Visual Adultery
American’s lives seem to revolve around sitting in front of a computer, staring at a screen and clicking buttons all day. When is too much of a good thing bad? What happens when someone uses good things for bad? Is there a line that should or could be drawn?
Over the last few years the Internet has become one of the most powerful methods of communication for people all over the world. Instead of popping a letter in the mailbox or dialing a phone number, you simply click a button. Who wants to wait several days for a mail reply or pay for a long distance call, when you can get an immediate response from places all over the world in just a matter of seconds? Far too many people are becoming entangled in the web of Internet addiction.
Since the Internet makes communication virtually effortless, almost always accessible, and never requires a person to reveal their true identity, it has become the perfect place for actors and actresses to create, polish, and pretentiously act out several of their alternate charismatic online characters. Pretending has become so commonplace that it has become a way of life for some. It is difficult to know just who is hiding behind your computer screen.
Some park themselves in front of their computer, stay up into the wee morning hours pressing buttons, and stare blankly into the screen instead of getting the rest their bodies need. Computers have become a stronghold in the lives of many people. Maintaining a relationship with God and family has begun to takes least priority for some. Because online relationships tend to move a lot faster than face-to-face ones, each person can build up unrealistic fantasies. Instead of seeing what is actually there, they base their expectations almost solely upon reading between the lines. Most online relationships are between people they have never actually met in person. Even those who are married can become involved in this visual worldwide web of Internet adultery. People of all ages and from all walks of life have become prisoners to their computer. Although their ransom has already been provided, they remain enslaved to their addiction. Adultery isn’t always limited to the area of infidelity in the marriage relationship.
It is hard to believe that some believe they have fallen in love with a person they do not really know. Instead of finding true love, they have created a fantasy and fallen in love with an idea of what the online person might be. Many who have only been acquainted but for a brief period of time are making decisions to marry. Because many of them are already married, their adulterous relationship results in the breakup of their marriage. Of the Internet relationships that were formed prematurely, most of them last but for a brief period of time. Instead of doing a reality check, many form relationships that lack real substance. Because relationships of this type are based simply on fantasy, the relationships have no real foundation to hold them together. When the challenges of real life hit, these relationships usually crash and break. Many will end up losing what took many years to build; the most important thing is your family.
Because many individuals spend inordinate amounts of time browsing the web, the Internet has begun to consume their lives. Inanimate objects such as computers now control the lives of many; they are under the power and control of the addictions. Stuck in the sticky multifaceted orbs, they travel link to link around the web until they are lost in a fantasy word. They become blinded to their surroundings and fall prey to that ugly Internet spider prostitute. Many could have avoided becoming her captive prey if they had only taken the reality check often implemented by taking a simple daily moral inventory.
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Lee Ann | Dec 20, 2007 | Reply
Amen!
Kenny | Dec 20, 2007 | Reply
Well said…!
Jonathan | Dec 21, 2007 | Reply
Great Job. Well Said and poignant. It is only getting worse and this sheds new light on the subject.
Krista | Dec 22, 2007 | Reply
Amen and to the point!
Cara | Jan 16, 2008 | Reply
Great article! You made some awesome points and gives us all something to think about.
Ken | Jan 18, 2008 | Reply
Thank you. Your point needed to be made and it was made well: a mirror that had to be held up for all of us to show a true reflection of ourselves.
Eric | Jul 23, 2011 | Reply
I’ll be the first one to dis-agree. Under the right circumstances, getting to know another person before physically seeing them can allow people to share experiences first WITHOUT the urges normally present when people interact directly.
It is very easy to spin your opinions on a subject to show a point of view. For example, I could argue that indoctrinating children into a religious environment from birth while allowing them to think that their friends or family may be going to hell is obviously child abuse of the most horrible kind. I could argue that denying them the CHOICE of what to believe makes every religious household a mini-dictatorship with Christ at the helm and mommy and daddy ruthlessly, and to the exclusion of so much contrary evidence of a “creator”, brainwash their children on how to continue the cycle when they become parents.
Furthermore, I could argue that in 500 CE, when Ptolemy (look it up) first concluded that the earth revolved around the sun, that mankind could have leapt forward 1500 years avoiding the crusades, the dark ages and so much ignorance. Instead, religion was used to crush scientific fact for ideological fantasy to such a degree that the inquisition killed over a hundred thousand woman condemned as witches in one of our species darkest periods.
I could go on until I had a book, but I don’t have a framework for all the data I would like to share with humanity. Not that it would do any good though, because our species is so caught up in needing a purpose or explanation for our existence, we embrace organized religion to the tune of 90% of the world.
When I think of the billions or even possibly trillions of man-hours wasted in the pursuit of religious dogma as opposed to the continued survival of our species as a whole, I wonder if we could have broken the light speed barrier if the industrial revolution happened back in 500 when it should have, instead of 1850 where science is still met with frustrating resistance by true believers who have to continually re-justify their belief system every time reality steps in to contradict “the word”.
A simple daily moral inventory is exactly what everyone should do… Religion is not required to know right from wrong.
Eric | Jul 23, 2011 | Reply
I\’ll be the first one to dis-agree. Under the right circumstances, getting to know another person before physically seeing them can allow people to share experiences first WITHOUT the urges normally present when people interact directly.
It is very easy to spin your opinions on a subject to show a point of view. For example, I could argue that indoctrinating children into a religious environment from birth while allowing them to think that their friends or family may be going to hell is obviously child abuse of the most horrible kind. I could argue that denying them the CHOICE of what to believe makes every religious household a mini-dictatorship with Christ at the helm and mommy and daddy ruthlessly, and to the exclusion of so much contrary evidence of a \”creator\”, brainwash their children on how to continue the cycle when they become parents.
Furthermore, I could argue that in 500 CE, when Ptolemy (look it up) first concluded that the earth revolved around the sun, that mankind could have leapt forward 1500 years avoiding the crusades, the dark ages and so much ignorance. Instead, religion was used to crush scientific fact for ideological fantasy to such a degree that the inquisition killed over a hundred thousand woman condemned as witches in one of our species darkest periods.
I could go on until I had a book, but I don\’t have a framework for all the data I would like to share with humanity. Not that it would do any good though, because our species is so caught up in needing a purpose or explanation for our existence, we embrace organized religion to the tune of 90% of the world.
When I think of the billions or even possibly trillions of man-hours wasted in the pursuit of religious dogma as opposed to the continued survival of our species as a whole, I wonder if we could have broken the light speed barrier if the industrial revolution happened back in 500 when it should have, instead of 1850 where science is still met with frustrating resistance by true believers who have to continually re-justify their belief system every time reality steps in to contradict \”the word\”.
A simple daily moral inventory is exactly what everyone should do… Religion is not required to know right from wrong.