An understanding of the media message

[Paisley]

I really enjoyed your post, BT, and the part I quoted could be applied to my line of work, fior many view their faith community involvement (church membership) in the same light. They would rather stay home, get message off the tv or internet, and avoid others altogether. Great observations you've made!

dean

Gavin de Becker, who runs a protective services firm used by government officials, celebrities and others, has said that it's not so much the type of entertainment that people partake of as the amount that leads to disfunction. When you sit around for hours listening to Judas Priest or opera or good or bad TV, you aren't making friends or enjoying the ones you have.

People complain a lot about porn, but marriages have broken up over husbands watching too much sports. And some kids are left to their own devices because the mother watches TV all day, every day.

 

[Daisy Buchanan]

i wonder why this is? are we afraid of being a victim of random violence or are we just so tired of people at the end of a work day that we just want to be away from them in our off hours?

rsg

I know for me it's the latter!! People sure can burn you out

 

[John in Covina]

I'm definitely not saying this is the media's fault, but kids that I've come across recently seem to have a general lack of manners and knowledge of how to act in public places. I'm sure that this is mostly due to their parents lack of dicipline and an overall lack of consequences.

It is most often the parents choosing not to control their children in public and turning a blind eye to their actions or simple laziness or they could simply be beat tired. look at the regular life of parents and kids, the kids have a completely full social calendar and the parents are their cab drivers 7 days a week.

 

[deanglen]

i wonder why this is? are we afraid of being a victim of random violence or are we just so tired of people at the end of a work day that we just want to be away from them in our off hours?

rsg

I'm pretty sure I was generalizing too much, but I have been tracking the average attendance over the years I've served as pastor. The church has grown three fold in eight years I've been pastor, but the average attendance is just barely two times a month, and I'm convinced they're aiming for once a month. I also know that one of the main reasons folks give for not going to church is all that it's just too demanding, for a variety of reasons.

dean

 

[John in Covina]

Separation anxiety!

The average attendance is just barely two times a month, and I'm convinced they're aiming for once a month. I also know that one of the main reasons folks give for not going to church is all that it's just too demanding, for a variety of reasons. dean

Actually what it really means is that the outside world is demanding too much. It is part of the great lie to separate people from God. What does it profit a man to gain the whole world...

 

[jamespowers]

I'm pretty sure I was generalizing too much, but I have been tracking the average attendance over the years I've served as pastor. The church has grown three fold in eight years I've been pastor, but the average attendance is just barely two times a month, and I'm convinced they're aiming for once a month. I also know that one of the main reasons folks give for not going to church is all that it's just too demanding, for a variety of reasons.

dean

Demanding? You get dressed appropriately and drive to the church. Sit in the pew and listen. How demanding is that?
It is a bit more demanding with a child to get ready as well, I know, but the context and things preached from the pulpit are likely better than sitting them in front of the TV.
Say what you want about the Golden Era but what is mising today that was in work then was a community that worked together to keep the community safe. Screw up in the Golden Era and guess what? You parents knew before you got home from being gone from 7am on. The neighbors, school and friends had already gotten the information to you about what you child was doing. Your parents were waiting with questions and God help you if you lied. They knew already. Do we have that now in our disconnected society? NO!
How many of you out there know your neighbor's names? Have you seen the inside of their houses? Have you ever had them over for dinner? Do you know the chioldren in the neighborhood by their names? Do you have their parent's phone numbers? If you showed up on their doorstep would they invite you in ala Ward Cleaver or slam the door in your face ala Al Bundy? Think about it. My mother's advice to me was always to control their environment as much as possible. See who their friends are. Know where they are. It worked with me and I have it in reserve for my son.
I think I might have told this tale before but... I had a friend who was foul mouthed, disrespectful and a general Beavis and Butthead type. My mother had one brush with him and I was threatened with a whole year of not being allowed to stray away from the house.
Fast forward to my High School graduation. There was the oaf former friend standing by the sidelines crying like a baby. He didn't graduate like the rest of us. That made quite an example in my mind. My mother generally felt vindicated as well.

Regards to all,

J

 

[Haversack]

Bellytank wrote:
"Something that's really contributing to society's downfall and how we are affected by others, is the modern technological culture-video games, the internet and mobile phones- people are opting out of real society and interaction, sitting at home, in
semi-darkness, creating a breed of non-speaking, socially inept drones who simply cannot interact in 'real life', or even spell correctly.(excuse my spelling)"

Although it is blasphamous to say so, you can add the private automobile to the technology which has allowed people to opt out of regular social interaction. (For that matter, the privacy afforded by the private automobile was blamed for promiscuity in young people as far back as the 1920s.) As has been mentioned in various threads on the demise of hat-wearing, after WWII, Americans were increasingly able to avoid being outdoors for any length of time because most were now working indoors and had an automobile to get there. Continue this trend 60 years or so and see what we get.

Haversack.

 

[Twitch]

Ah, the ad media. Ya gotta love 'em. They can create stand out commercials like the innovative new stuff for Target or something completely lame.

I hear you, but hey Ford could have OK'ed their ad company's commercial portraying a family of chimpanzees illustrating how great the car was for everyone and we'd be left with a more assinine representation of what passes for "cutesy."

 

[jamespowers]

Ah, the ad media. Ya gotta love 'em. They can create stand out commercials like the innovative new stuff for Target or something completely lame.

I hear you, but hey Ford could have OK'ed their ad company's commercial portraying a family of chimpanzees illustrating how great the car was for everyone and we'd be left with a more assinine representation of what passes for "cutesy."

I'll learn to live with the chimps.

