So, what do you want to be when you grow up?
Every generation has answered the question based on very sketchy data. My claim: little boys have stayed pretty consistent: policeman, fireman or athlete. The available options aren’t very apparent when you’re under-10; the approved list of professionals isn’t deep at that age.
Life gets complicated, quickly; little boys – and girls – grow up, and their connection with their world expands. Snag a 13-year-old today and ask that question; what will you hear?
Here’s a new one: “Video Games.” Just a few years ago, App Creator was the hot frontier. Today, the Video Games subset has become the part of the App world that is blowing-up.
When Steve Jobs unveiled the touchscreen smart phone and its ability to run apps, the planet shifted on its axis. In June of 2007 – just 14 years ago – Apple announced that they would allow third-party creators to sell their spawn through iTunes. The apps – and the games that emerged as dominant – were out of the bag…
According to a recent WSJ report, the lowly app – average prices today are less than a dollar at a pop – has birthed an industry that was $106 billion in 2018 and is projected to grow to $400 billion in the next five years. The average user spends two hours each day using apps. Based on a minimum wage of $15/hour, that makes the use of apps a $4 trillion national pastime.
But that isn’t quite accurate, is it? I mean, apps make us more efficient, so the time spent using apps makes us more efficient. If so, that $4 trillion isn’t lost, but rather invested… right?
Data Point: Top Video Games in 2021: 1) Call of Duty: Modern Warfare; 2) NBA 2K20; 3) Madden NFL 20; 4) Borderlands; 5) Mortal Kombat 11; 6) Star Wars Jedi: Fallen Order… You get my drift: escaping from the realities of the ongoing pandemic – and the political/cultural wars fought in the nightly news – the up-and-coming generations are opting-out of reality and meeting friends through online gaming. Are we – individually, or as a society – better because of it?
I’m constantly bumping up against people who are culturally punch-drunk. Battered by the unrelenting upper-cuts of the surrounding models of unchallenged paradigms, they have no time for the things that grow out of a biblically-founded Kingdom focus. The top two reasons for not investing the time and money to explore, expose and exploit their Kingdom Calling? Not enough time… or money.
And then the mobile devices that offer 24/7 games to distract from reality show up. Time and money going down the black hole of digital smartphone games. What would God say?
“Don’t waste your time on useless work, mere busywork, the barren pursuits of darkness. Expose these things for the sham they are. It’s a scandal when people waste their lives on things they must do in the darkness where no one will see. Rip the cover off those frauds and see how attractive they look in the light of Christ. Wake up from your sleep, climb out of your coffins; Christ will show you the light! So watch your step. Use your head. Make the most of every chance you get. These are desperate times! Don’t live carelessly, unthinkingly. Make sure you understand what the Master wants.” (Ephesians 5:11-17, The Message).
Even Socrates – apart from biblical truth – exhibited his profound wisdom: “The unexamined life is not worth living.” (in Plato, Dialogues, Apology). How many things do we allow to find a place in our lives and continue, unchallenged? Where do we spend – as contrasted with invest – our time?
Americans are game crazy whether on the phone screen or the flat screen. I wonder: What would it take for American Christians to become God Crazy?
