict with other, less pleasurable but more important duties and goals in everyday life.

“We are starting to look at media use as a cause of depletion. In times of smartphones and mobile internet, the ubiquitous availability of content and communication often seems to be a burden and a stressor rather than a recovery resource.”