Lately I have been seeing a lot of commercials on television for the upcoming season of Big Brother. I don’t watch this show but it is very popular. I think that it brings out the voyeur in its audience. However, this post is not about voyeurism or about those that watch these “reality” television shows.
I use the term “reality” television here very loosely. The producers of the show would like for you to believe that this group of people represent the rest of us and that their actions within the house are indicative of how we live our daily lives. The problem with this idea is that the contestants are picked based on the producers idea of who will make good television and they know that they are being watched.
With cameras all over the house, the players of this game know that every thing that they say and do is being monitored. This takes the reality from this “reality” show. It is human nature for us to change our behavior when we know that we are being watched. Sometimes we change our actions for the better and sometimes the thought of being watched changes our actions for the worse. For example take a look at the interview of this years PGA US Open winner from this past weekend.
I don’t know this “birdman” but I would have to assume that this person does not usually go around making squawking sounds to get attention.
There are other times when we change our actions to behave when we know that we are being watched. When we know that the cameras are on or that there is someone paying attention to our actions we sometimes “straighten up” and try to act “normal.” Do we do this because we don’t want someone to see or record the way we act when we don’t think someone is watching?
As we go through our daily lives, we get comfortable in our surroundings and sometimes forget that we are being watched. We let our guard down, so to speak, and our real personalities emerge. We act because we do not believe that anyone will see these actions, we speak because we don’t believe that anyone will here, we sin because we think no one will know.
Nothing in all creation is hidden from God’s sight. Everything is uncovered and laid bare before the eyes of him to whom we must give account. Hebrews 4:13 NIV
The Scriptures tell us that nothing escapes the notice of God. There is nothing that we do, nothing that we say, nothing that we think that He does not know.
George Orwell wrote a book about a society that lives under the constant scrutiny of the “Big Brother” eye, watching every move that is made. The fact is that humans have always lived under this scrutiny. From the beginning of time, God has watched as we sinned.
The eyes of the Lord are everywhere,
keeping watch on the wicked and the good. Proverbs 15:3 NIV
We must remember that like those contestants in the Big Brother house where there is no escaping the cameras, there is no place that we can hide to escape the notice of God. He watches over us and protects us. But we must remember that we will be held accountable for our actions.
Do you act differently if you know the camera is pointed at you?
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It depends on who is behind the camera, but sooner or later I tend take off the mask. The funny thing is that everything that we post on the internet is basically on camera.
You are right about that.