Are we over-entertained? Or am I just weird?

[Christ_empowered]

So, it dawned on me the other day: I've largely checked out of pop culture. I have very basic cable, but I rarely watch it. I use the internet mostly to look stuff up to satisfy my curiosity and, increasingly, to learn about Christianity. My friends are all about the latest bands, books, movies, etc. and I'm thinking: why?

Anyway, I guess my question is, do I need to plug back in, or is there something to getting out of the loop? I'm 26, so even though I'm kind of young, I still feel like I've outgrown the days of having to keep up with what's "hip" and "cool". I also kind of feel that all this entertainment is making us stupid. I certainly feel a little bit smarter now that I've unplugged from the entertainment machine.

What do you all think?

 

[jasoncran]

So, it dawned on me the other day: I've largely checked out of pop culture. I have very basic cable, but I rarely watch it. I use the internet mostly to look stuff up to satisfy my curiosity and, increasingly, to learn about Christianity. My friends are all about the latest bands, books, movies, etc. and I'm thinking: why?

Anyway, I guess my question is, do I need to plug back in, or is there something to getting out of the loop? I'm 26, so even though I'm kind of young, I still feel like I've outgrown the days of having to keep up with what's "hip" and "cool". I also kind of feel that all this entertainment is making us stupid. I certainly feel a little bit smarter now that I've unplugged from the entertainment machine.

What do you all think?

i got over it about that age when i started realising that its all about sales and you buying and buying
i didnt even have a cell phone till 5 yrs ago and i need that for my paper route.

i have the same style of phone since 2007. and some poke at me. i tell them i dont need internet on demand just so go to fb and play starfleet commander or come here to post as while i have a reason for the internet i dont need it.

i can go to the library just to check emails and what not.

 

[lamplady]

So, it dawned on me the other day: I've largely checked out of pop culture. I have very basic cable, but I rarely watch it. I use the internet mostly to look stuff up to satisfy my curiosity and, increasingly, to learn about Christianity. My friends are all about the latest bands, books, movies, etc. and I'm thinking: why?

Anyway, I guess my question is, do I need to plug back in, or is there something to getting out of the loop? I'm 26, so even though I'm kind of young, I still feel like I've outgrown the days of having to keep up with what's "hip" and "cool". I also kind of feel that all this entertainment is making us stupid. I certainly feel a little bit smarter now that I've unplugged from the entertainment machine.

What do you all think?

You're definitely not weird.

I watched a dvd called 'Open Road', a while back and it depicted some guy travelling in a car filming the length and breadth of Britain, as he wanted to capture it at the time. It was in from the '20's. What I found fascinating was the amount of people walking on the streets, basically connecting with each other. There were transports but these were mainly buses in cities.

Then there was this recent sort of documentary on TV showing a few people listening to a woman singing on a gramophone from that era if not earlier. They were talking about how pure her voice was and how it’s virtually impossible for people to achieve it these days.

Yet another program showed an Indian man in India talking about some cultural thing they use to do where they would call out in this special way to someone in the next village. Let's call it 'next village' because I can’t remember exactly where or what it was but the main thing was this calling thing they did. The recipient would answer or pass it on. When asked why they don't do it now the answer was, ‘it's too noisy’.

Even birds are apparently tweeting earlier and earlier to combat the amount of noise that's around these days.

The point I'm making is I think you’re right there is too much 'entertainment' today or rather too much distraction and yes it is making some of us stupid.

So much so that we don't or can't focus on what's around us anymore.

The distractions/entertainment makes some of us to not keep the Sabbath holy anymore.

More seriously, it could be for some, harder and harder to find God if they’re not careful.

 

[Strangelove]

We are definatley being over entertained. It's called programming.

But have you noticed how the entertainment is getting worse and worse with regard to quality?

Mainstream music is now at an all time low. Pop music is awful. Boring elctro beat coupled with relentless mind numbing, repetetive lyric. 2 instruments in total.

Blockbuster movies are formulaic, bland and have zero real character intro. They are just eye candy special FX jobs (Avatar....prime example)

Sport (particularly soccer) is becomming extremely cynical due to the money involved and whats at stake. Notice the last 3 World Cup Final games have been absolutley terrible games. Players cant relax and play their normal game coz theres too much pressure.

I believe God is making entertainment worse so people will find it easier to leave it behind and set their sights on the things above.

The dark ones still attempt to mold the views of the masses via entertainment media.

 

[Danus]

I couldn't tell you who's who in Hollywood, and frankly I don't care.

As a culture we have entertainment at our fingertips. All of it is designed to lure you in and take your money. The simpler the mind the more commercially victimized of it.

I pick my entertainment carefully, but I'm glade I have the choice to do so.

 

[smoh2205]

We are definitely over-entertained! Maybe its because most people confuse being entertained with being happy. But eventually we all learn the truth, some faster in the game than others. My most happiest moments in life were not during those moments I sought out entertainment but was just living life. I can't really think of any fond memories in front of a television or computer screen....