It has been a family day today and most likely, I might tune out from Steem a little for the rest of the evening too as I am thinking about doing something I haven't done in a while, watch a movie. I can't even remember the last one I saw, but I think it was somewhere around six months ago. Still not sure what the movie will be, hopefully something that adds some kind of value to my thoughts.
Once upon a time, entertainment used to be a way for me to avoid other aspects of my life, the work I had to do or the thoughts I didn't want to think. I suppose entertainment is a tool of avoidance for many these days and as I have long called it, a weapon of mass distraction. I suspect that while we have been led to believe that the end goal is to have more chance to do as we please, what we please is actually fed to us to influence us into passivity rather than activity.
For me, once I stopped consuming I had the space in my life to think and then started creating and through the process I continued to develop myself and the more I did, the more I could do. Thought, creativity and other skill-based processes are powered by usage and atrophy when not applied consistently. And when they are used at a level that challenges them, they stretch to improve and as the cycle continues, the next challenge met can be that much harder. Over time, there is mastery.
I am not sure if there are many masters anymore as for most there is a very heavy reliance on the digital resources available and while some people seem to think they are talented, remove the Google crutches and they fall over time and time again. I see this as a symptom of being entertained rather than developing skills as many get the sense that they have an ability but never have to have it tested openly. It is like watching a Bruce Lee film and believing that the skills are held, even though they have never been practiced, let alone tested.
It is also interesting to note that these days, the internet "masters" spend their time displaying themselves and even get support from those who do not know any better, do not recognize the flaws in the positions. There is always a difference between saying something and doing something and on the internet there are a lot of people saying they have done yet offer no supporting evidence, nor observable behaviors to back their claims. Just words.
I like words as they are part of the process of creation. Thought, word, action.
The thing is that it seems that more often than not the thought is that one has skills they do not, the words express their belief - but the action is missing. Without the movement of thought to action, there is no creation, just stagnant belief and a life of illusion - or delusion as the case may be.
Perhaps the reason why entertainment is such big business is that it supports the illusions we hold of ourselves and keeps us from looking in the mirror long enough to realize, we are not what we think we are.
Taraz
[ a Steem original ]
It just starts with one... Then you are breaking into people's homes to watch their movies and running scams on the streets to get just one more movie. It's a bad end... :0D
I could have been watching movies in my own home all this time??
That way lies madness!
I find a good movie to be an escape from reality. But a stinker of a movie seems like such a waste of time, choose well. Also, it is a stress reliever of sorts for Me personally. Great post..!!
It is definitely an escape from reality, it seems some never come back. :)
So cute baby...
Well said! :) Enjoy your day with your family and the movie.
Hahaha that's totally true. I have plenty of anecdotal memories from my youth when our local gang of the block used to attend to the cinema in large groups together to watch the premier of those Kung Fu movies so popular at the time in the 70s.
Once the movie ended, a good bunch of these 'friendly' chaps almost always left the cinema wanting to kick someone's ass around. And more often than not, it was they who ended up with their asses well-kicked. LoL
Entertainment can be an escape for many people. Personally I like a good movie or show, but have a hard time just watching them. I tend to be doing something else while it's on as it doesn't hold my attention. It's more of background noise for me. Personally I'd drop all of our live tv and be content with netflix...but the Wife and kids would be very upset. Actually we did it for 2 months and they were driving me crazy so had to start it back up.
Has this changed over time? I have friends wil oder kids (teenage) who's kids can't watch a movie. I put it down to the entertainment they consume as being fastfood content, YouTube clip, Instagram, snapchat etc. "investing" two hours into a film seems a long time.
Interesting question. Hadn't really thought about it, but I'd say it has changed some. What I watch hasn't changed much. Always have enjoyed horror movies, sci fi, and comedy. But what has changed is my ability to have a computer in my lap while I watch. When I was kid I might play with something while I watched tv or sort baseball cards or whatever. Never just watching TV.
My kids will sit and watch youtube clips and stuff on their tablets, but I never see them. We don't allow snapchat or instagram yet for either of them and I hate both of them...total time suck with absolutely nothing of value on them. I'm going to have to start using instagram more for my business as people like it, but I see no real purpose to it other then using it as a marketing tool. I will never be a consumer of content there.
Hey, remember that Dropbox folder we have? how about some smallsteps pics dude? we should have a Whatsapp sesh this weekend as we fly to NZ for a couple of weeks next weekend.
If entertainment is a weapon of mass destrction are the people that make entertainment weaponsmiths or just plain distractioneers O_O
Hope the family time was good :D
Soldiers in the war on attention. =)