Yesterday I looked briefly at entertainment addiction and attempted to propose a definition of entertainment. I said that entertainment is an escape or distraction from normal life. Perhaps I should have added that it is an “enjoyable” escape or distraction. While this is an imperfect definition, I think it is useful, at the least. We seek entertainment to take our minds off the stresses and strains and reality of life.
Today I want to offer a couple of ideas that may help you see the impact entertainment has on our lives.
Qualify Entertainment
I think we need to first qualify our entertainment. We need to figure out what constitutes entertainment and this may well vary from person to person. A lot of what we may think is news or information or otherwise beneficial information may really be entertainment thinly disguised. Do you check Drudge Report eight or ten times every day looking to see the newest headlines? If so, I suspect you are being entertained more than you are being informed. That little bit of information you get from glancing at the headlines and skimming through the stories should probably be filed as entertainment. The same is true of much of the evening news or the blogs you read. Are these things really integral to your life and faith? Or are they really just a form of entertainment? In Amusing Ourselves to Death Neil Postman asked when the last time was that you read a news headline and were compelled to take action. He realized that the vast majority of the news that comes to us is news which demands no action; instead, it is mere information that entertains us but without edifying or challenging us. Even news is often entertainment.So my encouragement here is to take a look at your day and especially the time you spend in front of screens to determine how much of it is genuinely useful, genuinely applicable to life and how much of it is really a form of entertainment. Which of the shows you watch are entertainment and which are genuinely useful? Which of the web sites you read are entertainment and which actually impact your life? Which of the books you read are amusing and which are edifying? Just pause briefly to think about it.
Quantify Entertainment
Once you have qualified what you do to entertain yourself, try to quantify it. Here you simply attach a number to your entertainment—a number of hours or minutes every day in which you enjoy entertainment. I suspect that, almost invariably, you will be surprised at how large that number is.As of 2008, the average person between the ages of 18 and 24 spent 8.5 hours every day in front of some kind of a screen—whether computer, cell phone, television, or any other. Mom and dad (aged 45 - 54) fared better (or is it worse?), clocking in at 9.5 hours. These are incredible statistics that give a sense of how digital technologies are reshaping our world. Consider that in 1940 the average would have been 0 hours per day. In just 70 years we have radically reshaped our lives.
How much of this screen time is entertainment-related? In most cases I suspect that it would be the vast majority. Almost 5 hours of the 8.5 for that 18 to 24 year-old are spent watching television (with mom and dad tallying over 6). Can any of that be deemed something other than entertainment? Not likely. How much of the computer time is related to work or school and how much is chatting or browsing or looking at pornography? And even when we seek to be productive on our computers, how often do we switch quickly to email or Digg or Facebook, even if just for a moment or two at a time? How much of the time spent texting and chatting on the cell phone is for entertainment purposes? And even when we do sit back on the couch with a good book, do we keep the television on, just within our peripheral vision?
Even when we look exclusively at screen time we find that people must spend several hours a day being entertained. And this does not include all the other means of entertainment available to us. So quantify your entertainment. For just a day or two track what you do and define appropriate categories. Keep an eye out for how often you switch from work to entertainment, school to entertainment, even if for only two or three minutes each time. I suspect you will find that you are demanding hours of entertainment every day.
What To Do?
Before we continue, I wish to emphasize once again that entertainment is not inherently evil. In fact, I am sure that God created us so we desire and pursue times of entertainment. However, I do think we live at a time when we pursue entertainment with reckless abandon and when we demand it in unprecedented quantities. And for this reason it does us good to think about it, to qualify it, to quantify it.Now we return to the question that triggered these articles. Somebody wrote to John Piper and asked “I believe I do love Jesus, but most of the time I’d rather spend time being entertained than spend time in God’s word. How do I break this hold that entertainment has on my heart?”
