Break Out the Zoloft

I recently came across this article on the New York Times website titled "Behavior: TV Time Linked to Depression in Future." It seemed like it was going to be an interesting article but it didn't really provide any good information.

Researchers began the study with over 4,000 healthy adolescents, and then followed up after seven years to find that seven percent of them had developed signs of depression. The rate of depression was higher in those who watched TV for more than 9 hours a day, and lower in those who watched less than 3.

I thought that this study would have brought about some valuable information, but Brian Primack, the assistant professor of medicine at the University of Pittsburg, said

We really don’t know what it was specifically about TV exposure that was associated with depression, whether it was a particular kind of programming or some contextual factor such as watching alone or with other people. Therefore, I would be uneasy to make any blanket recommendations based on this one study.

To me this study seemed like a complete waste of time. Some adolescents are going to grow up to be depressed, and sitting around all day watching television probably isn't going to help a kid's self esteem. Also, the things that we see on television are often false or glorified images of reality. This can cause an adolescent to become depressed if his life is nothing like his favorite TV shows.

Even though too much TV is bad, I believe that watching TV in moderation can be good for an adolescent. It allows them to watch the same things that other kids their age are watching, giving them common interests with peers to help start conversations and build friendships.

I am all for research on television's effects on humanity and I like to read about studies that have been conducted on the subject. I just hope that next time I click on a link that looks interesting to me it will actually give me some information. Why was this article published?

Recovered

After a follow-up visit with the surgeon yesterday, his words to me were to "eat, drink and be merry." I wasn't expecting to be off the hook this early but it couldn't be soon enough. Friday I’m leaving to go on a four day cruise to the Bahamas, and I was worried about not being able to enjoy it.

The doctor told me he was surprised by my speedy recovery as he ripped one of the bandages off of my stomach, revealing a tiny spec of a scar. He told me that the stitches are under the skin, and the other two bandages would need to stay on a bit longer to heal. I was expecting hideous scars, but I just might make it away with none.

My previous fears of not being able to swim or enjoy my coming of age were absolved by the visit. He told me I could pretty much do anything i wanted within good judgment. I'm just going to enjoy my vacation and forget about this whole ordeal while relaxing in the Bahamas.

Vestigial Organs

Even though it does not have anything to do with production, I would like to share an experience that I had last week. It's amazing to me how a part of the human body that serves no benefit at all can all of a sudden, for no apparent reason, turn into a horrible torture device.

Tuesday afternoon after getting home from class I noticed a slight pain in my stomach. I figured it was because I hadn’t eaten anything all day so I got something to eat. Still, four hours later, the pain was much worse. After looking on the Internet at all the horrible things associated with prolonged stomach pain, I had my mom take me to the hospital at about 8pm.

I waited at the hospital until 12am to get a CAT SCAN, then waited in pain for about 45 more minutes for the results. The doctor came back to my bed and told me I was diagnosed with acute appendicitis and I had to go into surgery the next day. At that moment I turned cold and pale, realizing that I was about to endure something terrible.

I was then hooked up to an IV and taken to my room where I would spend the night and the next few days. I was given a painkiller through the IV called Demerol that hit me hard but only lasted about an hour. At about 2am the pain came on full force and there was nothing the nurse or I could do about it. I was vomiting profusely and clenching my stomach for hours, rolling around trying to find a position that would make the pain let up. It felt like a flaming knife was being twisted into my stomach, or something from John Carpenter's The Thing was about to burst out.

The next morning, after the surgery which I remembered nothing of, I found myself back in my room with three bloody bandages on my swollen stomach. The surgeon came in and told me that I had an infection because my appendix had ruptured. He described the way my insides looked by saying that "It looked like someone had poured a can of cream of chicken soup into my abdominal cavity"... delicious.

I spent the next four days in my bed watching TV with a remote that could only cycle up through the channels, not down. Getting up to go to the bathroom or try to walk around while connected to an IV was an agonizing ordeal. So was being woken up at 5am every morning to someone sticking a needle in my arm to draw blood, or when the nurse had to start a new IV in a different vein because the old one wasn’t working right.

I finally got to go home on Valentines Day, only to lie around and do nothing. My girlfriend and family were there to comfort me at least. Sunday was my 21st Birthday, I was able to go out to dinner and a movie thanks to my Darvocet, but couldn’t drink. Oh well, at least I sort of felt like I had thanks to the painkillers.

Well, that was my ordeal and at least I know that it will never happen again. I'm a pretty healthy guy. I’ve never had surgery before or any real problems like that. This just hit me out of nowhere without any real cause. Anyone out there that still has their appendix, beware, and be sure to eat plenty of fiber or this little insignificant tube could put you through a living hell.

Layoffs

Layoffs due to our current economic crisis are sweeping the television industry. Two major corporations, NBC and Disney-ABC, are planning to lay off hundreds of workers in the near future according to articles by TVNewser and Mediaweek.

Layoffs at NBC are part of an effort to cut $500 Million from the budget. NBC president Jeff Zucker stated in a letter to company employees:

“...All of our business leaders are being asked to cut their spending projections for 2009. We are asking for a reduction of approximately $500 million across the company, which represents about 3% of our overall budget. While each business leader has flexibility in how to meet this goal, we have asked them to focus on three areas: reductions in promotion expenses; in discretionary spending, such as travel and entertainment and outside consultants; and in staffing costs."

I can’t think of too many other ways to reduce staffing costs than to lay people off, and $500 Million can pay a vast amount of people. Employees who are losing their jobs are not only those new to the company. Reporters and correspondents who have been with the company for years are being laid off.

Disney-ABC president Anne Sweeny put it this way told it a bit more straightforward in her memo to employees:

"After months of making hard decisions across our businesses to help us adjust to a weakening economy, we're now faced with the harsh reality of having to eliminate jobs in some areas. This was not an easy decision, nor one made lightly,"

Over 200 jobs at Disney and ABC will be cut and all open positions will be eliminated.

Layoffs come from both small and large markets. Basically no one is safe except for the people holding executive positions. It’s a scary situation for someone like me looking into a career in the television industry, since these are not just small companies, but huge corporations that are struggling.

Bay News 9

Yesterday I drove out to St. Pete to meet with a producer for the Bay News 9 On Demand channel. This meeting was part of a networking project for my Intro to Telecommunications class. I was assigned to seek out a person with my desired job and spend some time with them at their workplace, getting a feel for what they do.

After asking a few career related questions, I was taken on a tour of the station. It was a slow Saturday and surprisingly there were only a few people working. This was good for me because I was not overwhelmed and people had time to talk to me. I was able to hang out with one of the editors for a while who was a former USF student. I learned some things about editing and she gave me a walkthrough of what her workday entailed. I even got to step inside the control room and meet the director while they were filming the meteorologist's weather report.

The station offers a paid summer internship program that I'm definitely going to apply for. The station seems like a really nice work environment with top of the line equipment and a very knowledgeable and friendly staff.