We Are Addicted To Entertainment

hypnotic-brain

Earlier I wrote an article which touched upon the veil of ‘the matrix’ — the illusion that is put upon us — which is part of a system designed to ‘steer’ our focus, our attention, our ‘reality’ – to distract, divert, divide.

While some of you may think that such a concept is conspiracy, think about it… Could it be one way in which our so called ‘leaders’ are getting away with running our nation into the ground while hardly anyone is paying attention? The focus of the herd is elsewhere.

A significant subset of the overall distraction is entertainment. We are living in a modern world that is brimming with entertainment…


 
We can carry it with us wherever we go. Our smart phones, our iPads, our endless electronic gadgets. Countless game ‘apps’ and the mind-boggling array of other apps keep the herd busy.

Gamers. Video games. Xbox, PS3 PlayStation, PC gaming — there is a huge portion of the herd who are addicted to video games.

Television. The tabloids. The sitcoms. And all the rest of your programming choices are enormous in today’s modern world of cable, satellite, and internet. The number of hours spent watching TV is extraordinary.

Music. For many, it’s always ‘on’. The radio in your car. The system at home. Earbuds in your ears corded to your iPod or other device as you move about.

It’s all a constant ‘output’ bombardment into your brains. Who has time to ‘think’??

This is the point I’m making… we have so much noise coming in (in this case, ‘entertainment’), that there’s no ‘alone time’ with one’s own thoughts. During your precious ‘free time’, there’s no time to think. To contemplate. To analyze. At least that is the choice that the herd has made – perhaps coaxed into it through the system’s intent. Technology has lifted entertainment to a new level – a level which enables you to be entertained 24/7.

Is this a good thing? As with many things, “all things in moderation”. The problem is that for many there is no moderation. It has become a way of life. If the people are always distracted, then they can be controlled by just a few. You’ve probably heard the phrase, “fat, dumb, and happy”. So long as the ‘powers-that-be’ can keep the herd in this state of being, they can continue the charade. But the thing is, one day, when the plug has been pulled, the herd never having ‘thought’ about real life – will be up $hits creek without a paddle…

35 Comments

  1. You’ve just underscored the exact problem with the millennial generation who’ve accepted a false world of technology and media as their idol and day to day way of living. They live for it with Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, etc.

    The sad thing is that this is what is taking people’s eyes off what really matters. It happens while driving. It happens at dinner while sitting across from someone. It happens mid-conversation when taking a phone call. Priorities are misplaced these days, sadly.

    Managing your technology intake is a far, far more difficult task than most folks realize. The temptations are just too much to resist most times. And, this is something I can say with credibility with over 20 years evolving right in the thick of the industry I work within. I’ve learned along the way, but it wasn’t easy to grow or mature. Younger generations haven’t had the time to learn and mature as the speed and growth of technology has been exponential.

    I think that this topic isn’t about moderation so much as it is about becoming responsible and moving away from the selfish temptations to retreat into a technology.

    Our household is cable free for close to 4 years now. I directly manage our intake as a family via downloadable content or what physical media we’ve purchased, which is less and less anymore. We use Over The Air “OTA” for our HDTV broadcast signals. We do not subscribe to the subversive Hollywood machine any longer!

    There are ways to moderate, but it’s hard and requires dedication! Interestingly, it was a Paul Harvey quote that really drove the decision home.

    Paul Harvey – “If I were the devil, I would get control of the media, so that every night I could pollute the mind of every family member for my agenda”

    And the past several years has just made smartphones and apps within an extended medium for the devil to do his dirty work…

    For what it is worth, if you must use technology for a legitimate reason, try to cut the ties with all technology for a planned few weeks a year or take mini hiatuses here and there.

    1. I loved your response. These gadgets and technology have an addictive quality to distract people from the real world going on around them.

      I see where most people live in the Matrix…a phone commercial said, “we know the last thing you see when you go to sleep and when you first wake up,”… speaking about your I-phone, smart phone, etc. Not your child, not your loved ones, and certainly not the real world.

  2. When I was younger I was a huge sports fan and spent many hours a week watching sporting events and sports analysis. Not anymore. Several years ago I refocused my life so that my time outside of work is focused on faith, family and friends. My entertainment is based on actually doing something constructive like hunting, firearms training, camping (and teaching the younger ones survival skills in the process), gardening, working on my preps, reading, Bible studies. I can’t tell you the last time I went to the movies as I refuse to put money in the pockets of those who are harming our country.

  3. Truth. Your totally correct. I have been guilty myself. I tried quitting cable. The hubby had to have sports, so we got it back. But now, I find myself wanting to read or do something else. The quality of television is horrible. It’s ok to watch now and then, but not all the time. He likes to work in the yard and garden too.

    Sgt Bill, I have gotten more into my Bible studies as well. Very refreshing and enjoyable.