Here is Piper’s reply:
1. Recognizing it is a huge step in the right direction. 2. Seek the Lord earnestly about it. Pray like crazy that God would open your eyes to see wondrous things out of his law. 3. Immerse yourself in the Bible, even when you don’t feel like it, pleading with God to open your eyes to see what’s really there. 4. Get in a group where you talk about serious things. 5. Begin to share your faith. One of the reasons we are not as moved by our own faith as we are is because we almost never talk about it to any unbeliever. It starts to feel like a kind of hothouse thing, and then it starts to have a feeling of unreality about it. And then the powers of entertainment have more sway in our life.
What I have sought to do yesterday and today is give some guidance, some context, to this first step. I want to help you recognize if and where entertainment has dominated your time. If you quantify your entertainment and find that you are spending four or five hours a day being entertained, you may will identify with this person’s honest statement: “most of the time I’d rather spend time being entertained than spend time in God’s word.”
At this point I’d encourage you to pursue Piper’s remedy. I know there is much more that could be said at this point but his suggestions are, at the very least, a great place to start. Pray like crazy, immerse yourself in Scripture even (and especially) when you do not want to, talk with others about serious things and share the gospel. Let God’s Word shape and mold you, showing you what really matters.
Comments (13) »
1. TruthVox
June 4, 2009
10:33 AM
I know for me personally— the TV isn’t nearly as much of an attraction as the internet. Not all entertainment is bad, but much of it isn’t exactly good either. As Christians, we only have so much time— what should we choose to use it on?
-CJ
2. Parker
June 4, 2009
11:03 AM
One thing that keeps me, as a 22 year old, going back to the TV/Internet is it’s easy access. If I come back from class and don’t really feel like doing anything that requires a lot of thought, the easiest thing to do is go turn on the TV or go fire up a web browser. The younger generation is growing up in an age where we haven’t had to ever find anything to do, because if you’re bored, everything you need is right there in that screen. If you’re like me and you tend to go toward the screen because it’s the easy thing to do, I think the quick remedy is to sit down right now and write out a list of thing you’d like to do, then figure out which of those you can do when you feel less than willing to mentally perform. Then, next time you feel like turning on the TV/computer, turn to that list and start doing the first thing on it.
3. Larry Geiger
June 4, 2009
11:52 AM
Good stuff. It sounds a little like Larry Burkett when he said that the only way you can really get a handle on your finances is to document EVERYTHING that you spend. Be really, brutally honest with yourself. Most often we’re not truly honest about something in our lives until we actually document it.
4. Redeeming Riches
June 4, 2009
11:57 AM
Quantifying my entertainment is a terrifying thought. Thanks for making me think.
5. Renee
June 4, 2009
12:58 PM
Speaking of relinquishing a little or a lot of entertainment in return for some serious time spent with God, I haven’t found that to be the hardest part of my Christian walk. A true-blue Catholic by nurture, sacrifice always seemed to be the truest measure of genuine faith for me, and so I always felt more inclined to give up things in order to please Him. What I found difficult or what I didn’t expect was that God actually wanted a relationship with me. Could be that relationship models in my formative years were a little skewed, and the only emotional response I had to God was one of submission to His authority.
One day, not so very long ago, I was inspired to ask God to speak to me. I wasn’t asking for an audible voice to speak into my ear and I wasn’t neglecting the fact that God speaks to me through His word, I was asking God to speak to me personally in a way that I knew He spoke to me. The day after my petition, I sat visiting with family, discussing God. While the discussion continued, I reached for my Bible and opened the pages to Zephaniah 3. I was struck by a verse I had read, I’m sure, many times before but never really absorbed. Zephaniah 3:17 read “The Lord your God is with you, he is mighty to save. He will take great delight in you, he will quiet you with his love, he will rejoice over you with singing.” He will rejoice over you with singing? Wow. What a concept. I could never imagine my own father delighting over me with singing, and yet here, God actually was telling Israel that He would delight over her with singing. I put down the Bible and felt that, most probably through His Spirit, I was allowed to absorb an unbelievable and beautiful truth about Him.
