We’ve been hearing it for years, “If you watch too much TV, you’ll rot your brain,” or “There is little intellectual value to be taken from watching television.”

Despite what science says about what TV will do to our brains, we still watch it. They could lay out volumes of evidence that prove our brain cells rot by the handful, and we would still watch. So what is it about television that keeps us tuning in?

Before television, people went to the movies if they could afford it, and before there were movies, they gathered at the theatre to escape every day life through a mockery of it. Thousands of years ago, Aristotle first introduced the concept of art imitating life, and over the centuries it has evolved philosophically, meaning different things to different people.

Once psychology entered the arena, it battled with the philosophical explorations of art as an imitation of the world around us, and began to analyze the human need for entertainment.

Psychology suggests escapism, voyeurism, relativity and an outright need to turn off the intellectual part of the brain after a taxing day in the every day world. TV has even been called “the electric babysitter,” used by parents since the very first children’s shows streamed into living rooms, distracting kids and allowing parents a much-needed break from the responsibility of entertaining their young.

As more reality TV shows take over the tube, it begs the question: how much of our television entertainment habits are a direct response to our inner-voyeur?

I would love to say I don’t watch reality TV, but the shameful fact is, I do. I actually spent an entire day watching Tori and Dean: Home Sweet Hollywood on Oxygen recently because I couldn’t look away. A part of me was compelled by the inside look at a Hollywood couple’s life together, and though their lifestyle was vastly different than my own, the dynamics of their interpersonal relationship was something I could relate to.

In a New York Times article from 2008, “What Happy People Don’t Do,” by Roni Caryn Rabin, Rabin talks about recent scientific research that suggests people who do watch television are unhappy. Despite saying we “are” happy, studies show that people who are actually happy spend less time watching television than engaging in social activities. The interesting thing in the article is that researchers can’t tell if the unhappy few are dissatisfied because they watch television, or if they watch television because they are dissatisfied with the quality of their lives.

With all the research that continues cropping up in books, magazines, classrooms and online, everyone has a different thought about what compels us to watch TV. While I’m no expert, I tend to think we watch because it allows us to explore alternative possibilities. In some cases, it may even prompt us to try new things. For example, a man sees the Tour de France on television, and realizes a sudden fascination with bicycling. Maybe he sees Anthony Bourdain eating squid pie in some faraway land, and discovers he too wants to travel and explore exotic cuisine.

Which returns to voyeurism and relativity. We enjoy watching others live out our fantasies, and in some cases, seeing someone else carry through on something we ourselves want to do, we become inspired.

Now you’re probably thinking that’s all great and good, but how does my little theory relate to things like cartoons? Well, my fifteen-year-old daughter has wanted to become a Pokemaster since she was about three-years-old, so it’s still relative.

In the end, I guess it doesn’t really matter what the experts say. One of the biggest reasons we probably watch TV is simply because it’s there. I know that’s why I watch; that and because as a writer, I’m fascinated with the inner-workings of other people’s lives.

Why do you watch? And do you even care what the experts say?