    I do have a Facebook. You should have heard my friends comments when I offhandedly said I should just close it. Wow. It was like how could you do that! How could people keep in contact? I was like, um there is a thing called a phone. How about a lunch date? Liking a picture is not keeping up with someone. I hardly ever get on there anyway.

    1. HAHAHA, your comment on FB, classic. Someone posting a photo of their lunch is their ideas of having lunch LOL. I always want to write back “why the hell did you not invite someone to enjoy that with you and have a ‘real’ conversation, BTW there was a fly in that sandwich” HAHAHA

    2. Joseph and Noah were preppers in the Bible :) Figured I can’t be in bad company. Keep the faith

    3. Hi Texasgirl,

      I got off of Facebook 5 years ago and it was one of the best decisions I have ever made. Things were getting much too gossipy with family and I couldn’t take it anymore. I am so glad I disconnected from that. I also don’t spend tons of time on the computer looking at photos and videos. Sure, I don’t see baby/child pictures or keep up with every little thing each of my “friends” is doing. That’s okay, I can live with that. I see and talk to people when I see and talk to them. My real friends and I have an understanding that there are no expectations and we just pick up from where we left off when we see/talk to each other. I try to make an effort to see the people who mean a lot to me, and I let them know that. I write people’s birthdays on a calendar and call, email or send a card, rather than have Facebook remind me. I believe people are in your life for a reason, a season or a lifetime. Facebook wasn’t working with that way of thinking for me. Good luck and be strong! You will get tons of pushback but a lot of people honestly understand and are most likely wanting to do the same thing.

      NG

  4. You just echoed my words for years.

    I have found most people I work and associate with are fixated with everything and anything that makes their mind go numb. Your list above tells the story.

    Hence I have disconnected all “main stream TV” I only listen to the news on radio for a limited time, Internet in the search of “truthful” news and a couple of Blogs. The newspapers all have nada but crapo and advertisements, the TV has nada but “feel good” BS, the radio is full of 75% ads and hateful noise called music.

    I find it a lot better to actually spend time listening to the calls of nature (don’t laugh) and watching the world (your laughing I know you are, hehehe)than some crapo on TV.

    Your article of the Matrix spelled it all out very well. Why oh Why did I not take that stinking “Blue” pill hahahaha. Because I enjoy THIS life and living in THIS world, not some BS that Hatefullwood wants us to believe. And NO I will not go into my feelings on what that government POS is teaching people UGH!!!!! God help our kids from the government ran schools.
    NRP

  5. One may ask why does the human race spend so much time/money on the phone, TV, music, and videos, etc. Well, the answer indicates how much the human race has evolved out of survival in what nature requires. If the human had to spend all his time trying to survive like other animals, looking for food, or not becoming food then like other animals there would be no entertainment. As a result of all this independence from nature the natural selection process no longer selects out the unfit and look what we have become. There are so many misfit people. But no worries, when SHTF natural selection will kick in big time and then there will be a massive die-off. For the most part modern humans can not even grow their own food. The world is almost at the point where there will be a massive die-off.

      1. Great chart. Just can’t see this ending well. You know what happens when the deer population grows too fast. Hmmmmmm……..

    1. I know. LGBTQ will be decimated, mental illness will disappear. Basically the human genome will become ” Pure” again. ( Dont take offence to this)

      1. Also nowadays the wealthier and more successful people often have less children than the poor people.

  6. I have family diaries dating from the 1930’s and 40’s describing a typical evening; Dad would read from the classics while mom did some sewing and the children would be quietly playing. Sometimes they would play the piano, Saturday night they would all sit around the radio and listen to ‘The Shadow’, Jack Benny or ‘Amos n’ Andy’.

    Remember Marshall McLuhan ‘The Medium is the Message’from the 1960’s? Here is a link to another one of his ‘The Medium is the Massage’:
    https://archive.org/details/pdfy-vNiFct6b-L5ucJEa To update the theme of this book I would add that people are more likely to give credibility to something they find on the internet than in a book.

    There is so much money to be made by feeding entertainment to the youth that it will only increase the amount of distraction and subsequent erosion of traditional morality and values. There is no money to be made from young people sitting under a tree reading the bible. Unless it’s an app.

    People of all ages who are dependent on their device do not know how to learn. Everything is placed in front of them without anymore effort that moving their fingers on a keypad or screen.

  7. Off Subject, Info for the group, Augason Farms has their summer 40% off sale going on (July 13-July 19). Some great buy’s over there, use Ken’s link. And no I don’t work for them :-/

    NRP

  8. Excellent article Ken. People are getting their news from pop cultural sites which is in the pocket of the leftists (sadly media, academia, and now seemingly many Churches are joining the herd).

