Tuesday, February 16, 2016

Mind-numbing Distraction


Modern America, with all of its innovations and technological advancements, is becoming a waste land of mind-numbing distractions.  We are more in tune with our social media accounts than we are with our children and television (tablets, computers....pick your poison) has replaced family conversation.  Tools that were designed to serve mankind, to increase our productiveness and give us more hours in our day, have instead become mind-numbing Masters, distractions that require our constant attention, stealing our lives while whispering "you can't live without me".

Distractions come in many forms.  And we have so many of them now.  The news, the latest diet craze, sports teams, impending societal doom, video games, Facebook, shopping.  We have exchanged an engaged, thoughtful life for an existence marked by always-striving, never-achieving, stress-filled imperfection.   We are losing our families, our country, even our souls, to mind-numbing distractions.

It is time for us to wake up.  We have to look past the pretty, shiny things in front of our face and strive for things of eternal value and consequence.  We have to reclaim dominion over our lives and relegate our gadgets to a position of servant-hood rather than our serving them as masters.  We have to discern between what is "good" and what is "best". 

I'm not much of a believer in conspiracy theories.  Most of the atrocities in our world are happening right under our noses, we are just too distracted to see them.  We pay more attention to keeping up with the Jones' and checking our twitter accounts than we do to electing leaders that will lead with conviction and truth.  We are more concerned with "our" sports team winning the big game than we are balancing our checkbook - or making sure our government balances theirs.  We are distracted by minutia while history records the fall of a civilization.

Unplug.  Disengage.  Untangle yourself from the distractions that have numbed you to the realities of your life, your family, your nation.  Set the table - connect with your spouse and children.  Turn off the television - seek for the truth yourself, don't buy what someone else tries to sell to you as truth.  Turn your gadgets into tools rather than distractions.  Read a book, knead some bread, engage your mind as you walk through your day - don't let the constant drone of distractions rob you from thinking deep thoughts and experiencing raw and real emotion.

You were born for such a time as this.  Don't let distractions steal your days - they are too few already.  Wake up - and live.

10 comments:

  1. Sad but true, the distractions are eating away at the fabric of our lives and country and sadly - a lot of churches. Those who are paying attention seem to be fewer all the time! Thanks for another well thought out post. You say the things I think - but better than I do!!

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  2. Such a great reminder to unplug and pay attention to our families and owhat is going on in our world.

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  3. They talk about "distracted driving" as a danger to those around them, and it's true. We can only concentrate on one thing at a time. If we are so into "distracted living" we miss out on life around us, and that's dangerous for us. Ordinarily we take what life throws at us, but with these devices, we choose what life is for us. That's unnatural and not the way we were designed to live.

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  4. I always believed it started with television and air conditioning. They kept us off the front porch and away from neighbors. Do something nice for your neighbor. You'll both feel better.

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  5. I feel this way too but the only problem is most around me do NOT feel this way. No matter how much I want to live in the moment and be with others - others are too distracted to want the same. It really bothers me sometimes but I hope more will wake up to the reality of all this.

    I don't have an FB or Twitter - others say that I'm not wanting to be with them and I'm thinking - really!? I want to be with you in real life, not with you "online" - there is a difference! It somehow went from them ignoring me by posting their life online, to me being the one ignoring them by not being online. Aarrghh - I can't win!

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  6. Tried that. Only to be told that, if I wanted to have a relationship with my family, I needed to stop cramming my values down their throats. We are already lost, the days already wasted. It's "sit down, shut up, and let me watch tv."

    If I'd had an inkling that it would be like this (it wasn't, until I gave in and let him get cable), we never would have had children.

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  7. Heck, Throw in some kung pao chicken and I'm all in!

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  8. I suppose every technological advancement has its societal effects..wait until electronics are tied directly to nerves.Videos tied directly to optic nerves, audio to aural nerves. Or maybe full-sensory connections. You can imagine where that leads, and it's likey to happen.
    There's distracted walking. I work near a college, and there have been more than a few cases of someone looking at their phone and just walking out in front of cars. In casual observation of people on campus, about 75% of them are on their phone at any given time.
    Anything can be a distraction, if you let it.

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