Can Drama TV Ruin Your Perspective?

Growing up my father always commented about housewives who sit around all day watching soaps on tv are only causing their own unhappiness. I always thought he was overreacting, I mean seriously, it's a tv show. But in recent months I have accidentally created my own experiment and I'm beginning to wonder if my dad was right.

Six months ago I started my own freelance business, mostly out of necessity from a shotty job market. I soon realized the only thing that sucks about working from home is that you completely miss out on the social aspect of constantly working with other people. To counteract the overly quietness of my house durring the day, I'll sometimes turn on the television to have other voices/movement in the background. When I take breaks, I'll sometimes sit and actually watch what's on, and within a few weeks I found myself totally engrosed in daytime drama. On the days I had to be out for a meeting or an on-site job, I relied on my DVR to hold my shows for me until I could return home and watch them. Basically I was addicted.

I had plenty of days during this time that I was not the best version of myself. Much quicker to feel irritated at my husband, and basically the world around me. I would get so caught up in the emotion of the shows that it would find it's way into my life. And I'd find myself thinking about things I would never normally even let cross my mind. Would my best friend try to steal my husband? Would I turn to an old lover if he wanted me back? Why doesn't my husband constantly confess his undying love to me?

The accidental experiment came when, after a major wind storm, the cable went out at my house for over a week. Then, a few weeks later I got too busy with things to be able to watch my DVR'd shows. And most recently, the overlap of football and baseball has caused my husband to dominate the television that holds all the DVR shows, and I haven't had a chance to watch them during the day because of my crazy busy workload recently.

Today I noticed how much better I've felt at the times I didn't watch my daytime addiction anymore. The obsession has really worn off after a few weeks of neglect, and I don't think those crazy thoughts anymore. I'm much more content with the lack of drama that real life actually has. And my moral scope has been restored. Perhaps my dad was right?

Has television drama/soap operas destroyed what we think is normal in life? Do they screw up with our feelings of happyness and contentment?

I'd love to know what you think.