Participants: Shelley Quinn (Host), Octavian Poenaru
Series Code: IAA
Program Code: IAA000475A
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00:01 Join us today on Issues and Answers
00:02 as we discuss 00:04 how media has become the drug of choice for many. 00:40 Hi, I'm Shelley Quinn 00:41 and we're so glad that you've joined us again today 00:43 for Issues and Answers. 00:45 We're going to be discussing the topic of media 00:49 and how it impacts mental health. 00:52 And returning with us today is pastor 00:56 and I should also add Dr. Octavian Poenaru. 01:01 Octavian, I'm just going to, since that's easier to say. 01:05 I'm always amazed at your humility. 01:09 So many people who have a doctorate 01:11 want to insist that they be introduced, 01:14 and I forget that you do 01:16 because you've so rarely discussed that 01:18 but you have a doctorate at ministry in family health. 01:21 In family life. In family life, excuse me. 01:23 And you're also a pastor 01:26 for the Colville Washington Seventh-day Adventist Church 01:30 and your second one is... 01:32 Ione. Ione, okay. 01:34 It's a beautiful place where the river flows north. 01:38 Yes. We'll have to come visit. 01:40 Well, we're very thankful that you're joining us again. 01:43 We're talking about the battle for the mind, 01:47 and what Dr. Poenaru has been sharing with us 01:51 is how media affects us spiritually, 01:56 how it affects family life. 01:58 And today we're really going to talk about 02:01 the addictive nature of media 02:03 and what the negative impacts it is having on our lives. 02:07 Yes. 02:08 Well, and the by the way you can call me Octavian, 02:10 I feel much more comfortable. 02:11 Okay, I'll call you Octavian. Okay, that's better. 02:13 Good. 02:14 Yeah, well, let me read the passage 02:16 from the Bible first. 02:17 All right. 02:19 It's in 1 Corinthians 6:19 and 20 02:24 and it says, "Or do you not know 02:26 that your body is the temple of the Holy Spirit 02:31 who is in you, whom you have from God, 02:35 and you are not your own?" 02:37 With the emphasis you're not your own. 02:40 Why? 02:41 "For you were bought at a price, 02:44 therefore glorify God in your body 02:46 and in your spirit, which are God's." 02:49 I think it's a very, very profound Bible passage 02:55 and concept that actually 02:58 all we are mind, soul, and body, they belong to God. 03:02 And I think we forget this often and... 03:05 I agree. 03:06 We get busy with life, and we do this and we do that, 03:08 and we forget that actually everything we are in 03:10 and have belongs to God and it's for Him and from Him. 03:13 Yes, amen. Amen. 03:16 So what are your main concerns about media 03:23 and how it is circumventing this passage? 03:29 Well, let me begin with the story. 03:30 It was in the media about two years ago. 03:33 This young boy, probably he was 16 or 17 comes home, 03:37 happens in China. 03:38 The boy comes home 03:40 and his mother saw him with an iPad 2 03:45 and with a cell phone and she says, 03:46 where do you have this from? 03:48 Says, well, he goes around 03:49 and tell something about to her. 03:51 The mother pushes him and says, 03:52 well, you need to tell me where did you get them from? 03:54 Where did you get the money 03:55 because we do not have this kind of money. 03:58 The boy confessed that actually he got in touch with someone, 04:01 I think on internet and he sold one of his kidneys 04:05 to buy to get the money and buy an iPad and the phone. 04:11 And the mother, the operation had already taken place. 04:13 Yes, everything. And mother was just finding... 04:16 Yeah, things happened, he sold his kidney 04:20 one of this online transactions he found someone, 04:22 did the surgery, got the money 04:24 and probably the guy disappear with the kidney, 04:26 which was probably sold for who knows 04:29 how many times of thousands of dollars. 04:32 And this is just probably one of the stories. 04:36 In a sense it relates to media and health. 04:40 And you may think this is an extreme case. 04:42 Yes, it is an extreme case. 04:44 But I think this extreme case 04:46 it's relevant and tells us something. 04:49 It tells me how much people are willing to sell 04:54 to get access to media. 04:56 Yes. 04:58 More common is when you think of how many people 05:04 spend very precious hours of sleep 05:08 and they spend hours in watching movies or games 05:12 or entertainment media, 05:15 the whole night or half of the night, 05:16 and the next day 05:18 they're very tired and exhausted. 