I met a woman who informed me that she had a brain tumor removed. The same woman warned me to avoid placing a cell phone up to my ear when talking. She said she found out the difficult way that cell phones carry potential threats of causing brain tumors. From Internet research, I found that something else transpires inside the brain when a person engages in cell phone conversations or media interactions. Have you heard of neurotransmitters? Most people do not require a psychology major to understand the working of neurotransmitters in the brain. “NEUROTRANSMITTERS are the brain chemicals that communicate information throughout our brain and body.”1

The neurotransmitter dopamine has been implicated in attention deficit disorder (ADD). Dopamine is one of those “feel good” chemicals in the brain which is responsible for our ability to concentrate as well as in certain feelings of happiness. Just about all mood-altering drugs work on dopamine—including alcohol, cigarettes, caffeine, heroin, and cocaine, as do stimulant medications for ADD. Dopamine activity increases naturally in response to mental or physical stimulation, which is why ADDers can focus much better after exercise or during an emergency. In fact, it is said that many of the people involved in emergency response have ADD, including some firemen and ER physicians.

It is quite possible that some people are born with reduced levels of dopamine activity. People born with less dopamine may unknowingly spend much of their lives looking for ways to boost this hormone, either in positive ways like being highly active, inventive, competitive, or in negative ways by being reckless, gambling, or taking drugs. Another possibility is that lifestyles affect dopamine activity. For example, the brains of children raised on high levels of stimulation (e.g., by watching Cartoon Network and playing video games all day) might “adapt” physically so that high-stimulation becomes a requirement.2

After experiencing a problem with my smartphone’s battery, I found myself patiently waiting over one hour in a Verizon store before I received customer service. During the wait, I overheard a sales clerk’s conversation concerning a customer’s concern over her higher bill because of her child streaming movies and exceeding the cell phone device’s total usage limits.

Perhaps one reason a cell phone holds a child’s attention is because smart cell phones such as iPhones provide an open highway to “Watching Cartoon Network and playing video games all day.” I am surprised at the number of children under the age of 12 who proficiently handle cell phones. Try taking a cell phone away from a child at any age who is involved in playing a game or watching a video and observe what type of resistance that will get you.

Nevertheless, most people will agree that cell phones and other similar modes of technology provide a valid interaction and create a higher dimension to lifestyles, security, and safety. For example, a single person traveling alone remains much safer carrying a cell phone. The list is long on what positive advantages and profound differences this type of technology has brought to our society. I enjoy my smartphone because I keep up with the weather changes, check e-mails, take instant photos, access the Internet, Skype family and friends in real time, listen to an automated voice reading Bible scriptures, and send and receive instant messages. The most significant feature I enjoy when interacting on my cell phone is touching a button and activating the hands-free speaker phone.

Meanwhile, keeping up with the latest technological advances proves a vain effort. I purchased a Dell laptop computer less than five years ago. A mere two years after the purchase, my computer was already a dinosaur ready for the recycle bin.

Knowledge is definitely increasing, as Daniel the prophet was told:

“Thou, O Daniel, shut up the words, and seal the book, even to the time of the end: many shall run to and fro, and knowledge shall be increased” (Daniel 12:4)—and usually the children know more than the adults when it comes to technology.

Back around 1938, The Saturday Evening Post published these lines from a poem written by Robert D. Abrahams: “Some men die by shrapnel, and some go down in flames, but most men perish inch by inch, playing at little games.”

In 1938, media and technology had not introduced the type of games that people play today. Nonetheless, humanity has played games throughout history. As history repeats itself, humans continue playing little games. However, the attraction of playing online games today comprises a multi-million dollar industry. It is perhaps that because of the superficial excitement of playing games that they remain popular, not to mention, addictive.

Do you believe that games are addictive? I found a website www.addictinggames.com. After a few clicks on the Internet, I found that the popular game Candy Crush remains an insanely addictive game. One website http://www.slate.com/articles/technology/technology/2013/07/candy_crush_saga_the_most_addictive_game_since_angry_birds.html, reports that “Candy Crush is simultaneously simple and satanic.”

Technology has made possible instant and free access to literally thousands of games. Do you ever wonder what the attraction of these games means to the Christian’s time and brainpower? What about the Christian’s spirituality and accountability to God?

“We are accountable to God for the wise improvement of every mental faculty and every physical power. Who can measure his responsibility? We must render an account for the influence which we exert.”3

“Our daily lives are determining our destiny.”4

“Our time here is short. We can pass through this world but once; as we pass along, let us make the most of life.”5

The command to a believer is that “thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thine heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy might” (Deuteronomy 6:5).

