Drippings from the Honeycomb
More to be desired are [the rules of the Lord] than gold, even much fine gold; sweeter also than honey and drippings of the honeycomb. (Psalm 19:10)
The Television (TV) was invented in 1927 and became popular after WWII. As a new form of medium (media is plural of medium, meaning mass communication) it engaged the populace’s senses and brain in new ways than traditional written forms. It both enabled positive content yet its addictive power made prey a ready audience to which to broadcast ungodly content, first subtly and then overtly. Today there are many other forms of screened entertainment and information but TV remains popular.
As a runner I’m permitted a neat cross-section of our culture, particularly on dark winter nights. As I run around Markdale or Flesherton, living rooms and dining rooms are ablaze with light from extra-large flat screen TVs. Canadians spend 20.6 hours/week watching TV, not to mention 5 hours/week on Youtube and more time on other applications.[1] Many people even have it on as background during general family and social time. That is a lot of time in front of a TUBE! When I was a child I watched too much TV. It wasn’t all bad (e.g. history documentaries), however, it wasn’t healthy spending 3 hours a night watching TV. As I grew in my faith I dropped TV altogether (except for some news). Rather, I spent time at church, working, with friends, reading or doing hobbies. While I’ve occasionally watched a movie on the laptop or on a plane or browsed Youtube my adult life has been devoid of TV. In fact we don’t own one! (This surprised a media salesman on a recent visit when trying to sell us bundle deals, we don’t use 60GB on our phone or have a TV for satellite!). As you may guess, I’m not against TV but one must handle it with great discernment. Psalm 115:8 says (speaking of idols), “those who make them become like them; so do all who trust in them.” Essentially, we are what we eat! What are we consuming (including music). Ironically, as an over-user, one relative accurately described the TV as ‘the idiot box’; much on TV is not edifying. Just as media can be used by and for Christ to advance His purposes, so too the media is regularly used by Satan to sow lies, dull our thinking and fill our lives with trivial things rather than things that enrich our lives (Phil 4:8). Studies show that our brains and relational skills are negatively impacted by too much media exposure, especially children.[2] (Yet how many parents use media to pacify their children; I even know of a 4-year-old with a TV in their bedroom!). In our media and technologically saturated world we need to be savvy in how and how much we expose ourselves too. Time to go read a book… [1] https://madeinca.ca/television-industry-audience-statistics-canada/#:~:text=Canadians%20spend%20a%20lot%20of,still%20spent%20watching%20live%20TV. [2] https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC10353947/#:~:text=However%2C%20studies%20have%20shown%20that,academic%20performance%20in%20later%20years. Comments are closed.
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