bad for the digestion

We had dinner two nights in a row in the once cozy casual dining room at a grannie client's upmarket senior residence.  On Friday, John & I were delighted to be part of a lively group of five, clustered around a table sort of designed for four - but no one cared.  The conversation flowed, as did the laughter.  

Last night, same thing - five people at a table designed, generously, for four.  Lots of fun, but with quite a few lulls in conversation.  Not the same flow, not the same lilt.  One big difference.  The night before, the television monitor was several tables away from our merry five-some.  Last night, one television monitor was just 10' away, a second less than 5'.  

How many times did I look over at John, sitting to my right, only to see his eyes LOCKED on the farthest television monitor?  I don't blame him - the colors & movement draw even the most unwilling eye.  There were times, I'm sure, when I inadvertently did the same.  A quick glance at the silent screen, last night playing CNN, and a moment becomes a minute.  Imagine the impact on the others.  Hardly conducive to conversation.

But consider for a moment WHAT was being aired over that dinnertime were about - the top 10 stories of 2014.   Ebola!  Ukraine!  Gaza!  Ferguson!  Boka Haram!  Malaysian Flight!  Assassinate NYPD police officers!  Oh, let's move over to media stories - the falls of Bill Cosby & Donald Sterling, the Sony hack, NYPD officers turning their backs on Bill Di Blasio.  


There have been a lot of studies done on the effect on children of watching television at mealtime, but none on adults, especially on the elderly, who tend (up to a certain age) to watch a lot more around-the-clock television than even teens. Here's the weird twist - oldsters tend to watch more television than youngers, even teens (just check out the chart in the NY Times article), but are less satisfied with what they're watching, a finding born out in a National Institute of Health (NIH) 2010 study, which found that watching a lot of television, to the detriment of other activities (like a peaceful mealtime!) related to lower life satisfaction. 

As I tip tap this posting, have been thinking about last night's dinner.  I taught high school biology for five years.  While John's eyes were frozen on the screen, how were his senses responding?  Even with the sound on mute, he was processing the movement, color, alarming graphics, setting his mind & body on full alert.  Forget the blasted monitors being unconducive to conversation - just having them in the background is spectacularly bad for the digestion.  

Which got me to wondering about whoever green lighted this assault on the senses - didn't their mothers ever tell them, "No television at meal time!"?