I have recently adopted the practice of only watching video for leisure when with someone else. This means I do not watch videos of any kind when I am by myself unless necessary for work (Mostly excel how to videos and some financial news videos). I chose to do this as an offer up for my daughters and personal safeguard against sin. The reasons for
this practice being a safeguard against sin are probably obvious. Doom scrolling as they call it on your phone gives the devil ample opportunity to distract and corrupt.
One of the main reasons binging YouTube videos or doom scrolling is bad for ones spiritual and physical health is because of "influencers." influencers are those people that are usually famous for being
obnoxious, depraved, or outrageous that sell you everything from diet pills to food delivery subscriptions to window blinds. Of course there are some "good" ones out there who preach the Gospel or inform the public, but the vast majority of Instagram stars, YouTubers, Podcasters and various content creators are just filled with secular nonsense.
Yet, they are ridiculously popular
and wealthy. We all know we hate the term influencer, but our society rewards them in tremendous ways. According to google the influencer advertising industry is valued at over $21B. This is an amazing insight into our culture. Something that the vast majority agree is ridiculous and at best think is only slightly annoying is stealing our deteriorated attention span to the tune of billions.
St Paul says in Romans Chapter 7 verse 15 "...For what I want to do I do not do, but what I hate I do." This is the challenge all Christians face. We must be in the world, but we cannot be of the world. We must not give our attention to the influencers, and if we do we must be very selective and constantly on guard. I have nothing against advertisers wanting to get their products out to the consumers via the best channels, but we should not sacrifice our
minds via those deteriorating attention spans just so companies can sell us more goods.
I realize that I myself fall into the category of influencer. This is something I despise, and I still can't believe it is really just me and the guys at newpolity talking about the ills of secondary market investing. If anyone thinks they can do a better job, I would gladly put in my resignation.
In the mean time, I promise to never push any product or service on you. I will only ever call out things I think would be of actual value to your Sainthood. I always have and always will refuse being paid for advertising in my newsletter and on my site.
Remember this...The Gospel of John is really the only thing you ever need to read. When you are on your third Bishop Barron podcast
of the day or reading all the latest articles from EWTN or The DailyWire just remember your time would be better spent with the Gospel.
This rant could quantify its success in how many unsubscribes come after its sent out. I learned a lot in business school...