05:19 I remember talking to a lady once, to a mother, 05:23 and I ask where are the children? 05:29 And she says, oh, by the way 05:31 their friends stayed them at our home 05:34 and they play computer games until very late in the morning, 05:39 meaning the whole night almost and they've gone to bed. 05:44 Then they spend the whole night playing computer games. 05:48 It is common among the younger population 05:52 and not only to have people spending hours, 05:55 very precious hours with media. 06:00 And it happened to me. 06:01 I remember the first time when I got my computer, 06:04 it was in 1997 06:07 and it was a gift someone from United States. 06:10 At that time some friends from United States 06:13 they found the computer, 06:15 they bought it for us and they send it, 06:16 it was a used computer. 06:18 Had a worthy programs on it and one of them guess was, 06:21 it was a computer game. 06:23 And even I'm mature and adult 06:26 but I'm curious and it was something new, 06:29 and I said oh, let me see let me say 06:31 what's the story about this tool. 06:34 And I try to explore, well, I found this computer game. 06:37 I said, let's see how is it. 06:39 And I remember, it was one of the evenings again evenings. 06:43 And I just said, let me see, let me see how is it. 06:47 I said in my mind probably it was, 06:48 this is going to be a five minutes, 06:50 ten minutes thing. 06:52 I probably, I remember it was 1 o'clock in the morning 06:57 or more than 1 o'clock in the morning, 06:58 when I finally stopped, 07:00 and I said, what I'm doing here? 07:02 I have had the exact same experience 07:04 while I was writing a book for the Lord 07:07 and I write 12 hours a day, 07:09 then just to kind of clear my mind, 07:11 I would play this little game called FreeCell. 07:14 And I think, okay, 07:15 I'm only going to play two games, 07:17 and then sometimes it would be hours 07:20 that pass and I took it off my computer 07:22 because it was so addictive. 07:23 You're right. 07:25 I did the same thing I deleted, next day I deleted it. 07:29 Then I want to remind our viewers again 07:34 about these strategies that I believe 07:36 that devil uses to conquer the mind, music, movies, 07:42 social media, shows, sports, 07:44 computer games, pornography and gambling. 07:47 They all these are strategies 07:48 and they definitely use the electronics the media, 07:51 the electronic media to conquer our minds. 07:55 Probably the first, 07:57 there are three major concerns 07:58 I would like to address this morning. 08:00 Sure. 08:01 Number one is the addictive nature of media. 08:03 Number two is body image and media. 08:06 And number three, depression and media. 08:10 Again, if you look at all these strategies 08:13 the devil wants to use music, movies, social media, shows, 08:18 sports, computer games, pornography, gambling, 08:21 all of them have an addictive nature in themselves. 08:25 We've heard stories of people 08:29 gambling for hours and hours or playing computer games 08:33 for hours and hours and hours and actually using diapers 08:36 because they didn't want to go to the restroom 08:39 just to be there and not to be interrupted. 08:43 I don't know if you have ever been an addict to media, 08:48 I would probably consider myself at one point in my life 08:50 being addictive to media 08:52 because I remember watching the movie, 08:55 you couldn't take me from the screen. 08:57 You couldn't talk to me about anything else not only, 09:00 but I remember knowing the whole program 09:02 for the whole week. 09:03 I knew which movie is going to be 09:05 when and what time and everything, 09:06 then you schedule your life around those movies and shows. 09:10 And I know of other people, 09:13 I remember one day visiting 09:14 and this is back home in Romania years ago. 09:18 And I visited this 09:19 and I'm very transparent with saying some of the things. 09:23 Visiting the home of one of my church elders 09:25 and his wife, a wonderful lady, 09:27 and it was in the middle of the day. 09:30 And I was looking actually for her husband 09:31 and I knock at the door and I said, well, hello, 09:36 I'm sorry to interrupt, I'm looking for so and so 09:39 and your husband says yes, 09:41 I'll find him quickly but this is my time 09:44 and I don't want to be interrupted. 09:45 This is my only time in the week 09:48 when I don't want to be interrupted. 