On Saturday I went for a walk on Newy break wall. The westerly wind was hammering through the harbour, and the sun was setting.
I was looking at the ocean, trying to see if it was clear enough for a dive the next morning.
It looked too dark. Maybe during the week…
I walked past a young guy on the left, sitting up on a rock, overlooking the ocean. He was leaning against another rock, his back to me. I get closer and I hear some alerts and buzz noises. The purple flashes popping out of the screen tell me it’s a game.
I keep going, and pass a few more people before the car. Most with their headphones in.
When I got to the car and checked my phone for messages, I thought for a sec how the world around us is glad-wrapped in entertainment.
You can watch TV in the back (front?) of cars, Instagram reels while you eat lunch, and the news while you eat dinner.
And we all have that choice.
But entertainment can also dull you.
The root of the word is from the 15th century, and means “to keep someone in a certain frame of mind,” from Old French entretenir or “hold together.”
Through the device we have in our pocket that was literally built around entertainment (“10,000 songs in your pocket”), they can keep you in a “certain frame of mind perpetually.”
You can look up a few facebook scrolls later, and miss your entire life!
For some people, the addiction can make this switch brutal…
But what would happen if you traded an hour of screen time each day for an hour of networking, writing, or creating?
