My Critique of Our Age of Entertainment Glut

Recently, I found myself reflecting on the times we live in and how far the world has come in just a few decades. Growing up in my village of Eremon in Ghana, we didn’t even have a radio at home. It wasn’t until after I graduated high school that I owned my first single battery operated radio. Years later, I gained access to a computer and eventually the internet. But back then, it was nothing like the internet we see today. 

Now, as someone who consumes vast amounts of information daily, I often marvel at how far we’ve come and wonder if we’ve come too far as a civilization.

One of the most beautiful things about my upbringing was the simply way we entertained ourselves. We talked to each other. We shared stories at night. We played games. Soccer was my favorite pastime. While I don’t play it anymore due to time and life changes, I remember those days fondly. Today, living in the West, where high-speed internet is readily available at everyone’s fingertips, it feels like we’ve lost that sense of connection. Entertainment is no longer something we create or share with each other; it’s something we consume endlessly. Think video games.

I call it the entertainment glut. We now have access to 24/7 unlimited entertainment, an unending buffet of distractions. You could live a million lifetimes over and still never exhaust all the books, YouTube videos, podcasts, facebook, TikTok reels, Instagram posts, and streaming shows. And while that may sound incredible, it has come at a cost. These endless sources of entertainment have made it harder for us to truly engage with one another. And it's telling observation since 2020 that people don't even want to work. I see it daily when I'm at work or out to patronize services. 

This stands in stark contrast to how many of us grew up, where human connection and storytelling were at the heart of our social lives. It’s a powerful reminder of how much the world has changed. And it’s no wonder we’ve forgotten how to talk to each other.

Even in professional settings, we’ve lost our way. I recently started a new job. When I arrived, the manager was on vacation, so we didn’t meet right away until my second week. When we finally did, there was no formal introduction, just micromanagement from the get go. That was my first impression of her. It was a stark example of how far we’ve strayed from basic human interaction.

It seems as though someone or a group of people are shaping our civilization into a techno-utopia, but I fear it’s leading us instead toward mass hysteria and misery. I hate to sound so bleak, but that’s the truth as I see it. I’ve lived long enough to witness what our world has become, and what it’s becoming, and it’s not encouraging.

The distractions we face today are beyond human comprehension. You could be a holder of a PhD in anthropology or sociology and still will have little to no explanation of times we live. The level of entertainment and information that bombard us daily, leaving little room for reflection is troubling. Our attention spans have dwindled significantly, and our cognitive abilities have diminished as well. Most disturbingly, we’ve outsourced one of the most basic human capabilities—thinking to artificial intelligence.

What, then, remains to make us truly human? Are we now just existing, merely occupying time and space?

I hope these thoughts observed and documented can provoke some reflection. Perhaps it’s not too late for us to reclaim what we’ve lost. Our humanity.

I'll be headed to daily mass at St. Michael’s Parish in Jersey City, NJ, and this article will be my prayer point and petition to our Lord. There is nothing He cannot do. 

Have a great day and God bless you.

I remain your friend Ronnie Law