09:49 It was a show everyday 3:30 pm or something like this. 09:53 And that was her time 09:55 and nobody was supposed to interrupt her at that time. 10:00 I have my sister was addicted to soap operas. 10:04 Yeah. 10:05 And she would not let anything interrupt 10:08 the time with soap operas. 10:09 How addiction works actually, 10:12 and I came up with this statement 10:15 which I hope reflects how addiction works. 10:17 It comes as a pleasant guest and ends up as a cruel master. 10:23 Yes. 10:24 Then it comes as a pleasant guest in the beginning. 10:28 We know that all the addictions works this way. 10:30 In the beginning it's curiosity, 10:32 just a little bit of excitement or pleasure. 10:34 It comes as a pleasant guest, 10:36 it ends up as being a very cruel master. 10:41 In the National... 10:44 In the journal for National Institute 10:46 of Drug Abuse, they give a few, 10:50 a short description about how drugs actually work. 10:53 And they said speaking about chemical drugs, 10:56 they say that the drugs interfere 10:58 where the nerves communicate between themselves. 11:02 All the drugs of abuse target the brains toward system 11:07 by flooding the circuit with chemical dopamine means, 11:11 all these drugs at the beginning 11:13 makes you feel good and experience pleasure, 11:15 that's why we want to do it. 11:17 And then, but in case of the chemical drugs 11:21 they release between two to ten times more dopamine 11:26 than actually the natural experiences of pleasure. 11:30 For example, when you do ski we experience ski when you go 11:34 and breathe the fresh air and see the blue sky, 11:37 and the speed and everything. 11:39 You enjoy certain degree of pleasure. 11:42 When we eat an apple 11:43 or something which is healthy and good, 11:46 you enjoy there are supposed to be joy and pleasure 11:49 in a lot of things, God has given them to us. 11:52 But the drugs go beyond that 11:55 because they as I'm saying they weren't based on 12:00 increase levels of dopamine in the brain. 12:02 And then isn't it true that 12:04 at least what I've heard from addicts is that 12:06 once you've had a certain high 12:08 that increase level of dopamine, 12:10 you're never going to experience it again, 12:13 you keep chasing it... 12:15 But there is a diminishing return. 12:17 Right, it works like, 12:18 indeed it works like a set of steps, 12:22 you reach a certain point of excitement about that, 12:25 but then in order to experience pleasure again, 12:27 you have to go to the next level, 12:29 and experience a certain degree of pleasure 12:31 in order to have the same level of excitement 12:34 you have to go to another level, 12:35 or you have to increase the dose of whatever 12:39 the nature of the drug is. 12:41 Can I read a scripture here? Sure, absolutely. 12:43 it's talking about, 12:47 "Moses how he chose rather to suffer affliction 12:50 with the people of God rather than to enjoy 12:53 the passing pleasures of sin." 12:57 So the Bible doesn't deny the fact that what you had said 13:00 that it shows up as a pleasant guest, 13:03 but it ends up then being... 13:06 It's a passing pleasure, 13:08 it ends up being a cruel taskmaster. 13:10 Yes, it's. 13:11 And basically what happens, I've never heard of anybody 13:15 being addicted to apples and to carrots. 13:19 When it's something which is healthy 13:21 taken in moderation, following, I would say 13:25 the natural laws given to us by God, 13:27 we can enjoy them. 13:28 And you have this joy and pleasure 13:32 but in the same time, 13:33 it gives you freedom to choose every time, 13:35 you keep your freedom. 13:38 Anything that's unhealthy and it's abused 13:43 leads to the point of losing your freedom, 13:46 and takes when once you come to that point 13:49 you lose your freedom and you actually, 13:51 you become a slave and becomes a torture. 13:55 I was talking recently with someone 13:57 that has been in drugs and because of drugs, 14:00 they, both him and his wife, 14:02 they lost a wonderful apartment, 14:04 of half million apartment, 14:05 a very good job lost expensive cars, 14:10 lost everything ended up as homeless. 14:13 And I was talking to him about the whole experience 14:15 and he said, Octavian, 14:17 what people don't understand 14:18 is that when you become a dug addict, 14:21 the only way you can function actually 14:23 is when you are under the influence of the drugs. 14:26 Then you have to take the drugs to be able to function, 14:30 to be able to act normally, 14:32 you have to be actually under the influence of the drugs. 