Okay, so I don't dump videos on people... and I don't know how many people actually still stop by occasionally, but I had to vent on something. Story time:
Our youth group has a yearly kick-off scavenger hunt. This year, we went to a local mall and were about to get on with winning (my group anyway) when the mall 5.0 stopped another group that was noticeably not shopping. Bummer... the hunt gets "shut down." But we have a least an hour before we run out of time. So.... I get creative and fills some time.
I am leading a group of three high school guys. So what do guys like? Food. What haven't we had? Dinner. Hmm... Problem: No more hunt. Solution: Five Guys. I take my group of guys to get burgers in the food court.
We are sitting eating our burgers in the food court and we talked, but the guys were eventually staring at the ceiling. (Well, not just the ceiling.... thankfully. Maybe.) They were looking at these pairs of 42 inch TV's hanging around the food court (at least 8 pairs... I could describe it more, but I will let them tell you who they are). While I would love to embed the video, I will just let you follow the link to get the full multimedia impression. Then come back.... really.
Distractions from the Sky
So Akoo is so advanced it monitors ambient crowd noise to adjust volume for "maximum impact." Is it just me, or is this a nice way of saying, "We are going to intrude into your conversation to hold your attention." I mean, that is what it does, right?
One by one the guys slowly were fixated on the glowing distractions hanging from the ceilings like bugs to a zapper.
I have a hard enough time staying focused on conversations and meaningfully interacting with people normally. Now throw a bunch of people around me with lots of colorful bags, clothes and their conversations competing for my attention. Throw in some music, and I am in trouble. A TV and the conversation might be headed to cardiac arrest. Now have the TV's paired with different programing on each, with music that is designed to turn up and down (depending on how much you are trying to drown it out and be a decent friend/acquaintance/human being), and it is clear that there is a conspiracy afoot. Well, that would imply something hidden.
This is not hidden.
They say they are designed for "maximum impact."
More like maximum distraction.
So, this conspiracy is nothing new. I struggled (struggle) with not letting my iPhone dictate lulls in conversation. But it goes to something deeper.
In Hebrews the writer seems to be speaking to a people that has become distracted. Some words stick out to me. "Therefore we must pay much closer attention to what we have heard, lest we drift away from it" (2:1). "But exhort one another every day, as long as it is called 'today,' that none of you be hardened by the deceitfulness of sin" (3:13). "About this we have much to say, and it is hard to explain, since you have become dull of hearing [...] But solid food it for the mature, for those who have their powers of discernment trained by constant practice to distinguish good from evil" (5:11, 14). I really can go on, but these are enough examples from Hebrews.
I am not calling Akoo evil. Maybe. I am definitely not saying that Akoo was what the author had in mind with the original audience/context. I am saying the TVs designed to distract me and the guys were distracting us, at times quite literally, from solid food. I mean, who wants to NOT enjoy Five Guys? In the end, those TV's are designed to stir up desires. Desires to text in songs. Desires to judge the artists and their messages (well maybe not that). Desires to obtain new stuff. And in the process I am missing out on the goodness of a REAL meal and the goodness of three REAL guys God placed right in front of me. If I am not careful, I could be left alone staring at a screen. A room full of people with no meaningful contact... staring at screens. Does anything sound like the deceitfulness of sin here? (Isaiah 55 anyone?)
The cool thing about Hebrews is that the author constantly reminds the people where to place their attention: "Therefore since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses [NOT TVs], let us also lay aside every weight, and the sin which clings so closely, and let us run with endurance the race set out before us, looking to Jesus, the founder and perfecter of our faith..."(12:1-2a ESV). The NIV says, "let us fix our eyes on Jesus."
I want real food. Not empty distractions that always stir up idle desires and never satisfy. I can and do enjoy music and laughing at videos, but this is just a caution. It is easy to let phones and TVs run conversations instead of people (how odd is it to have typed that?). Consider this me exhorting you "while it is still called 'today'" to fix your eyes on Jesus, enjoy your burgers, and interact with the people God has placed in your life.
In the end, I don't want a tease. I want the real thing. Real food. Real people. Real satisfaction. Real relationship with Jesus. I don't want programed distractions. I am bad enough on my own.
Anywho, excuse me, I need to text in my favorite video...
(just kidding)