Satisfied with such enlightenment, I got up from where I sat with my family and went up to my computer room. I logged into my e-mail account, opened the first e-mail from a friend who had sent me a daily word of encouragement from scripture. That word was Zephaniah 3:17. What I had read previously, I felt was an interesting revelation. But in receiving it a second time through a personal e-mail, I felt was God speaking to me directly. Now, some might say this is a popular verse and that it is not unusual to receive it as a form of encouragement. I would have joined you in this reasonable line of thinking in the past, but I can’t today. Receiving that verse a second time made it clear to me that God was speaking to me directly. And for all the times I have felt a deep need to please my earthly father without so much as a nod, God made it clear that He acknowledged me, and not just with a nod but with singing.
Relinquishing a little entertainment to make time for God is not an act without great rewards. It’s not the sacrifice that He wants (Psalm 40:6), it’s your time so that He can actually train you to hear Him when He tells you He loves you.
6. Lucas Knisely
June 4, 2009
3:44 PM
Qualifying entertainment merely as, “an enjoyable escape or distraction from normal life,” seems a tad narrow and rigid. It also seems intentionally slanted in a negative way due to the bias of the author. When I watch a movie or read a great fantasy novel, I’m entertained, but I also experience joy through the blessing of a good thing rising up from the creative nature in man that is a stamp of the creator. In the same way I can experience joy from a really great meal or powerful song. The above definition passively demonizes entertainment, even if it’s not the primary intention of the definition. Who wants to openly admit to distracting themselves or escaping from normal life?
I for one know people who are staunchly anti-entertainment and proselytize other Christians to follow suit. My opinion is that this causes someone who may be struggling with an addiction to entertainment to say, “That’s too extreme, I can’t do that.” and continue to live a life of addiction. Tim Keller talked about idolatry at the Gospel Coalition as taking something good and making it an ultimate thing. I think the person addicted to entertainment has done just that. And preaching the opposite extreme is not helpful to them, and it is just another good thing turned into an ultimate thing. And honestly, I think it’s a form of legalism. It is GOOD to have control over how much entertainment you’re exposed to, it’s an ULTIMATE thing to completely abstain and passively or intentionally claim that complete abstinence from entertainment is the BEST option.
The best way to help someone addicted to entertainment is not to passively accuse them of being addicted to a negative thing. A person who is addicted to something is obviously unfulfilled by Christ and are seeking it through something else. Showing them that movies, books, and tv shows CAN be good things and that they’ve corrupted them by being ruled by them is a better avenue to take. A message of, “this can be good, but you’ve made it an ultimate thing” will resonate more with someone addicted to entertainment because its a more balanced approach at rebuke.
7. Renee
June 4, 2009
4:28 PM
Lucas, I agree with your last statement. The person you speak of definitely needs grace and love in his addiction - legalists don’t do God’s work, they kill it.
There comes a time, though, in any Christian’s life when they ultimately have to acknowledge that the body was created for God (1Corinthians 6:13); that we were created to glorify Him (Isaiah 43:7), and whatever we do, we do it unto Him (Colossians 3). God help us. It’s impossible without Him.
8. Nathan
June 4, 2009
5:04 PM
I only have to work 38.75 hours a week. With that, I’m able to afford to be driven to work, to have my meals made for me, my house cleaned. My clothes are laundered. I have music played for me and books read to me. The only thing I really do is chew my own food and bathe and type on a computer. I’m only a brain and a pair of typing hands to a very small portion of the universe; to the rest of it, I am nothing.
In comparison to just about anyone from any civilization across time, I’m a cow from Bashan, coddled and fat, but what am I supposed be?
A barn builder? Someone firing off theological expositions? A professional baseball player?
I’m not sure if you can specify how much diversion from normal life is acceptable. You can’t even define normal life. Your judgment here is subjective.
9. J.L. Jameson
June 4, 2009
9:11 PM
When I’m reading Tim’s article, I’m hearing him making a suggestion to others who strive to live ONLY for Christ to be most valued above everything else … and his suggestion is to ask ourselves a few simple questions … where am I choosing to spend my time? Or, more specifically, does how I spend my time have any sort of reflection about what I value?
Isn’t that the real question here?
To me, I’m not sure there is anything more valuable to me than time. At this stage of my life, I always have more things to do, more people to talk to, more things to read, more things to learn, more things basically than I have enough time for. It breaks down to this: whenever I commit time to do something, there is always something else that I cannot do. To say yes to one thing, means I have to say no to another.
