Television, Movies, the Internet, Power Outages, and Christianity

I ran across a comment by Jonathan Edwards (who else? ) over at Tim Challies’ blog and it got me thinking. Here is the relevant excerpt from his comment:

As I thought of the idea of ridding myself of unlawful media (most), it made me concerned – could I live w/o it? I think it brings up something else in my life – my dependency on media vs God. Media fills up the majority of my life (TV, PC, ipod, DVD). I wonder how many are like me.

This really resonated with me. I myself have at times been convicted of the place that all these things have in my (and my family’s) life and have considered chucking them all, only to be confronted by the question: But how would I spend my time? What would my family do for fun.

The idea of getting rid of all the pesky worldliness in my life reminds me of when there is a power outage for any significant period of time. Initially, everyone in the house is frustrated, they walk into rooms and toggle light switches out of habit, they sit down at the computer and stare morosely at the dead screen, they complain to one another about the outage.

Slowly though, they begin to adjust, they play board games, they nap, they read by candlelight, they tell stories, they (gasp) talk to one another. At some point, someone invariably says something to the effect of, “I wish the power would go out more often” or “we never do these things anymore.” In short, people begin enjoying themselves, sometimes immensely so. But the instant that the power is restored, the party is over. Everyone goes back to their own room, to the computer or to the television set, and conversation and books are set aside for a future outage.

Does this seem familiar to anyone else? Are there days that you wish you had spent your time talking to your wife and friends instead of watching a movie? Are movies and television and the internet an almost irresistable temptation for you? I’m certainly thinking about it. Feel free to leave your thoughts as well.