Recently, a young man won over $3,000,000 in a video game competition – that is incredible, life-changing money for him and his family.  His mother credits his success to the 8 hours each day he spent playing the game over the past two years.

8 hours…

Each day.  Every day.

For two years…. 730 days.

Now I may be getting a little curmudgeonly with another trip around the sun gone by, but isn’t that a little excessive?

We live in a world where kids are entertained on individual personal tablets or ipads for hours at a time so their parents can take care of important tasks, like scrolling through their phones…

It is estimated that the average American adult five hours and four minutes of television each day – that approximately 35.5 hours per week, for a total of 77 full DAYS each year, or around 20% of their life.

That is in addition to the estimated 34 gigabytes of data we consume each day.

I just don’t know where we find time to get anything done – like parenting.

Netflix has changed the way we watch TV.  Social media has changed the way we interact and socialize.  Smartphones have changed everything.

But have we changed for the better?

Have these things added the opportunity for meaning in our lives, or have they robbed us of meaning?

It is up to each one of us to choose, moment by moment, where the potential for meaning is in our lives.  I am sure that young man, now $3,000,000 wealthier, will have new and interesting ways to discover meaning.  But at what cost?

Maybe that is the question we need to be asking ourselves – what is the cost of each decision we make?  What is the cost of scrolling for just a few more minutes?  What is the cost of handing the kids the ipad for a few hours?  What is the cost of binging on Netflix until 2am?

What is the cost in meaning?

What is the cost to our spirit?

What is the cost to our children – and how will it change their world?