Picture this:
A man sits on a couch, slumped in the chair, his rear end at the edge of the couch. His eyes are glazed, as if he is hypnotized, with eyes fixed on the TV. In his right hand is the remote control for the TV. He presses the "next channel" button over and over and over...
The worst thing that could happen to him is to lose the remote control, for then he would actually have to get up off the couch to change the channel. This is simply too much effort. Losing the remote control will result in a panic and breaking out in a sweat with shallow breathing.
This is a classic couch potato.