14:34 At least that's what he said. 14:37 And he said, when you're not with the drugs, 14:39 then you are agitated, you're angry, 14:41 and you want to do everything possible to get your dose. 14:46 It's very interesting again because... 14:48 Well, some people like that about sports... 14:51 Yeah, well, Dr. Norman Herr, 14:56 he is a professor 14:58 of the California State University, 15:00 he describes the dependency symptoms, 15:05 and he says if you have three of them, 15:08 you can classify yourself as being addicted, three only. 15:11 And he says for example 15:13 and he speaks about using the television. 15:15 Using TV as a sedative, 15:18 means that you have a stressful day, 15:20 busy day, you come home and the thing you do, 15:25 you just collapse on your couch and turn the TV on, 15:29 just to take your mind away 15:31 and just using it as a sedative which is... 15:34 A lot of people do. 15:36 Yeah, then... 15:38 And that's the first thing, 15:39 we have to pay attention to that, 15:41 instead of doing that probably we should go for a walk, 15:43 talk to our children or do something else 15:46 which is healthy and creative. 15:49 Secondly he says using an indiscriminant viewing. 15:54 Basically you watch ever whatever. 15:57 Third is losing control over while. 16:00 Feeling lost of control while you're viewing. 16:03 At one point I guess you watch that 16:07 and you realize that you can stop, you like to stop, 16:11 you realize it's late or you realize that 16:13 you have something else to do, but you can't. 16:16 You want to see this movie being over, 16:19 or you want to do this and finish the game, 16:21 or you want to do something else. 16:22 It's kind of like you've invested 16:24 certain amount of interest and time in it, 16:27 and so you feel like you're cheated 16:28 if you don't go clear to the end, 16:30 I have experienced that myself. 16:32 Yeah. 16:33 Then point number four is feeling angry 16:35 with oneself for watching too much. 16:38 Then these are signals, signs of actually drifting 16:42 into an addictive pattern or dependency symptoms. 16:47 Inability to stop while watching, 16:49 and the last one feeling miserable 16:52 when kept from watching. 16:56 Internet addiction has not being fully established 17:00 to being an addiction but as far as I'm concerned, 17:04 I think it has all the components or the traits 17:08 of an addictive behavior, 17:12 it's called actually internet addiction disorder. 17:16 Again it's not in the books, but I believe a lot of people 17:19 actually have the symptoms of functioning of as an addict. 17:25 And the interesting thing... 17:26 It was such a shocking story 17:28 about the young Chinese boy who sold his kidney, 17:30 but when you think about it time is life, 17:33 so how you invest your time is how you invest your life, 17:37 and people are making a huge investment, 17:39 they're swapping their time to sit in front of the TV 17:43 just like he swapped the kidney to get these things. 17:45 Yeah. 17:47 The second concern I would mention this morning 17:48 or today is the body image. 17:54 Both men and women being exposed to so much media, 17:59 advertisement, movies, shows then in our minds, 18:03 especially in the western countries 18:04 we have came up with an idea that specially women, 18:08 you have to look in a certain way 18:10 and you have to be certain way 18:12 in order to fit in the culture you're living. 18:15 I like to read one Bible passage 18:18 which I think it's significant, it's in Romans 12:1 and 2, 18:22 "I beseech you therefore, brethren, 18:24 by the mercies of God, 18:26 that you present your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy, 18:30 acceptable to God, 18:31 which is your reasonable service. 18:33 Do not be conformed to this world, 18:38 but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, 18:42 that you may prove 18:43 what is that good and acceptable 18:46 and perfect will of God." 18:49 Body image, it was in the 1960 18:52 when this lady Jean Kilbourne 18:56 begin to explore the relationship 18:57 between media and public health issues. 19:00 And then she spoke in many, 19:02 many probably in half of the colleges 19:03 and universities in United States 19:05 about this topic, body image and media relationship. 19:09 And in '79, 1979 19:12 she wrote this Killing Us Softly, 19:16 and I don't know if you've seen that 19:19 and it's about advertising the image of women 19:23 in the advertisement industry. 