Tim Stevens posted this video last week. He pointedly asked whether this better describes today’s digital media (e.g., internet, social media, smart phones).
Does television control you?
Does digital or social media control you?
What do you think?
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Matthew Erickson 
that is hilarious
After a minute of it the only thing it did was make me want to &^%$# slap Tim Stevens or whoever made that, it’s annoying. No TV is not a drug. A drug is a substance, tv is not a substance and therefore not cabable of being a drug. Addicting yes but not a drug.
Angela, your comment made me laugh out loud! I was picturing you slapping Tim Stevens for how annoying the video was.
While TV isn’t a drug in the formal sense, it does seem to have some Of the same characteristics: some thing external to the self that addicts us to an experience with at times detrimental effects.
What do you think?
Hilarious – and sad. I can’t tell you how many times I’ve been someplace (restaurant, a friend’s house, a store, etc.) and the ubiquitous idiot box is not only on but those people around it are transfixed upon it. Not a substance, but a deadly drug nonetheless.
It reminds me of an early Calvin and Hobbes comic strip from many years ago. The opening frame has Calvin reading to Hobbes the Karl Marx quote, “Religion is the opiate of the masses”, and stating to his tiger friend, “What do you suppose that means?” The second frame has a picture of a television set which says, “It means Karl Marx hadn’t seen anything yet.”
I guess this includes me, too…
Ah, Calvin & Hobbes … I loved the days of that fun and philosophical comic strip.
I think the challenge, Jim, is how we might set people free into a meaningful and full life.
I don’t actually think TV is evil in and of itself. But, as with social media in our day, we should give thought to how we can redemptively utilize these technological tools.
I think we do get consumed or ‘addicted’ and lose sight of the important things in life. Some do more than others.
Good point, Dean.