“No man can be a follower of Christ and yet place his affections upon the things of the world. John in his first epistle writes: ‘Love not the world, neither the things that are in the world. If any man love the world, the love of the Father is not in him’ (2:15). Our Redeemer, who met this temptation of Satan in its fullest power, is acquainted with man’s danger of yielding to the temptation to love the world. . . .

“Our works will show the exact extent to which earthly treasures have our affections. The greatest care, anxiety, and labor are devoted to worldly interests, while eternal considerations are made secondary. Here Satan receives of man that homage which he claimed of Christ but failed to obtain. It is the selfish love of the world which corrupts the faith of the professed followers of Christ and makes them weak in moral power. The more they love their earthly riches, the further they depart from God, and the less do they partake of His divine nature that would give them a sense of the corrupting influences in the world and the dangers to which they are exposed.

“In Satan’s temptations it is his purpose to make the world very attractive. Through love of riches and worldly honor he has a bewitching power to gain the affections of even the professed Christian world. A large class of professedly Christian men will make any sacrifice to gain riches, and the better they succeed in their object the less love they have for precious truth and the less interest for its advancement. They lose their love for God and act like insane men. The more they are prospered in securing riches the poorer they feel because they have no more, and the less will they invest in the cause of God. . . .

“The example of Christ shows us that our only hope of victory is in continual resistance of Satan’s attacks. He who triumphed over the adversary of souls in the conflict of temptation understands Satan’s power over the race and has conquered him in our behalf. As an overcomer He has given us the advantage of His victory, that in our efforts to resist the temptations of Satan we may unite our weakness to His strength, our worthlessness to His merits. And, sustained by His enduring might under strong temptation, we may resist in His all-powerful name and overcome as He overcame.

“It was through inexpressible suffering that our Redeemer placed redemption within our reach. In this world He was unhonored and unknown, that through His wonderful condescension and humiliation He might exalt man to receive heavenly honors and immortal joys in His kingly courts. Will fallen man murmur because heaven can be obtained only by conflict, self-abasement, and toil?

“The inquiry of many a proud heart is: Why need I go in humiliation and penitence before I can have the assurance of my acceptance with God, and attain the immortal reward? Why is not the path to heaven less difficult and more pleasant and attractive? We refer all these doubting, murmuring ones to our great Exemplar while suffering under the load of man’s guilt and enduring the keenest pangs of hunger. He was sinless, and more than this, He was the Prince of heaven; but in man’s behalf He became sin for the race. ‘He was wounded for our transgressions, He was bruised for our iniquities: the chastisement of our peace was upon Him; and with His stripes we are healed’ (Isaiah 53:5)

“Christ sacrificed everything for man in order to make it possible for him to gain heaven. Now it is for fallen man to show what he will sacrifice on his own account for Christ’s sake, that he may win immortal glory. Those who have any just sense of the magnitude of salvation and of its cost will never murmur that their sowing must be in tears and that conflict and self-denial are the Christian’s portion in this life. The conditions of salvation for man are ordained of God. Self-abasement and cross bearing are the provisions made by which the repenting sinner is to find comfort and peace. The thought that Jesus submitted to humiliation and sacrifice that man will never be called to endure, should hush every murmuring voice. The sweetest joy comes to man through his sincere repentance toward God because of the transgression of His law, and faith in Christ as the sinner’s Redeemer and Advocate.

“Men labor at great cost to secure the treasures of this life. They suffer toil and endure hardships and privations to gain some worldly advantage. Why should the sinner be less willing to endure, to suffer, and to sacrifice in order to secure an imperishable treasure, a life that runs parallel with the life of God, a crown of immortal glory that fadeth not away? The infinite treasures of heaven, the inheritance which passes all estimate in value, which is an eternal weight of glory, must be obtained by us at any cost. We should not murmur at self-denial, for the Lord of life and glory endured it before us. Suffering and deprivation we should not avoid, for the Majesty of heaven accepted these in behalf of sinners. Sacrifice of ease and convenience should not cause one thought of repining, because the world’s Redeemer accepted all these in our behalf. Making the largest estimate of all our self-denials, privations, and sacrifices, it costs us far less in every respect than it did the Prince of life. Any sacrifice that we may make sinks into insignificance when compared with that which Christ made in our behalf.”6