    My biggest concern is social media (Twitter, Facebook, etc..) all of which contribute greatly to a brain dead society. All by design I’m afraid. Who spills their guts to total strangers on a regular basis?

    Anyway, as one answered recently on a recent poll, “reliable info” is what’s in short supply. That’s pre-shift.

  9. As an avid reader, who “learned” to read a page at a time, instead of word by word, line by line, etc. I love reading! I find it stimulates and relaxes my mind, including reading the Bible and other spiritually uplifting texts.(not phone texts for the Millenials reading this…)

    I am nearly IT illiterate and do not Facebook, or any other social media and choose what I watch, usually historical and some news/discussion programs is all. We cut cable and were glad to do so, we do Roku, since our youngest(a Millenial-GASP!) said that we were better off on Roku than trying to surf for something for entertainment or education. She is correct….so far.

    I don’t Twitter, or anything else and remain completely unashamed of it. Screw ’em. I value my old fashioned privacy! I prefer to have actual discussions with LIVE human friends, instead of “virtual associates” who are no more friends than a cockroach is my friend.

    I AM addicted to reading, studying and learning the old fashioned way. I’d rather do something than sit on my butt and have my mind polluted by talking heads discussing inane political “strategies” that might mean something to the political whores, they mean nothing to me. I loathe political pimps/whores for the pox on society that they truly are. I favor term limits for ALL elected office holders, no lifetime benefits, no special privileges, etc. You lowlife bast***s work for we the taxpayers and it is time you realized it. I want to see every elected office holder be subject to Recall by his/her constituents if they deserve it do to their imperious manners while in office. It’s time we started taking our Republic from these incompetent “professional politicians” who are lowlife scumbags!(and ALL of them are lowlife scumbags) I would rather spend time with friends and neighbors than see what some “actor” is wearing, doing, thinking, who cares? It’s an actor! It’s not like they are actually important to society! OK, sorry for the rant to the choir! Great article!!

  10. People are slowly coming around to our way of thinking and preparing for the apocalypse.

    I think it could be said we’re already in a post-apocalypse era. It all started when the first greedy bastard got together a gang and announced to his clan mates, “All that over there– it belongs to me. Keep off, or pay.” From then on, human societies were intrinsically individualistic and human vs. human. No tribe to run with anymore (which even a chimp or wild dog still has).

    I think it all ended when the concept of ownership of land was introduced. It’s a pretty odd concept, if you think about it. “Those woods, that river, and that mountain over there- and everything in them- belong to me. If any other human sets foot in that space, I can have him punished.” No more “We are a community of people, a clan working together to try to keep everyone alive.”

    Once people started claiming individual ownership of land, the idea of community, cooperation and relative equality was gone. Now we had people with more wealth, and therefore more power, freedom, and rights in the community than other people. It continued that way until better transportation and communication technology allowed trade to develop. And with trade came money and monetary wealth. And ultimately capitalism- where money itself is the greatest source of power. So we traded a fixed have/have-not society (landowning aristocracies) for a money-based, competitive, dog-eat-dog society (free capitalism). And that has persisted up to now, where the entire globeful of humans is racing to get as much out of the capitalism money-gathering system as it can. Heedless of that fact they’re wrecking the environment/Earth habitat for humanity in the process.

  11. lots of good points here. haven’t had time to read the entire lot, yet, so excuse me if this sort of point has been made.

    this media / entertainment addiction (to my mind) is part and parcel of what has been on going by “folks in power”/ “govt” over the past, say hundred years.

    all of the below contribute to less questioning populations/less demanding populations/less analytical populations etc (in industrialised/westernised/modern societies). And, they seem to have all contributed to end result…

    -more prescribed drugs, starting with preschool children –(most drugged group of children in the world, and that is legally prescribed)
    -more illegal drugs and designer drugs
    -this mind numbing onslaught of “entertainment” addictions/techie addictions…(and what you wanna bet a good few of those somehow are designed to key in to tonal brain waves so they are more eagerly listened to?)
    -less quality foods…more chemicals in foods, and even whole foods (potatoes/carrots etc), are inundated with chemicals in the field/chemicals in storage/chemicals to ripen etc… Even certified organic foods have sometimes tested to have chemicals
    -more strict adherence to one type of education in schools – less questioning allowed
    -and so on

    to my mind, it all contributes to a more compliant/less questioning population, and gotta wonder if this is intentional???

  12. If people work hard they should be allowed to keep or invest or give away what they work for. A person who does well pays more taxes thereby helping society. Yes there are some laws that makes a rich person have an advantage over people like us but this is the result of allowing socialist ideas into our politics. For example we should be equal, which capitalism preaches, but instead of a flat tax we allow those with more right off taxes that we at the bottom cant take advantage of because of a lack of capital. If you like the community approach try one of the countries people are fleeing to get here.

