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Coming Soon: An Internet-Enabled Toothbrush

By April 5, 2010June 20th, 20144 Comments
"The force is strong with this one..."

"The force is strong with this one."

Anyone who is reading this blog is well aware that technology is constantly changing and rapidly becoming more and more a part of both Christianity and culture. In fact, the latest and greatest thing in the church growth movement is the concept of the “virtual church“—online meetings of Christians for “worship” and “fellowship.”

But if you have any doubts about the changes technology is bringing to our world, you should be sure to read the recent CNN article “Why Games Will Take Over Our Lives.” The author  interviewed a game designer and college professor and discussed the following:

  • Wi-Fi enabled toothbrushes and bathroom scales that connect to the Internet to allow you to earn incentives for regularly brushing your teeth or keeping to a weight-loss plan
  • Video gaming systems that track every joint of your body, enabling you to become a part of the game
  • Facial tracking devices that map facial expressions to your online avatar

The article concludes,

CNN: Why are we attracted to games?

One of the main things that’s appealing about games is that you know a game can be won. It’s an unusual game that’s impossible to win.

In real life, we have these problems, and the problems are hairy, and they’re messy. You look at the problems that you face in your job or in your relationship or in your family, and it’s like there’s no clear winning, and there’s no clear losing. Whereas, in a game, things are crisp and clear.

The game presents you with challenges that can be met, and then it congratulates you on your successes at those challenges. It’s a thing we don’t get everyday in life.

Have you as a church leader had to deal with people whose lives have been taken over by games? What effect do you think this new technology will have on our spiritual lives?

4 Comments

  • Will Hatfield says:

    It’s something we’re dealing with quite a bit with college students. Some of them will waste their college life and grades over games. The pull can be very strong. It really takes a surrendered heart to the Holy Spirit and good theology to be able to combat that pull.

  • Nat Kealen says:

    Greg, you have opened up a discussion that I have thought long and hard about. It is also something that I struggled with before going into the ministry.

    First, a brief history. In high school, I worked for the electronics department of our local Wal-Mart. I had no financial responsibilities (So I thought at the time. Heh.) So I bought a computer game with each paycheck. I became very knowledgeable with the gaming industry. It also did not help that a close friend I went to high school with graduated before me and ended up working in the gaming industry designing a hugely popular game. I had connections. This led to me being a tester for gaming companies. Basically, I had games coming out of my ear–most of them junk. I would have copies of games still sealed on my shelves for years. There was just not enough time to play them.

    I then went to college and miraculously games were put on the back burner. Sure, I still played them, but between that and mountain biking they were my hobby. Thankfully, I had good discernment at the time in what I played.

    Fast-forward ten years and I’m happily married with a toddler and one on the way. Life is good, and I’m doing my best to serve God. A game is passed along to me from one of the old companies (who I had not heard from in years) and I thought I’d give ti a try. At most I would play a game about an hour a week before receiving this game. Other things were (and are) more important. Gaming was my physical unwind time. We’re talking minesweeper. Nothing deep.

    However, there was something wrong with this game. It used mini-rewards to keep you playing. It was addictive. Not only that, it caused you to become part of an online community in order to succeed.

    To make this long story short, in six months time I spent over 1200 hours in the game. (The game actually tells you this.) My wife feared and prayed for our marriage and our children. I was not EVEN AWARE. I would come home from work, throw my stuff down, get online, stop to eat with the family, and go right back to it until 1AM. Everything in my life suffered: spiritual, mental, physical, and relational. Still, again, I did not even notice.

    It wasn’t until I had a responsibility in the late summer for my father’s ministry that I was not online for a week. Thank God that He used many people, the prayers of my wife, and my father to show me how it was eating at me. Once I confessed this sin to God and began to get back into a routine that included life did I being to see the pitfalls of the videogame industry.

    As a result, I began to write about it heavily for another blog and podcast and my topic was areas of “Gamer Responsibility”–things such as money stewardship, gaming for children, discernment, materialism, the unspoken need to fit in (gotta have it all!) and contentment.

    Ready for some shocks?

    The largest gaming segment is NOT children. It’s those aged 25-35–people our age. The fastest growing segments are women and elderly.

    Most “hardcore” gamers as they refer to themselves have over 100 games in their house. 10-15% of them are not even opened. Many acquire 2-3 $60 games a month.

    The video game entertainment industry makes more money than any other entertainment industry in the world.

    As far as your question, yes I have dealt with it in the ministry. It’s not just games either. It’s technology in general. Ever hear of facebook? YEAH. Time sink. I usually challenge people to take a technology fast for a week or two. We do it as a family once a month. No internet. No TV. Nothing digital. Read. play some board games. Go out of your house to the big blue room with the bright light that moves across the ceiling.

    Funny how people claim to be happier those weeks but go right back to it. I really don’t know why other than the pull is too much. “Oh, I gotta know about that “friend” I had in high school who I didn’t talk to much anyway, but now I can read about, in many cases, personal issues in their lives.” (Things thy wouldn’t share to you in person most of the time.)

    Get off Facebook and get your FaceInTheBook. (Well, the teens like that one.) Another thing is that gaming feeds pleasure centers of the brain. You have to keep getting higher. If you are so ramped up on digital entertainment, the things of God seem boring. Hence you don’t do them. I’ve seen so many teens with this problem. Texting is a “game” as well that feeds this. “ding! Oh, another message…if I reply, I’ll get another.”

    Do I still game? Certainly. I find aspects of it to be fun and pleasurable. However, if it’s more than 30-60 minutes a week, that is high. Generally, if my kids cannot watch me play it, I don’t play it. There’s a lot of Mario, bowling, and racing games in our house.

    I also have noticed that I cannot play First Person Shooters like Halo. Those games cause me to be agitated. I think there are biblical correlations for that in Proverbs in the area of violence. Some people can mentally disconnect themselves from the violence (or think they can), but I cannot.

    My relationship to God is important above all else and other things follow suit: family, church, and creative endeavors. Why play something if it’s going to frustrate you and cause you to sin (whether by playing or in attitude).

    Anyway, I rambled way too long in this. I’d be curious as to what other guys think.

  • Greg Long says:

    Wow, Nat, that is very helpful. Thanks for sharing.

    I remember back in college I got hooked playing Doom and remember how it affected me, but that was before the online aspects of most modern games.

  • Dick Dayton says:

    I am the “old geezer” in this group. When I went to college in the early 1960’s, as an unsaved student, we did not have video games. We could fritter away our time playing bridge, though. The key issue, as Will pointed out, is the heart. If I love God with all my heart, and my neighbor (which certainly includes family) then I will cooperate with the Holy Spirit to make me a good steward of time, a resource I can never recover.
    I remember a sermon I heard during my Bible college days based on “All things are lawful for me, but . . . ” Paul said, “I will not be brought under the power of any” One question to ask is, “Do I control the game (or any other activity) or does it control me ?” To use a paraphrase, “Where a man’s heart is, there he will spend lots of time and effort”
    The particular attractions for wasting time will change from year to year, but the principles of Scripture and stewardship can apply.

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