The Entertainment Dilemma

Feature by Junior Adriel Chan of 10th Kuala Lumpur Company

Entertainment is a goal of many activities. It can range from watching movies in a cinema, to playing games on a console or even sometimes just daydreaming about something. The word entertainment was adopted from the Latin word “intertenere” , which means “to hold inside”. It was used by William Shakespeare in a play with the meaning of “to engage or hold the attention of a audience” (though the word was spelled entertaine with an e at the end, but that was changed by the 17th century).

The benefits of entertainment are obvious. Yet as nothing in this world is perfect, it is also something that could be dangerous if used wrongly. Now a days, harmless things like playing board games have been substituted by things like horror movies, violent games an so on. These things have the power to produce a negative effect that changes a person.

When a person rides a roller coaster, there is an adrenaline effect that some find thrilling. However, when the person repeatedly rides the same roller coaster, that adrenaline effect tends to disappear gradually. Naturally, that person will go to find another more thrilling to ride. The process goes on indefinitely. The same can happen with entertainment.

Negative entertainment can be seen as a very lethal germ. A single germ is not enough to kill, but it can multiply every 10 minutes. In a single hour there that one germ would become sixty-four tiny germs, not enough to kill even a baby, definitely not enough to harm an adult. However, that would just be the beginning, because within a day it would become more than 22,300,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000 germs! Enough too wipe out the entire population of America! Entertainment can kill, despite indirectly.

Entertainment is common because it can be relaxing, help pass time, or allow one to experience otherwise impossible situations. Yet the problem with entertainment, whether good or bad, is that without moderation they all have a common drawback - addiction.

When people get into trouble, they tend to focus on the fun things and avoid the work due to the stress that accompanies it. Eventually these people may realize that they are spending too much time on the fun. Yet when they try to stop, they may find it impossible to do so. It is that easy to get addicted to entertainment.

With God, however, nothing is impossible. Matthew 17:20 says that, “ Truly I tell you, if you have faith as small as a mustard seed, you can say to this mountain, ‘Move from here to there,’ and it will move. Nothing will be impossible for you."

Escaping addiction to entertainment is hard due to the biological and psychological effects of prolonged exposure to such things. Therefore, it is important to watch strictly whatever is used to entertain that it will not cause downfall.

Entertainment and discipline are polar opposites. It is almost impossible to exercise discipline and still be entertained at the same time. It is possible that such is the reason BB has such a hard time existing. Yet opposites can attract, can't they?