Randy and I live in a little bubble of our own making. At home we have a TV, but use it almost exclusively as a giant computer monitor. The last time we turned it on as a TV was to check the score of the Super Bowl.
Three or four years ago we cancelled our Netflix subscription. We do have Amazon Prime for the free delivery benefits. Every once in a while we check the video benefits and find some older TV shows like Warehouse 13 or Eureka we enjoy. We subscribe to Philo so I can watch Hallmark movies while I’m knitting or crocheting. If we decide to pass some time sitting in front of the ”idiot box” together, we choose something like Chopped or Restaurant Impossible on Philo. That doesn’t happen often.
Other than that, Randy and I are almost completely disconnected from pop culture. And we don’t miss it at all.
Years ago, we realized our values were disconnecting from those in our culture whom we believe are a hugely public but very vocal minority. We asked ourselves a question: do we really enjoy hanging out with the people invading our living room through the magic of television. We didn’t. Further, we were offended by the increasing filthy language, excessive and unchecked violence, casual sex, poop stirring behavior, absence of behavioral consequences, and shaming because we didn’t accept as normal the proclivities of freakish lifestyle and morality. We would not invite those people into our home if they showed up at our door, so we decided not to invite them into our home through a television screen.
When we come to visit my mom, we are dropped into (like Indiana Jones) the snake pit of modern pop culture. She lives alone so the TV is on almost all the time. I understand how important the company is to her and I don’t fault her for it. But the things that interest her and the things that interest us are worlds apart. For me, it’s harder than almost anything I do when I visit her to be in the same room when she’s watching news, opinion, or series shows on network television.
Randy and I and mom did find a bit of common ground watching game shows. There are a lot of interesting families on Family Feud whom I wouldn’t mind at all getting to know. I won’t invite Steve Harvey to my home though. I’ve also learned the names of several minor celebrities who make the game show rounds. I wouldn’t invite them into my home either, but at least now I know the names of a few people mentioned occasionally by my sisters who are more interested in pop culture than I am.
Consider that pop culture is fed to us as entertainment, and the schedule on TV is called programming. Think about what these words really mean. The origin of the verb word entertain is “to keep up, maintain, to keep (someone) in a certain frame of mind.” Adding -ment to a word simply turns it into a noun. Programming is also defined as causing a person or animal to behave in a certain way. Television, when it was invented, was designed to entertain us. And it did , with shows like The Wonderful World of Disney and Ed Sullivan. Early in the days of television everyone watched the same thing because there were, after all, only 3 networks (channels) to watch. Members of our entire society were all very much on the same behavioral track because we were ALL influenced by the TV messages put out through Leave It to Beaver, the Andy Griffith Show, Red Skelton, Sky King and other shows like that.
As technology advanced and “entertainment” on TV expanded to include cable channels, on demand and cable produced movies, and streaming music services, programs produced increasingly had specific agendas. Subject matter considered taboo on network TV became tolerated, then accepted, then commonplace, on cable. Producers of so called entertainment endeavored, and succeeded, to shape viewers’ world view and compel them to behave and consume in specific ways.
As a result, people have far more diverse choices in the type of programming they keep and maintain in their minds. Of course, no one thinks about their entertainment choices this way, but that’s absolutely what’s happening. In fact, it’s become The Point of “entertainment.” People become comfortable with other people and things they spend the most time with. Because reality TV is nothing but showcasing people’s drama, those who love reality TV often end up with a whole lot of drama in their own lives. Sadly, most of the time they hate it or complain about it, but don’t understand why it’s that way for them. They never make the connection.
Along the way, folks became desensitized to truly horrific human behavior portrayed in their entertainment choices. Too many people lost their moral compass and society broke down right along with them. I concede this is my opinion. I’d love to be able to quote a poll or survey that confirms this, but googling for any information criticizing pop culture and its effects is a useless endeavor. I know big social media internet companies suppress information that doesn’t fit the narrative that truth and morality is relative and anyone who sees truth and morality as black and white should be shamed as enemies of modern society.
I do treasure having the opportunity to access to all of the information in the universe. The internet made that possible. Randy and I embrace life long learning. We are more interested in history and increasing our knowledge than we are in pop culture. In fact, I’m downright pop culture illiterate. I know that makes me kind of a freak in our current culture, but I wear that as a badge of honor.
P.S. Watching game shows sure does further that life long learning goal. I’m smarter after visiting mom that when I got here.
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