Look at that couch. And your favorite movie is already conveniently in the DVD player.

Doesn’t that set up look inviting? Especially after a tough day at work?

Research published recently in the Journal of Communication suggests that you should perhaps slow your roll toward that couch. The study found that downtime might actually make you feel worse after that long workday.

Researchers from the Johannes Gutenberg University of Mainz and the VU (vew) University Amsterdam asked 471 study participants to report how they felt about a particular workday. The survey then asked what kind of media they used and how they felt during the evening after a tough day at the office.

The researchers found the participants who had a stressful day felt guilty if they used media after work — opposite of the remedy they were going for.

The participants felt guilty because they felt they were watching television or playing video games in order to put off what they actually needed to do, those tasks that were stressing them out earlier in the day. The guilt over putting off tasks made them feel poorly about watching television.

This is a departure from earlier research that suggests media use, particularly beating a video game or watching a good film, has restorative benefits for people stressed out from work. According to those findings, media provided a psychological detachment from work stress.

But the authors of the new study say, between smart phones and widespread Internet availability, people may now be overloaded with screen time. The researchers hope to further unpack when media can be used for recovery and when it starts interfering with more important life goals, becoming less pleasurable.

Still looking to combat work stress? Maybe it’s time to pick up that book you’ve been meaning to read.