“Spudding Out” by Barbara Ehrenreich, discusses how America's transfixation on television and media has led to an increasingly slothful society. In support of her views, Ehrenreich utilizes her own experiences by providing family stories, citing psychological evidence, and offering examples from a variety of television shows. The first to be crowned a ‘spud’ by Ehrenreich was none other than her husband. He had joined the couch potato movement, which was seen by psychologists as a negative way to escape the happenings in the world around us. This reaction resulted in American people gluing their eyes to the television, watching shows such as Jeopardy! to lessen their anxiety of the outside world. To begin with, Ehrenreich has made her family a prime example of the ‘spudding out’ trend that has swept over the American population. There used to be a point in their lives when Ehrenreich’s family would spend time with their neighbors. Now, neither Ehrenreich’s family nor their neighbors see much of each other. Her youngest child has come to rely on the gadgets that control his connection to a fantasy world in television. It is as if the television has immobilized them and hindered their ability to do anything other than spend hours upon hours wasting away to a reality that does not actually exist. Secondly, according to Ehrenreich’s citation from psychologists, this event of mass agoraphobia helped to strengthen the average family. They agreed on the fact that this reaction was brought on by a heightened crime rate, an AIDS epidemic, and the fear of organization. These experts rationalize that it is not only the ‘real’ world letting us down, but our own families. We are the disappointments and are quick to run to the television to escape each other, which in all actuality unwinds the very thing that a family strives for, communication. The TV opens viewer’s eyes to how boring our own families are and gives us a ta