Now I have a confession to make. I like television. There are a lot of bad shows, but there are also a lot of good ones, in much the same way there are good and bad books. People in our society go to great lenghts to tell others how little they watch television (oh, except for this show, and that other one…) as some kind of intellectual high ground. Well fellow couch surfers, the next time some holier-than-thou starts rambling on about how instead of watching all the crap on TV they are busy volunteering at a homeless shelter, listening to their extensive collection of French fusion jazz, or even lamer, enjoying a meal and conversation with their family, you can throw this little tidbit at them.

Turns out in Italy they did a study on what was most effective in helping children deal with the pain of giving blood samples. Some kids were distracted by their mothers, some were given no distraction, and some were distracted by cartoons. Guess which one won the day. That’s right, apparently Mother’s love and concern is no match for the pain numbing abilities of the television set. So the next time someone tries to tell you that television is the root of all that is evil in our society, just tell them about the magical healing powers of the tube.

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