Entertaining Ourselves to Extinction

March 12, 2010

I like to be entertained and a good laugh can melt the most hardened feelings or attitudes. Humor is an essential ingredient in a balanced life, and when I find myself taking myself or the issues too seriously there is always a member of the family to encourage me to ‘lighten up.’ Point well taken, and I recognize humor’s prominent role in a healthy life; that being said, we, the human family especially in developed nations, are on a dangerous path towards entertaining ourselves to extinction.

Perhaps providentially, though I am certain the creators of the two popular reality shows named ‘Survivor’ and ‘Lost’ had no idea that their shows were pointing the way towards the challenging years ahead. Already, we think of people surviving, or barely surviving in many parts of Africa, and now our awareness has grown of the plight of the Haitians. Islands in the Pacific watching water levels creep across their sand bar homes are starting to talk about survival. For many of us, our hearts are softened by the images we see on television, but the long term response to the trajectory we are on has been to increase access to that which entertains and amuses us; rather than to educate ourselves to enlightenment and understanding of the issues compromising the integrity of millions across the globe.

Technologic innovation, television programming, movies story lines and production, best selling authors, countless magazines, and even the presentation of the religious message have all been packaged to entertain. Watch the TV programming guide cycle through its offering and you are privileged to hours and hours of often mindless entertainment. Occasionally educational programming suspends my channel surfing and I watch a National Geographic Special on polar bears, or listen to Jeff Corwin lament about vanishing species, or admire cogent commentary on the health care plan; but more often than not I am forced to listen to sound bites and the entertainers posing as journalists. And our gadgets, my goodness, a phone has now become a directional GPS, a link to everyone we have ever known, and a window into the world of websites far and wide. We can attach our Game boy to the TV, play countless games on Wii and amuse ourselves forever with DVD’s CDs, Ipods, and countless other marvels of modern minds. I too like my music but a record player still works, and a phone is not different than 100 years ago in terms of end result; except for the fact that our telephone # on Cape Cod used to be 431 and now it is so long that I can not remember it. Yes, I can entertain myself all day long on my daughter’s I phone!

In addition, and this phenomenom is growing; I don’t know about you, but the internet and the game machines are addicting. I know addiction. I am addicted to searching for old magazines. Not a bad thing in itself, but the addiction side is very interesting to note. I can not seem to go more than a day or two without checking EBay to see what is new. Have I become a part of my own self fulfilling prophecy – am I entertaining myself to extinction?

A wise mentor once reminded me that certain behaviors can be addicting, rarely our relationships – the exact quote was: “Peter, work is addicting, marriage is not.” I now add, entertainment is addicting and often the couple seeing me for some advanced marital training or a marriage check up complain of the hours dedicated to entertainment, rather than partner participation in shared activities. Breakdown of family is high on the list of people reflecting on modern life, and when examined TV, or our entertainment gadgets are often a baby sitter. Cars now have TV’s in the back seats so our children can watch videos or movies, play games, and not have to interact with anyone for hours on end. Has the internet become a necessity, and is face book replacing face to face interaction with family and friends? I think we all know the answer and the acceleration of the extinction of playing outside and getting in touch with nature is already underway.

Are we entertaining ourselves too much? Is that even possible?

The facts: Who get the big salaries in our culture? Celebrity corporate executives, professional athletes, movie, TV, and radio personalities – NOTE: when a culture pays Howard Stern 500 million dollars to entertain us with inappropriate behavior, language, innuendo and salacious offerings on a 24/7 basis you know we have slid into the extinction track. Our young watch hours and hours of television, much of which is designed to sell more stuff to them via advertising that seems to increase in frequency and intensity every year; and why? - so the young can be entertained some more, rather than educated to the reality they will face.

Is entertaining ourselves to extinction simply another way of saying we are fiddling while Rome burns, or arranging the deck chairs on the Titanic? When I ask myself this question I am quick to discover I need to be very conscious of the allocation of my time. Wasting time is now bred into us. Once I, we, own this behavior it will lose its power over us. If not, we, you and I both, are contributing to the extinction of our own species. Amen!