After a conversational exchange yesterday, I noticed that my ten year old niece shares, with many, an expectation that I’m not sure I’ve ever seen so clearly. It’s the idea that if there isn’t work to be done (i.e., homework, chores), then she should be entertained. But, not simply in a state of being entertained, but rather that she should be receiving entertainment.
Some time ago, a friend posted a blog about something very similar. While I would link to his post, I haven’t been able to find it. He explained how the word ‘entertainment’ comes from the idea of ‘diversion’. Entertainment was not the focus, but the occasional diversion from the main thing, whatever that may be. Today, entertainment is the main thing, and everything else is what we do to get there.
I think that it goes further than that. To be entertained doesn’t automatically imply that you are being entertained, but that you are entertained. That can mean a lot of different things. Going for a walk, writing a poem, drawing a picture, reading a book, building an obstacle course, planting a garden—to some extent, even playing a video game. These are all things in which you are making entertainment for yourself. Unlike television or movies, where you are solely receiving entertainment.
I noticed the difference when my niece couldn’t find any friends who could come and play, and so for her what logically followed was that she should be able to watch TV instead.
It was the idea that since she didn’t have any “work” to do, she should be entertained. Friends would be ideal, but without them, the default was television. Both of those forms of entertainment were heavy on the receiving side. Friends would require limited effort to ‘create’ entertainment her, and television requires none.
I think this is a prevalent concept. I think most of us don’t consider our hobbies and personal activities to be entertainment. Sometimes we even approach them with the same attitude we would work. Instead, entertainment has been narrowed to distractions we can enjoy which require little or no effort.
For us to do this, I think, is really unhealthy. Creating entertainment for ourselves gives us the opportunity to grow and shape our own minds. Purely receiving entertainment places that opportunity in someone else’s hands. Gradually, we take what is given to us and make that a part of ourselves.
Obviously, the solution is to put effort into our entertainment. To create entertainment for ourselves. With entertainment being such an emphasis in our lives, I think this is more important than ever. But whether or not we can, or will, achieve that is a whole other story. And even for myself, I’m not especially optimistic.
