Captivated: Finding Freedom in a Media Captive Culture

This documentary is excellent. Videography was great and the overall quality of production was better than most produced by alternative media outlets. I like that they had a wide range of interviews, from medical doctors, PhD social scientists and church pastors, to every day working folk, moms and dads. The scenes for each interview were different, from academic office spaces to rural farmland. This was great because many documentaries, in trying to come off as authoritative on the subject at hand, only interview people sitting in front of bookshelves full of books.I was aware of books that went into the evils of TV--Plug in Drug (1988), Living Without the Screen (2008), to name a few. Similarly, there is literally an endless amount of articles in scientific peer-reviewed journals that show why owning a TV is bad for your physical, mental and spiritual health. But until I stumbled across Captivated last week, I was not aware of a documentary that did. The only thing that came close was Alex Jone's, Fall of the Republic (2009), which devoted 15 minutes to how the government uses TV to propagandize its citizens.The first half of Captivated--along with most of the extended interviews in the bonus features-- show how using TV, the Internet, ipods and smart phones dumb down the population. Being hooked on these devices has turned Americans into a bunch of obese people with short attention spans. Take a look around you: Americans no longer command their native English language, choosing instead to utter short phrases that they exchange in SMS, IMS or Facebook comments; no longer associate with neighbors or any other community, choosing instead to walk around with earbuds plugged into their ipods while they type meaningless messages on their smart phones. Simply walk through a mall or ride a city bus and see how many people actually make eye contact with you or say "hello."The second half of Captivated shows the Christian side of the producers. Being that I am a born-again Christian, I thought this was great. The producers showed why media and programming is bad for Christians, and that Christians need to moderate and filter through the bad media. When compared to the first half, the second half of the film was not nearly as hard-hitting. So while the first half of the movie made it very clear that using TV and all these gadgets is bad for your physical and emotional well being, the second half conveyed that it is okay for Christians to use these things, so long as they use them for good or wholesome purposes. I fear this for two reasons. First, there is little good use for these technologies. Yes, using computers for work is fine, but as the doctors and scientists in Captivated demonstrated, people need to limit these things as much as possible from their lives. I agree with these professionals, and from my own research, this means eliminating their use as entertainment devices. Second, it is impossible for the Christian to find "wholesome" media programing. My fear is that the Christian will see Captivated, and throw away their R-rated movies and exchange them for PG-13, PG or Disney. But none of these are wholesome or good for the Christian! Even PG and Disney will show fornication, adultery, relations between unmarried people, foul mouths, violence, children back-talking their parents, etc. Being that 99% of entertainment is made by anti-Christians in Hollywood, CA and Orlando, FL, the Christian has to expect these things in all media programing.My wife and I have been married for four years and during this time have not owned a TV, gone to the movie theater, used cell phones for personal use, or taken the ipod out of the house and car. Most of the time we also had no Internet of our own. During this time we managed to raise a son without a babysitter and daycare, work full time jobs, attend 2-3 church services a week, play outdoors, read countless books, exercise, and put her through medical school and me through undergraduate and now graduate school. If you throw your TV in the trash, you will be amazed at what you can accomplish. When people find out we do not own a TV, they respond, "what do you do then?" I find this question hysterical because my response to those that watch TV is: How on earth do you even find time to watch TV?Lastly, buy this movie! Watch it. Throw away your TV and gadgets. Read your Bible through at least once before you die. Actually pay attention to your children.

Expertly Delivered and Professionaly Done. However I sincerly miss the day's or should I be more precise the hidden doc genres with less of a bias . Infotainment with a catch alsways seems to be the case . I am not opposed to the idea that Roman emporers had of offering the galdiators as a form of keeping the public docile . I certainly if I had children of my own as oppossed to the number loaners I had a long the way would'nt be opposed to having them play a game of Grand Theft Auto than say actually commiting the act . This doc does play very well for all audiences and might speak to many on the Tech/Geek audience but also to a Christian Audience . If you fall into both catagories then this is a must see . If you are just one or the other however meh . Not entirely a waste of time but what exsactly are you doing on Amazon Prime anyway ?. Again I am now more than ever a spectator in the sport of the cyber arena due to unfortunate mishaps or intent and reviews and critiques are the most of my public cyber presence as I have dropped Social Media previous to viewing and more than likely due to "dangers that were overtly made by media about the usage of cyber and mobile and the paranoia it creates".Hail Ceasar and Rendering . . .

This film is very insightful and captures many problems that technology is causing today. I used to have Facebook and found myself on it all of the time. I realized after time that it was damaging in a lot of ways. Sure, I loved to keep up with people on there. But I found more negative things associated with it than positive. There are various areas of technology that has issues with addiction being the worst part of it. We all get the same 24 hours in a day. How we use those 24 hours depends on the time we make with it. If we are constantly playing video games, browsing the internet, or staring at our phone, we miss out on a lot. We miss out on God's beautiful creation around us. We miss out on real life relationships too. Just go in to any restaurant and look around. A majority of the tables have people all on their phones with no conversation being held. There are things that are convenient about technology but we must be careful in how we use it. This film discusses this topic in a well-done manner. I highly recommend it. It will change your life and your outlook on how you spend your time.

I wasn't really sure what to expect when I ordered this. A friend of mine had recommended it to me. I was blown away by the facts presented in this DVD on how media is affecting our society negatively. Prior to watching this DVD I had many negative feelings on the use (esp. over use) of media in my home and with my children whether it was for pure entertainment or educational purposes. Watching this just confirmed my beliefs with documented facts that I had been on the right track all along. I also was encouraged to read the book they mentioned in the movie "Amusing Ourselves to Death". While I do not agree with this authors liberal beliefs he does present a clear case of how our society has been dumbed down in our communication skills specifically due to increased entertainment we immerse ourselves in by way of screens... T.V. to be specific. I think every American esp. those that call themselves educators should be required to watch this. I also believe every born again believer should watch this. In the end it begs an answer to the question of what truly does captivate you and how do we preserve a society that is educated in truth and wisdom instead of just pleasure.