Maybe that’s just what happens after you get married, or when you get serious about the promise of “I give my life to you”, or something else, but that’s just how it is for me right now.
So I think these are good questions for the person who desires to “love God with all your heart, all your mind, and all your soul”. Sure, I can fool myself and ignore the fact that how I spend my limited time is any sort of reflection of how much I truly value Christ … but, the Spirit in me kindly slaps me in the face and I’m left to see the questions that are before me.
Now, I understand this can be taken many different ways … and by no means am I suggesting that “entertainment” by whatever loose definition you choose to align with is any sort of “evil”.
Practically speaking, once I’ve let God ask me these questions, and have been willing to give up anything he wants me to give up, I’ve found that my time that is spent on “entertainment” becomes so much more enjoyable. I’m just learning this and it is exciting. For instance, when I get to sit down and watch a few streaming LOST episodes with my wife, I thank him for that time. I thank him for that rest. I thank him for that time with my wife as we sometimes sit on the couch and hold hands. Sometimes, he even reminds me to pray during the commercials. Next thing I know, something that was typically non-God-centered has now become a form of praise, delight, and appreciation.
In the past, I completely have left him out of entertainment, and it was only about me. Before, there was no appreciation towards him for that time. I partially did this because I didn’t understand that he could sometimes be a part of “entertainment” and thought it was this binary either/or situation. Now, by asking myself questions like Tim is suggesting, and being willing to let the Spirit guide me, things change.
Lastly, I think the worst thing I could do approaching this topic is not to go to God in prayer about helping me evaluate how I spend my time. If I do that, I probably would end up removing a large chunk of my “non-God-centered entertainment” time with something else that wasn’t God centered. Then I’m right back where I started and Tim then has to be compelled by the Spirit to challenge me about spending an obsessive amount of non-God-centered time on something else!
And now that I said all this out loud … I am more accountable.
Thanks for the help!
PS: Renee, never even heard that verse … and no, I don’t believe that wasn’t happenstance.
10. jackie
June 5, 2009
8:56 AM
Renee, I enjoyed the story of God speaking to you personally and confirming it like that. First, it was a good story, and second, it is always nice to hear from others the specific ways God works in their day to day lives. And the fact that He answered you like that and quickly and trained you to hear His voice. Now you know how it sounds right? Such a good story. Glad I got to read it here. We need to hear things like this all the time.
11. Kevin Womack
June 5, 2009
12:42 PM
Amen, and Amen!
Thanks for the helpful perspective.
12. Renee
June 5, 2009
2:03 PM
Jackie,
Thanks for such generous feedback. I have a feeling He’d like to talk to us all in a more personal way.
Thanks again!
13. Diane Woerner
June 5, 2009
11:40 PM
While the Bible seems generally silent on the topic of recreation (other than God-focused feasts and celebrations), I found an important principle tucked away in the book of Haggai.
“Thus says the LORD of hosts: ‘Now, ask the priests concerning the law, saying, “If one carries holy meat in the fold of his garment, and with the edge he touches bread or stew, wine or oil, or any food, will it become holy?”’”
Then the priests answered and said, “No.”
And Haggai said, “If one who is unclean because of a dead body touches any of these, will it be unclean?”
So the priests answered and said, “It shall be unclean.”
Then Haggai answered and said, “‘So is this people, and so is this nation before Me,’ says the LORD, ‘and so is every work of their hands; and what they offer there is unclean.’” (Haggai 2:11-14)
The point being made, I think, is that a little good does not redeem bad, whereas a little bad corrupts good. One aspect of most modern entertainment is the presence of compromising elements in what may otherwise be wholesome fare. God, it seems, does not endorse this compromise.
There is a tendency, even among Christians, to justify viewing programs that contain either very witty humor or cleverly intriguing plots. The resulting “merry heart” or sharpened mind is seen as sufficiently valuable to override the exposure to things that are unclean. But humor cannot sanitize filth, and a mind that engages fallen values is not at the same time being renewed in God’s righteous ways (Ephesians 4:17-24; Colossians 3:5-10).