Guarding Your Heart in Modern Society

The average American sees 4,000 to 10,000 ads in a day. If you read that and immediately believed it, I would be surprised. First of all, there doesn’t seem to be a single American who can boast the overall status of “average,”… and second, the possibility of seeing 10,000 ads a day is pretty outrageous. To see that amount of ads, you would have to be scrolling instagram nonstop, constantly finding youtube videos, and screening tik tok like a bot (possibly all at the same time). 4,000 then might be plausible — but even then to suggest that one person sees 10,000 banners or 30 second clips in a day is absurd. 

I did further research to find whether this statement is true. Unsurprisingly, even when I used varying keywords it was pretty obvious that every web page had copied the same statistic on their site. It took a while but I found the marketing company who originally initiated the test of this statistic. The results of their study were actually pretty unsettling. 

Ron Marshall, president of the company Red Crow Marketing, did his own research to test whether the statistics were true. This is what he wrote:

“On my test day, I woke up in the morning to my radio-alarm. I heard about 14 ads on my local station, KTTS, before opening my eyes and hitting the snooze on my Sony clock. Clicking on my Sony and Control 4 controllers to fire up my Panasonic TV, the Roku Streaming Media selection presented about 20 channel options. I instead went to the Mediacom selection watched/listened to 46 more TV commercials as I got going.

I got dressed in my Fruit of the Loom undershirt, Big Dog shirt, Wrangler Jeans, and Adidas shoes; 11 brand advertisements are within eyesight in the closet. I’m not digging for them.

I opened my pantry and counted 214 food Brand labels, all colorful and professionally created. Again, I’m not moving things around to see the manufacturer’s name. I get my box of Kellogg’s Special K cereal for my Jersey Maid milk and count 62 product brands. I opened a drawer displaying 6 different pod brands and flavors to brew in my Keurig maker. I’ve gotten around 487 ad exposures by this time, and I haven’t even finished breakfast.”

- Red Crow Marketing, 2015

He goes on to say that after taking that normal off day to conduct this test, by noon his mind was exhausted. As a marketing expert, he remarks that people can only take in so much information a day which is why on any given day, you can only name a few of the brands you see advertised. Conveniently, he made his point: ads have to be insanely unique and attention-grasping to even make it past our wall of consciousness.

It goes without saying that our attention is constantly in the midst of a battle. Even twenty years ago the phrase had it that you could tell a lot about a person by their calendar and their bank account — now with digital media you can tell much more about a person just by what stops their social media scroll.

Of course, media companies take advantage of this and use it to push more content they believe we will find interesting. Still, considering that Marshall named not only digital media ads but ones broadcasted on our favorite clothing and food, it is clear that marketing agencies have got catching our attention down to a science. 

So the question awaits. What stops your scroll? What makes you pause on a story or neglect to click ‘skip,’ on a youtube ad? Is it clothes or home design - interesting classes or humorous commercials? When you see someone you know, does it make you stop — do acquaintance’s personal lives interest you so much? Does violent or sexual content attract you? Or worse? 

The sad truth is, the majority of inappropriate content we see doesn’t need us to look for it. It finds us. The Bible reminds us repeatedly to guard our hearts which we do by filtering what goes in our minds… but in a world like ours, it is difficult to believe that is even possible. 

Even when we have high standards, modern society requires us to cut corners. Try as we may, no one can be protected from every temptation — not in this time or any other before us. Still, think about the way the system works. With social media, food, clothing brands, etc., all information is gathered not by what we see but our reaction to it. Companies experimentally market to different demographics all of the time which means content is bound to appear that you have no place seeing. Whether that content is pushed again? That is up to you. The system requires action — merely scrolling past a pop up could save you months of seeing similar ones.

Guarding our hearts starts with what we put in our minds — but the character of our hearts determines what we let in. If we openly invite things we know are not wholesome (as the marketing experts openly testify that we do), there is a deeper problem. According to their studies, nothing will stop your scroll unless it truly intrigues you — which means it is a battle for desires to win over the mind. Once your desire is urged and your mind captivated, the gate to your heart is opened. Your persuaders have you right where they want you. 

God understands our temptations. Believe it or not, at the root of everything that tempts you is something He designed. The devil never came up with anything new. He merely borrows God’s beautiful raw material and fashions them into enticing weapons for our destruction. However the devil may try to convince you that God made nothing pleasurable, just seeing His beautifully innovated creation proves Satan a liar. God created desire and things to satisfy it — and He made His Son the perfect fulfillment in the end for every desire. Even when our desires are perverted, He understands, which means not only is he the perfect fulfillment of them, he has enough grace to redirect them when they are out of hand. He doesn’t play the shame game — he draws us back to himself. 

Guarding our hearts doesn’t mean blocking out all inappropriate content. Yes, it means limits but the ultimate fulfillment comes when we make the choice daily to follow Christ’s way of thinking — even when met with temptations to keep our minds from running rampant with them. Don’t put yourself in situations that will tempt you — in fact, steer away from them. But when met with temptation, turn to Christ. It is impossible to abolish the possibility of temptation — the choice we make when faced with it is what determines the strength of our character, our drive to follow Christ and reap the benefit from true wholesome desire. 

He provides us with the perfect escape because he understands every temptation. All we have to do is reach out our hand, want Him more than what wants to consume us. He will not allow us to be swallowed up by temptation unwillingly. He waits for us to want Him — and when we do, He fulfills the longings of our hearts in impossible ways. 

Jesus came as a man and was tempted. He went to extreme lengths to know what we face. In the end, He is still triumphant over temptation which means he is the perfect candidate for guarding our hearts. All it takes is surrender to him.

“The Lord looks down from heaven and sees the whole human race. From his throne he observes all who live on the earth. He made their hearts so he understands everything they do.”

- Psalm 33:13-15

Surround yourself with people who love Him (James 5:16). Fill your heart with scripture and your mind with constant prayer — an ongoing conversation with the Lord. He sees what you see and knows far more than what you know. He cares about your heart. Everything you do flows from what is in it… and there has never been a greater heart guard.