Is there scientific evidence or studies that prove we humans need entertainment ?

Shan Lanen: It's kind of hard to answer your question without a specific definition for "entertainment". If you mean any activity that holds one's attention, then yes, entertainment is an essential part of life. From a historical perspective, the answer to your question is yes: Many theories, such as Maslow's Hierarchy of Needs (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Maslow's_hierarchy_of... predict that entertainment is an essential part of culture, but not of basic survival (think: shelter, food, water, sleep, etc.). If you look at prehistoric cultures, artistic expression is essentially a universal concept (look at the Paleolithic cave paintings), doesn't this signify that entertainment has existed since prehistory? Anthropologists sometimes think of the Great Leap Forward (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Great_Leap_Forward_%2... as one of the markers for Homo sapiens, or humans, acquiring the creativity which is so essential to our species. This happened around 50,000 years ! ago, around 150,000 years after anatomically modern humans came into existence, but you can debate about what makes us human forever. IMO, the GLF was a huge event in social evolutionary that made us who we are today. If you're asking whether, literally, one's quality of life will get worse if one isn't exposed to entertainment, then I can't help you there. I'm sure psychological research has been done, but I don't know about the effects of, say, the absence of television or music on mental health. It'd be an interesting topic to research, but again, I don't know of any specific articles/papers. Hope this helps!...Show more

Leticia Laiben: It is a replacement for communal activity; the member role.The Erikson life-stage virtues, in the order of the stages in which they may be acquired, are:hope - Basic Trust vs. Mistrust will - Autonomy vs. Shame and Doubt purpose - Initiative vs. Guilt competence - Industry vs. Inferiority fidelity - Identity vs. Role Confusion ! love (in intimate relationships, work and family) - Intimacy v! s. Isolation caring - Generativity vs. Stagnation wisdom - Ego Integrity vs. Despair http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Erick_Erickson...Show more

Dalia Causby: Entertainment can be anything. In some tribes where people are very happy, work is entertaining. Some Americans were carrying heavy canoes thru the jungle with tribes people. The Americans were stressed since it was hard work but the tribes people were having a lot of fun. They were joking and really loved it.To learn what psychologists have found that makes people really happy see site below. It also explains how technology was supposed to make life easier so they have less stress but now they are more stressed out than ever....Show more