Regards,

J

 

[Haversack]

Similarly, about how entertainment has become increasingly private; take a look at the size of most homes built between 1910 and 1950. They were pretty small. And consider that families were larger as well. Unless one was in the upper middle class, (and most weren't), you went out for entertainment and to socialize. Of course inexpensive options for entertainment at home were already creeping in with the Victrola and later Radio. (vis-a-vis iPods, early crystal set radio had to be listened to with headphones.) Still, the corner bar, the local movie theatre, and the neighborhood park were all regularly used.

Haversack.

 

[Daisy Buchanan]

Demanding? You get dressed appropriately and drive to the church. Sit in the pew and listen. How demanding is that?
It is a bit more demanding with a child to get ready as well, I know, but the context and things preached from the pulpit are likely better than sitting them in front of the TV.
Say what you want about the Golden Era but what is mising today that was in work then was a community that worked together to keep the community safe. Screw up in the Golden Era and guess what? You parents knew before you got home from being gone from 7am on. The neighbors, school and friends had already gotten the information to you about what you child was doing. Your parents were waiting with questions and God help you if you lied. They knew already. Do we have that now in our disconnected society? NO!
How many of you out there know your neighbor's names? Have you seen the inside of their houses? Have you ever had them over for dinner? Do you know the chioldren in the neighborhood by their names? Do you have their parent's phone numbers? If you showed up on their doorstep would they invite you in ala Ward Cleaver or slam the door in your face ala Al Bundy? Think about it. My mother's advice to me was always to control their environment as much as possible. See who their friends are. Know where they are. It worked with me and I have it in reserve for my son.
I think I might have told this tale before but... I had a friend who was foul mouthed, disrespectful and a general Beavis and Butthead type. My mother had one brush with him and I was threatened with a whole year of not being allowed to stray away from the house.
Fast forward to my High School graduation. There was the oaf former friend standing by the sidelines crying like a baby. He didn't graduate like the rest of us. That made quite an example in my mind. My mother generally felt vindicated as well.

Regards to all,

J

very good point. After school, when I was a kid, I played outside with other kids in the neighborhoos. We didn't run into the house after a day of school and sit in front of an x-box, computer or tv. In the neighborhood I grew up in both the kids and all of their parents were friends. I remember doing a lot of things as a group. My parents closest friends today are the ones that they made in that tight community.

 

[jamespowers]

Very good point. After school, when I was a kid, I played outside with other kids in the neighborhoos. We didn't run into the house after a day of school and sit in front of an x-box, computer or tv. In the neighborhood I grew up in both the kids and all of their parents were friends. I remember doing a lot of things as a group. My parents closest friends today are the ones that they made in that tight community.

That was my experience as well. There may not be anything new under the sun but there are some new technologies that make nothing new easier to do and that is not necessarily good. [huh]

Regards,

J

 

[deanglen]

I do not agree with those who claim going to church is too demanding. I don't think this thread addresses that issue. I better not keep fueling this line of discussion


dean

 

[LizzieMaine]

very good point. After school, when I was a kid, I played outside with other kids in the neighborhoos. We didn't run into the house after a day of school and sit in front of an x-box, computer or tv. In the neighborhood I grew up in both the kids and all of their parents were friends. I remember doing a lot of things as a group. My parents closest friends today are the ones that they made in that tight community.

I also grew up in a neighborhood like this -- and I still live in a similar kind of neighborhood today. That's not a coincidence -- I deliberately sought out that kind of place, a simple working-class neighborhood in a small city. It's not an upscale area, by any means -- but maybe when kids don't *have* x-boxes and gadgets and expensive toys, they're forced to find other things to do outisde. The kids in my neighborhood live pretty much the same way I did at that age, playing games in the street, hanging around the playground, goofing around on bikes, all that stuff. So there's *still* places like that -- you just have to look for them, that's all.

 

[Terry Lennox]

Is it just me?

But I feel if we don't talk about politics.. we don't talk about religion either.

 

[John in Covina]

Politics and religion:
it all seems to depend on whether it's a "get in your face" type of approach.

 

[Viola]

How many of you out there know your neighbor's names? Have you seen the inside of their houses? Have you ever had them over for dinner? Do you know the chioldren in the neighborhood by their names? Do you have their parent's phone numbers?

I know my next-door neighbor and I think she's great. I know the little toddler boy down the street who loves my dogs. The rest of the neighborhood? I just don't care that much.

My friends don't live near here and most of the neighborhood is elderly. I'm pleasant, they're pleasant, everyone gets along okay and says hello but there's no reason for more than that.

Viola

 

[carebear]

There's a distinct difference between "talking about politics and/or religion" and just referencing either, when relevent, in a discussion.

The media message is in part a moral question (based on the majority of poster's positions) and thus people referencing their religious (or a-religious) basis of morality is no more "talking about religion" than people referencing the fact they prefer outside games for entertainment is "talking about sports".

The posts about church going are more contextually read as about yet another traditional family activity impacted by more "modern" solitary activities, and have been self-restricted by their authors to that context.

As far as "talking about politics" goes, I haven't seen anyone blurt out the "L", "C", "D", "R", or (my favorite) other "L" words yet.

 

[carebear]

My friends don't live near here and most of the neighborhood is elderly. I'm pleasant, they're pleasant, everyone gets along okay and says hello but there's no reason for more than that.

Viola

Just as long as you stay off their lawns.

 

[deanglen]

Is it just me?

But I feel if we don't talk about politics.. we don't talk about religion either.

I can see your point, Terry, which is why I needed to pull back on the church attendance vein, but Carebear has put it well, I was trying to identify the impact of people isolating themselves in their media bubbles and how it affected something I was familiar with. Really wasn't seeking a discussion of religion.

dean