Entertainment Quicksand

I like entertainment. An occasional movie, an occasional indulgence in The Simpsons or YouTube samplings, and an occasional donut all suit me fine. That said, our society is severely out of whack.

I learned this morning from a Sunday school classmate who is a professor of music that until the early 1900s, over 90% of people worldwide could sing in tune. In 1997, however, only 35% of Americans could do this. This comment came in the context of a discussion about prayer and how Americans have become distracted away from prayer by all of technological entertainment. My classmate’s point was that our entertainment culture has severely curbed Americans’ ability to pray or participate in corporate worship (worshipful singing in the shower has also begun to tempt God’s wrath).

Now, I’ve heard many conversations (mostly in Sunday school classes, although the debate has been national) about how bad television is. People are often quick to point out television’s horrid and inane content, the physical and mental inactivity of viewing and the resulting obesity and dumbness (I freely tell my students at school, “TV rots your brains,” to which they protest loudly and call for mutiny), the proliferation of consumerism, the distraction from participation in social activities and from meaningful human interaction, and the fact that if you’re watching TV, you’re not doing something productive or creative (like learning to play an instrument or sing on tune).

And never have I seen anyone leave any one of those conversations vowing to cut the cord.

Of course, it’s not only about television, anymore. So many things keep us from practicing our music. For example, cell phones can be great tools, but they also fatally clog communication arteries with meaningless chatter. How often do people dial up just to say, “Hey, man, what’s up?” to “friends” who aren’t talking to anyone physically around them, either, because they’re on the phone? Or, how about personal music players, which seclude individuals from others and leave little space for quiet introspection (ahem, prayer)? Or, how about computers, which can exponentially expand our ability to do any of these things, and more?

In other words, just because I have never and will never own a TV does not make me, an “Ooh, I love technology” owner of both an iPod and a computer, immune from bad entertainment practices. In light of this, here are my recommendations for me and the world, just three questions to ask ourselves when we use technology:

1. Are we cultivating meaningful relationships?
2. Are we being creative?
3. Are we accomplishing necessary tasks?

If our use of technology doesn’t help us do at least one of these things, then we might as well grab a bag of chips, turn on the boob tube, and sink into musical quicksand.