Worse than drugs — the dangers of infinite entertainment
I recently cleared out my hard-drive to make some space and deleted a bunch of movies and series I have watched over the years.
What shocked me was not that there was so many of them, but that there were movies and even entire series that I had no memory of watching.
The amount of time lost to pure in-the-moment pleasure is easily in the hundreds of not thousands of hours.
Did that time actually return value to me?
Could I have used it differently?
Could I have increased my experiences of the world, my skills, my wealth or my relationships?
I’m certain those areas would have improved if I had more time to dedicate towards them.
I’m reminded of this video, in which we hear philosopher David Foster Wallace talk about the dangers of the escape of entertainment, offered to us through television and even more so today through the rise of the internet.
Entertainment is easy, and it feels good. But, that does not mean it’s a bad thing.
After all, stories are how humans build incredibly rich worlds and lives, and how we pass on important knowledge and principles to each other.
The problem comes when it is combined with an individual’s loss of control. Then it can become a pervasive and damaging drug of choice.
The problem is magnified by the following:
- Entertainment is dumbed down, catered to base needs and desires. It is meant to make people feel good, not to make them think, contemplate and become better humans
- Humanity is increasingly moving to a self-centered, pleasure focused society. Lack of self-control and the pursuit of sensory pleasure ensures we head down the wrong path and make short-term decisions instead of long-term ones
- Entertainment and media don’t look like drugs. They are so innocent looking and ubiquitous that you will be looked at as a weirdo if you don’t periodically numb yourself with modern entertainment and media
As a species, we often confuse what we want with what we need. We are not the best at taking care of ourselves in this modern world of super-normal stimuli.
Yet, this is exactly what we need to do.
We need to become our own parents, coaches, doctors, therapists and teachers.
Are we destined to be consumed by consumption?
Naturally, too much of anything can be detrimental.
If it offers an experience better than real life, our preference for it is greater than our real life.
It’s then easy to allow that thing to become addictive and destructive.
You need to ensure that entertainment is kept in its place, and not as a way of keeping you from dealing with your issues and progressing in life.
Wallace removed the television from his home in order to combat his tendency to escape via entertainment. He was deeply affected by the media and the societal decay it signified and perpetuated. He eventually took his own life.
You don’t need to be that extreme (removing the television), since you’re probably not as deeply troubled as David was. That being said, it could only help by creating a space to do more fulfilling activities in your life.
Introducing some restrictions on use (such as only after dinner) is important to prevent yourself from overindulging in this area. It turns out parents were right yet again!
The curse of hedonistic adaptation is always working to tempt a person to the degenerate life, and as such anything that gives you pleasure (especially something artificial) should be carefully monitored.
More importantly, there is so much educational and uplifting content on the internet these days, that it is possible to use this tendency for good and to be somewhat productive.
To procrastinate productively.
After all, if you’re going to “waste time”, you might as well do it in a way that makes you better at the end of it in some way.
Just like out bodies are built by the food we eat, our minds are built by the knowledge and ideas we consume.
We become what we consume.
So we must consume wisely.