19:26 Then she repeatedly did the same thing 19:28 ten years or nine years later, 19:31 in 1987 Still Killing Us Softly. 19:35 In 1999 Killing Us Softly number three. 19:38 In 2010 Killing Us Softly number four. 19:42 Then she sees that actually things didn't change, 19:45 not only they didn't changed for the good, 19:46 they changed for the worse. 19:48 Right. 19:49 Especially now that things can be airbrushed 19:52 in what's being presented to people 19:55 is totally an unrealistic image, 19:59 you know, it doesn't even, sometimes, 20:01 I've heard and read where models say, 20:04 I didn't even recognize myself from my body 20:06 by the time they finished that. 20:07 Because you mention this, there is this, 20:09 it was this very short video, 20:12 very short film under the title Creation Dove. 20:17 You can Google that, find it on YouTube, 20:19 Creation Dove and it's a minute and 41 seconds I think 20:22 it's a very short clip, where they took this lady, 20:26 it was part of a staff, it was a common person like we. 20:30 And they do the whole changing, they change it to that 20:34 she became a what we call a gorgeous women. 20:39 Glamorous. 20:40 Yeah, and did all kind of makeup 20:43 and then computer changed the nose and the eyes 20:45 and the height of her neck and everything and she became, 20:50 basically she became another person. 20:52 Well, they do that with a lot of images 20:55 we see in the media on... 20:58 At the end of this very short clip they had is, 21:01 I think very truthful sentence which they say, 21:03 "No wonder our perception of beauty is distorted." 21:08 Our perception of beauty has been distorted. 21:11 I think we have been culturally conditioned 21:13 in the way we look at the women 21:15 as even including the our perception 21:18 about what a women should be. 21:20 Its probably about, it's equally valid with men, 21:24 but I think it's more about the women 21:25 because in the advertisement industry 21:29 if they sell a pair of tires, 21:32 guess what's next to the pair of tires, 21:35 it's a sexy woman. 21:36 If they sell a pair of boots, guess who wears them? 21:39 If they're selling a hamburger or something... 21:41 Right. 21:43 They're using sex to sell everything. 21:44 Right. 21:45 And they use the body of a woman to do that, 21:50 and unconsciously they have build in our minds well, 21:53 this is what you should look like 21:55 if you want to be accepted. 21:57 There is this model Cameron Russell 22:02 and she speaks on Ted Talks, and she has a great talk 22:06 and the title of her talk is "Looks aren't everything. 22:09 Believe me, I'm a model." 22:12 And she speaks about her experience as a model 22:15 and how, what her life is 22:18 and she had the courage to say well, 22:19 what you see in the advertisement industry, 22:23 what you see on the cover of reviews 22:25 and then in the media is not the real life of a person. 22:29 But we've made, we've been taught 22:33 by the society through media to think that way. 22:38 Well, the consequence is that the lot of us 22:41 try to fit the model, both men and women. 22:45 I remember in my district when I came, 22:49 we were planning to do youth weekend, 22:53 and I was talking to my staff what shall we talk about, 22:57 what should be the topics we want to address. 22:59 And one of the young ladies, she was a married women, 23:04 young enough probably 27, 28, 23:07 I think it was her age at that time, 23:10 and she said, well, pastor, 23:11 we need to speak about this body image. 23:16 At the beginning I have to be honest, 23:18 I did not realize what she was talking about completely. 23:20 She says, no pastor, you don't understand. 23:23 You don't understand the impact of this concept on our lives, 23:27 we need to speak about this to our kids and to our girls. 23:31 This is why there is so much anorexia 23:34 and all of these unhealthy practices 23:36 where people are trying to become like this ideal. 23:40 Yes, then it has psychologically 23:43 and physiologically affects on terms of, 23:45 you see your self-esteem is going down, 23:47 you don't fit these models. 23:49 You think that you're not beautiful. 23:52 I think you've heard plenty of stories of beautiful women 23:54 or young ladies but they see themselves ugly and fat 23:59 or whatever, they see themselves, 24:01 their nose is not the right nose 24:03 or the color of the eye. 24:04 They're having plastic surgeries 24:06 at such a young age in our days. 24:07 Yeah. 24:08 And with lot of consequences both on the physical body 24:11 and the psychological on their thinking. 