Introduction to Entertainmentia

4/30/19

The word "entertainmentia" is a combination of the words "entertainment" and "dementia". I coined it after coming across so many examples where people (individuals or society as a whole) were obsessed with entertainment, enough to forget the many more important things in life, and thinking about how to describe this state. Here are a few examples of entertainmentia:

• doctors making less than sports players
• falling off cliffs taking selfies
• using phone non-stop to play games, social media, etc.
• non-stop office talk about sports games
• beating up someone who spoiled the latest movie/TV show
• letting sports cheaters off the hook
• pulling out phone to capture a situation rather than helping resolve it
• enjoying watching people fight each other
• fawning over everything celebrities do
• car crashes from texting, checking phone, etc.
• selling of celebrity hair, chewed gum, etc.
• most popular YouTube channels being gaming
• teachers making nearly nothing
• people complaining art is priced so high, yet artists make so little
• people dying from trying to get Likes on social media
• know more statistics about sports than their child's social security number, favorite color, and etc.
• paying too much attention to news and opinions of sports stars and actors
• these shoes make you play sports better
• these drinks make you play sports better

To clarify a few things before moving forward:

First, healthy levels of entertainment are good and desirable. Sports, for example, teach great physical and life skills. How do I train? How do I most efficiently kick a ball? Goal setting. Teamwork. Confidence. Practice. Determination. These lofty goals somehow unfortunately get twisted, and it turns into cheat, sell product for sponsors, sit around watching TV, betting, etc.

Second, everyone needs at least one pressure valve in their life, to relax, let off steam, have fun, play, fantasize that you're the sports star, zone out playing games, watching a movie, etc. I get that, and entertainment helps with that. Other things can help with that, like hobbies, education, exercise, and travel, but entertainment is a decent pressure valve too.

Last, the economics (supply and demand) of entertainment is fine with me if people are demanding entertainment. But again, the extreme state of affairs is not sane. Making more money than a surgeon, or paramedic, or teacher, or someone that designed a space shuttle, etc., to put a ball in a hole, or some other arbitrary pointless task, does not pass the smell test. It is not reasonable.

I believe the world would be a better place if just an extremely small fraction of resources for entertainment would be diverted to science and education activities. Only then will we remember we are human. I hope the examples of entertainmentia you read will help tone down the entertainmentia in your life so you can focus on what is really important.

Thanks for reading.