  13. Some are talking about the Jade Helm exercise planned for this summer, in which the military will mix with civilian folks.
    Most people are so wrapped up in their ‘devices’ that they won’t see military in full battle dress!
    If they do—they will only be interested in posting on facebook, or wherever —

  14. Alot of young people don’t even watch the mainstream alphabet tv channels anymore. Its all the premium channels or netflix and hulu.

    Mentioned the confederate flag crap going on to my step daughter and she had no idea what I was talking about!! Never watches the news(good thing!) but can tell me anything I don’t want to know about the kardashians!!

    Priorities…priorities!!

  15. C.S. Lewis wrote a little-noticed book “A Grief Observed” covering his emotional reaction to life & everything, upon the death from cancer of his wife. It’s only ~75 pages long, and edited from his personal journal. ~pg25, he makes the stark observation, “reality, looked at steadily, is unendurable.”

    If one takes that for truth (and Lewis has a reputation for cutting through to truth where almost no-one else does) he may have inadvertently explained the pervasive and enduring need for entertainment.

    Along the same line, a former boss said that in high school he had been a member of a small club of kids – each of whom had a paranormal talent. One of the kids could read moods of people physically close to him. Not minds, but mental outlook at that moment. As the kid became an adult, he had to check into psychiatric care every 6-7 months, to get de-toxxed from his interactions with strangers on the street. He claimed that roughly 80% of them were at some stage of suicidal. That would square with the observation that ~1-in-4 to 1-in-5 Adult Americans is on prescription psychotropic (mood-lifting) medication. Seen that way, perhaps entertainment is the medication-free avoidance mechanism for many of the rest of us.

    If all of that’s true, it will mean something grim for post-SHTF society when these prescriptions aren’t available. In the wagon train that carried Brigham Young and others west to Utah, they would finish each day bone-tired and wanting to only sleep until dawn. Brigham would have none of it. “Get out the fiddle, and we’ll dance,” he decreed. And, each night, they did for an hour. They arrived in Utah in relatively good spirits, despite draconian hardship along the way. I think there’s a lesson hiding in there somewhere, waiting to be grokked…

  16. We dumped satellite over a year ago. When I put a new roof on the house I threw the receiver dish all the way down to the ground to make sure it was destroyed. Can’t see paying over $100 bucks a month just to watch reruns and commercials. When cable and satellite came out the idea was paying to not see commercials. Don’t miss it a bit and use the saved money for preps. Even with OTA local channels, you watch 2 minutes of news and 5 minutes of commercials.

  17. Well I have to admit I am somewhat guilty of this. I have progressed out of it slowly as I age.

    About 2008 I finally realized that I had been missing a lot and started reading again. I read a bit as a kid but never did much more than thumb through magazines since. Once I started back I was unable to stop. Now my wife complains that I have to many books. She scrutinizes every amazon package looking to see if I ordered more.

    I don’t have cable for that matter haven’t had it for about 7 years now. I know what it causes. I would sit and watch it all day long. The more you sit the less you desire to get up.
    We have the over the air channels that’s it. Mostly we watch METV. The kids love the reruns of the classics. Still love Hogans heroes.

    We don’t have internet at the house. No need for it. What little I need to do from a computer I can do at work. 90% of what I do on the internet is on my phone. I do spend a lot of time on my phone reading various blogs. My wife actually told me once to stop reading my phone and read a book. That kinda threw me. She didn’t like it when I boiled it down to stop reading and read.

    Here in lies the rub. I love games. I haven’t been playing much lately but wait till November when Fallout 4 comes out and I will get lost in it for a while then moderate. Wasted time I know but I really enjoy it.

    So while I completely agree and pretty much try to avoid a lot of the distraction. I also have to say I’m guilty of using the technology for good. Without it I wouldn’t be able to read the blogs and various prep sights. My drive in would be boring as it is I always have a podcast of some sort playing trying to pick up different aspects of prepping.

    1. Also, to clarify my position, I’m not chastising technology (I’m using it right now!), instead just pointing out how some (lots?) people ‘go overboard’ with a constant flow of entertainment input to the brain – rather than using some time in other ways which involve thinking for one’s-self. All things in moderation ;)

  18. Played the arcade game pac man in a grocery store when it first came out, I won! But I didn’t get my quarter back nor did I win a prize. That was the last time I played a video game, the only winner is the person who collects the quarters! I have a smart phone and use it as phone, calendar, camera and for driving directions. Smart phones do not have sufficient security to do banking or go on the internet. I have one app that I trust, it is the only one that I have ever downloaded as I do not think they are safe (lots of hidden bugs and viruses in them!) I do facebook about twice a week, believe me it is better than having to deal with those people in person!(family!) I find the internet to be a great research tool, currently studying wild edibles. I like TV for news, documentaries and an occasional show. The trick with TV is to only turn it on when there is something worth watching! (very rare!)

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