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I use FB and Instagram quite a lot. I also play a mobile game called Genshin Impact which is an RPG-game where one can level up ones heroes and gain new abilities and weapons to defeat monsters and other creatures. It's a huge open-world game with tons of stuff to do.

The movies I watch are usually horror movies such as Hereditary, Midsommar, The Conjuring, Sinister or science fiction movies such as Arrival, Interstellar, Moon etc.

Will I be better served without these activities?

What effect will the absence of those activities have on my meditation practice?

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  • maybe if could include what types of communications & what types of films could be helpful, as content etc could vary significantly, also venue, music/ sound :)
    – M H
    Oct 20, 2020 at 11:32
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    @MH. Do you mean what games and movies I watch?
    – user19910
    Oct 20, 2020 at 13:13
  • yes, many films seem fine & some games are okay, & music; also might depend on what specific contemplation/ meditation , eg some things are restful & serene etc, other things less so etc, thank you :)
    – M H
    Oct 20, 2020 at 14:45
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    @MH. Okay, I updated my question and added a description of my activities - is it better now?
    – user19910
    Oct 20, 2020 at 16:03
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    thank you for including additional information :)
    – M H
    Oct 22, 2020 at 9:43

4 Answers 4

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If you are regularly practising meditation, you should know for yourself how various activities affect your meditation.

For example, if desires & thoughts about various activities pop into your mind regularly when meditating then obviously these activities are hindering the development of meditative concentration.

In summary, if the quality of your social media, mobile gaming and watching movies is related to lust, violence & restlessness then they will inevitably hinder concentration meditation.

But if social media & movies are of a more wholesome quality then they will not hinder meditation.

Note: I am too old to know what mobile gaming is.

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You let go of the grosser forms of happiness, the grosser strategies for happiness, and get used to more and more refined ones. And they finally take you to the point where there's no course left but to let go of strategies. All strategies..... This is the way to true happiness.

Ṭhānissaro Bhikkhu

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This video really tell me something. Emptiness is to develop good habits and watching TV, video games, etc are draining your energy and keep an deilllusion that world is so perfect but the real life is way too much different yet will lead you to a mindset to have life dissatisfacion.

https://youtu.be/lrnqdezWaTE

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I think u have heard some famous actors shown up in perfect life in the TV but suicide next few months right. Their real life and their acting are totally 2 different worlds. I knew few of them and saw them the life in mental illness state. So choose the right TV program :)

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    Thanks little star:)
    – user19910
    Oct 20, 2020 at 20:21
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If one was on the Titanic, one might realize that social media, mobile gaming and watching movies are unproductive. Focusing on such trivial activities, one might suffer a painful death and end up being reborn craving for air and warm water.

Life is short. We can spend that time grasping at the unsatisfactory. Or we can seek out and let go of the root of suffering.

Do social media, mobile gaming and watching movies give us lasting happiness or do we have to "keep playing"?

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