It's okay for a while. Young people can get tired or overwhelmed and feel the need to 'veg out'.

TV can effect people in other ways. Here's an example. When our marriage was new, my husband's father kept making digs at me. I can't remember them now, but I definitely got the message he disliked me. I mentioned this to my husband, who talked to him. Turned out he was repeating so-called humor from TV shows he'd been watching.

He quit doing it, and we've been friendly ever since.

When people, especially young ones, suddenly start doing something dumb like wearing loafers without socks, maintaining three-days' growth of scratchy beard, or hanging their arms out the car door, we suspect somebody's doing it on prime-time TV and they are mimicking it.