Because there is little to do with one’s life in the minimal time spent outside the eight hours, five days a week at work, many office workers like to spend their time watching TV. What makes them watching TV different from, say, an unemployed or rich person watching TV is that they’re doing it to numb themselves as opposed to watching it for the art of media.
It is also one of the few ways to find any common ground with the nebs you work with. What would you be talking about if it wasn’t the latest episode of Pretty Little Liars? Certainly not anything of substance like the wasting of life in your cubicle or the irony of having money but no time at the height of your physical well-being. Yes, discussing the plot of last night’s episode is really the only way to identify with anyone at the office.