After a long and stressful workweek, it's tempting to flop down on your living room couch and watch TV, but a new study featured on TIME shows that this may actually make some people feel worse in the long run. Researchers surveyed 471 people about their day at work and what kind of media they turned to at the end of the day, and found that those who were particularly busy and fatigued only felt bad about watching TV. Apparently, they felt that they were procrastinating or giving in to something they shouldn't.

“We are starting to look at media use as a cause of depletion. In times of smartphones and mobile Internet, the ubiquitous availability of content and communication often seems to be a burden and a stressor rather than a recovery resource,” says study author Leonard Reinecke of the Johannes Gutenberg University Mainz, Germany.

Still, not all TV is bad. Other studies report that watching intellectually stimulating programs may have a positive impact on people.

(Photo by Mark via Flickr Creative Commons)