Being aware of your triggers on TV and in movies will help you filter out entertainment that may not be healthy for you.
My tolerance for what I can watch on TV and in movies keeps getting smaller as I get older. It started back when I was pregnant and would dream about whatever I had seen on TV that evening. After too many dreams about CSI cases, we had to stop watching anything violent. As my boys have grown, I’m also hyper-aware of sexual images and how shows portray women. There’s a commercial running now for a show that looks so sexual and violent, I can’t even watch the thirty second preview.
It’s not only TV and movies I have to filter. It’s also news reports, especially the 24/7 news channels. If I watch them too often, I forget God is sovereign and start thinking it’s all up to the Supreme Court or United Nations or the highway patrol to keep me protected and prosperous.
I think most of us can watch our favorite shows and be ok. But we also need to be aware of triggers that may be unhealthy or unholy for us to take in. It could be violence. It could be bad language. It could even been a fictional marriage that makes you resent your own husband.
Pay attention to your reactions to shows and movies. Are you hiding the fact that you watch them? Do you change the channel when someone walks in the room? Do they make you feel worse about yourself or your situation in life? You may need to cut them out like I’ve had to do. I don’t miss them and I don’t think you will either! Pray for God to replace your enjoyment of the show with joy in Him.
For more:
- Why I don’t have a television and rarely go to movies from John Piper
- on following Jesus, tv, and movies: why I watched it all but can’t anymore from Biblical Homemaking