24:16 It works with boys probably not to the extend that 24:19 it works with women, but it works with men too. 24:23 Again I'm going to become vulnerable, 24:24 I remember my son talking about this six abs. 24:28 Six pack. Oh, six pack. 24:30 I was getting ready to say that. 24:31 What do I say, oh, Nathan tell me, 24:33 I mean, I'm busy what are you talking about? 24:35 Says, well, then you don't understand, 24:37 you don't know, I said, what is this all about? 24:39 And he told me about the six pack 24:41 which is the abdominal muscles, 24:43 you have to develop in three and three. 24:46 And did you know, the reason I was reading an article, 24:49 I love to read medical journals, 24:51 but when it comes to plastic surgery 24:53 that has become 24:55 one of the number one procedures for men 24:57 as they're going in to have 24:59 their bodies sculpted to so that they 25:01 'cause not everybody can achieve it 25:03 through exercise so they're having their bodies sculpted 25:05 so they'll have a six pack. 25:07 It's like breast augmentation for women. 25:10 Now men are having this. 25:12 So it is really, you see that 25:13 men are kind of picking up on this body image. 25:16 And now it's all this because of media. 25:17 Yeah. 25:19 And there is nothing wrong with being healthy. 25:21 We want to be healthy 25:23 but I think there is this very much distorted view... 25:26 And what beauty and healthy looks 25:28 and it's all because of media. 25:29 What's wrong again, 25:31 I would like to mention a few things. 25:32 Number one it's an exaggerated preoccupation with self. 25:36 Number two unhealthy practices, 25:38 eating disorders or excessive exercise, 25:41 number three, it can lead to self adoration and pride. 25:44 Yes. 25:46 D or number four, 25:49 self-esteem distortions. 25:53 E sexual explicit or subliminal messages. 25:57 You have to be sexy in order to be accepted today, 26:00 it seems to be. 26:01 And the last one would be distraction 26:03 from spiritual methods in the real life issues. 26:05 Well only have about a minute and half, 26:07 what would you like to talk to us 26:09 about media and depression 26:11 because I believe that was your third point? 26:13 Yeah, there are plenty of studies that show 26:16 that there is a direct relation between the number of hours 26:19 someone watches media and depression level. 26:25 They've been, again we don't have the time now, 26:27 there are plenty of articles 26:29 published in the journal of psychiatry 26:33 and others which shows that there is a direct correlation 26:37 between the number of hours, 26:39 especially in the younger population. 26:40 The number of hours they watch on television 26:44 or spend in the media 26:45 and the depression level they experience. 26:47 So the bottom-line is that 26:48 media has a major impact on our brain 26:54 and on our mental health. 26:56 The number one cause for death 26:58 in the young population is suicide, 27:00 and they made a clear relationship 27:02 between suicide and depression. 27:03 Then if you see this link, media leads to depression, 27:07 and depression may lead to suicide, 27:09 then it's an interesting connection 27:12 which has been established by specialists. 27:15 Yeah. 27:17 It's fascinating material that you're presenting us. 27:19 And I know you do the seminars 27:22 that are great length and great detail 27:25 and we're just kind of hitting the surface if you will, 27:29 but thank you so much for joining us again. 27:31 Thank you for having me. Yes. 27:32 And for those of you at home, 27:34 please remember especially if you're a parent 27:38 or if you're a grandparent that media has a major impact 27:44 particularly on a developing mind, 27:46 a mind that hasn't, 27:47 the frontal lobe isn't fully developed, 27:49 and you want to make certain 27:51 that you monitor what your children are watching 27:54 or how much time they spend online on Facebook. 27:57 Monitor what they are doing, 28:00 because otherwise if you give the child a device 28:04 that is detrimental to their health, 28:07 that's child abuse. 28:09 So thank you for joining us. 28:11 Please come, join us next week 28:14 when Octavian will be sharing solutions 28:17 to this problem of media 28:20 and the battle for the mind, God bless. |
Revised 2016-12-08