Family Friday 8/5/22

“When I was a child, I spake as a child, I understood as a child, I thought as a child: but when I became a man, I put away childish things.” 1 Corinthians 13:11

Here is a newsflash about our world that I noted at the heading of an online article. “More than 2.5 Billion video games have been sold worldwide…for millions of kids and young adults playing video games has become an obsession.” I fear that America, and even our whole world, has become addicted to children’s toy!

When I worked for the school district I picked up a young teenager in order to transport him to school. I picked him up and began to drive across town to his school. Shortly after we began our brief drive, he began to wail and cry as if someone had just died in his family. I slowed down and asked him what was ailing him. I was shocked to find that the only problem was that he had forgotten to pack his video game in his backpack. He now had nothing to occupy him as we traveled. Sadly, this young generation cannot even take a short trip across town without having their eyes glued to a screen and their thumbs hastily pressing a variation of buttons. Our society is addicted! I recently saw a report that stated, “23% say that they have felt addicted to video games.” The report goes on to say that the average teenager plays video games for about 14 hours a week. Another report suggests that our modern teenagers spend 7½ hours a day in front of a screen, either watching TV or playing video games, social media, and simply texting. This is yet another sign that our youth (and many adults) have become addicted to this electronic age and unfortunately much of the vileness that comes with it. One may ask why these statistics concern me. These statistics concern me for two main reasons. First of all, we have gotten to the point where we let a screen do all of our thinking for us. Our young people no longer have any kind of imagination, nor do they really have the ability to sit and think. Secondly, I think it is a shame that people who are drawing so close to adulthood are so consumed with toys. I understand that video games can be an enjoyable pastime when appropriate and kept in their place. Yet, they can become very distracting and damaging when unrestrained. It does harm to our children, and it ultimately does harm to our families.