Ah, another example of "correlation =\= causation."
The kid who played video games to (near) death? Obviously the game made him do it, right?! Wrong.
Psychologists aren't doing their job if they don't know that some people ACTUALLY HAVE DIAGNOSABLE - AND MORE IMPORTANTLY, TREATABLE - DISORDERS THAT MAKE THEM DO CRAZY SHIT LIKE THAT. That kid probably had a complex of OCD and psychosis of some sort.
The OCD gave him the compulsions to play, and psychosis explains the suicide attempt when he was confronted.
There. I'm 18 and I know more about diagnostic psychology than that Pope fool likely ever will.
A childhood friend of mine was addicted to coke up till last october and I can tell that this person has never seen or experienced, either first or second-hand, effects of cocaine.
That being said, people need to WAKE UP about the nature of videogames and sites such as The Escapist should try to have more(than half a paragraph of)insight into videogame topics instead of automatically trying to shoot down or ridicule any report that shows the nastier aspects of gaming.
The bottom line is: VIDEO GAMES ARE ADDICTIVE TO MANY MANY PEOPLE and unlike previous generations, today's children have much more and stronger exposure to video games and multimedia. What needs to emphasized is not how much videogames(and t.v. and the internet)are going to wreck your life if you play them, but rather how much they can affect people of all ages if they are allowed to run your life. After all, those people spending 12+ hours on internet and videogames did not start playing 12+ from the very beginning.
Klepa said:
Stop the fucking press, we've hit the mother lode!
[HEADING=2]14-YEAR-OLD BOY DID NOT BEHAVE![/HEADING]
Read all about it!
People are in denial if they believe that spending 24 straight hours without drink or food is misbehaving. STOP DOWNPLAYING THE EFFECTS OF VIDEOGAMES ON PEOPLE, that is a full force addiction.
P.S. Sorry about caps, I don't know how to underline/bold on these forums.
Oh man, I can just imagine this Steve Pope's secretary after he posted the article.
"-SNRK-"
"Yes, Sandra? Is there something I should know?"
"Oh, n-nothing, Mr. Pope. I... I just saw something really funny."
"Really? What was it?"
"PFFFFFFFFFT-"
At which point, the secretary hurried into the next room and burst out laughing.
See, the way i see it is that games aren't bad, they're addictive. Now it seems obvious to me that the "researcher" is using scare tactics by comparing video games with cocaine. I spotted this immediately along with the fact that they through out statistics without any support. I looked and couldn't find any research on this. But maybe I am being paranoid, I'm sure they have plenty of evidence and measures for addictions and highs despite that they're opinion based. But one thing is certain, video games are not as bad for you as cocaine is, which they refused to mention because it would lessen the impact of their case. But maybe I'm being biased, seeing as I have played plenty of video games, but never tried cocaine. Perhaps the studies with evidence about the immediate and long term effects of cocaine were forged by deranged anti drug advocates. When I look at i from the other point of view, I seem positive that my lack of drug use and over analyzation of the text leads me to a false, uneducated opinion. I now see clearly that this research must be right, despite what anyone says.
EDIT: You know what. When did people lose self-control? Stop blaming this stuff on what people are doing and blame it on the people themselves. Its their own damn fault for not having any self-control
Lol. I do wish people would think through the implications of what they say sometimes...
Because you basically said "It's a person's own fault for not having the self-control needed to have any self-control."
But whatever. Having self-control is like having good eyesight.
Some people have it, some people need glasses to be able to see anything, and some lie inbetween.
A comment like this is like saying having bad eyesight is your own fault. In a sense, it is. But what can you do about it? Nothing. You can wear glasses, which helps 'correct' the problem, but it still doesn't change the fact that without them you can't see worth a damn.
Unfortunately, we somehow accept certain kinds of defects from people, but not others.
Why the difference? I guess a presumption of people having 'control' over certain aspects of who they are, and not others.
But is that in any way fair? Can I change the way my mind works any more easily than I can change how tall I am?
Nothing is entirely impossible to change, but nor is it always a simple thing to do so...
How the hell is it like saying you have bad eyesight. Self-control is a mental ability which everyone has. They either use it or choose to ignore it. You cannot have a fundemental part of what we are. Bad eyesight is not a choice. Where did I ever say bad eyesight is your own fault. The only time that would be true if you stared at the sun for too long when you were told not to.
Yes but the simple fact that if someone ignores it its their choice. They are responsible for their choices so if they choose not to play in moderation then it is their own fault. Games become the scapegoat because parents would rather blame the games than their own children or better yet blame themselves for allowing the children to do so.
Now, see, it's an analogy. And your answer proves my point. according to you, everyone has self-control.
Self-control comes in degrees. choosing to excercise self-control is in itself an act of control.
How can you control your ability to control yourself?
It's a logical contradiction to begin with. choosing to control your own behaviour or not is non-sensical, and the degree to which you are capable of it is no more inherent than any other trait.
Just as you can be completely blind, or have exceptional eyesight, self-control, as something other than a purely abstract concept would likely vary among the population.
Are you really going to say that everyone on the planet has the same amount of self-control?
And that they themselves choose wether to 'ignore' it or not?
If that were the case, why would anyone ever do anything that's bad for them at all?
Why can one person stop themselves from doing something potentially harmful while another cannot?
Perhaps one person doesn't see the harm that arises, but that merely avoids the question. Do people really have as much control over their own actions are your seemingly simple statement implies?
Being responsible for your own actions at the very least implies you had a choice in making them.
Wether this is true or not is far less certain than people would like to think.
After all, to make a truly 'responsible' choice of action requires not only freedom from all outside influence, but also perfect knowledge of the results of all possible actions you can take in any given situation.
Neither of which is ever likely to be true.
No person has enough information to be sure what the results of their actions will be, so you must make do with what you know.
Taking responsibility for your actions isn't about your ability to control your behaviour, but rather your willingness to accept the results of what you did in the past.
Perhaps seeing the consequences first-hand will make you less likely to do it again. Perhaps seeing the effects of similar actions on others will make you less inclined to try certain things to begin with.
But responsible actions and self-control are vastly different things.
Self-control. Does it exist, or are you merely fooled into thinking it does by rationalising your own actions after the fact?
What is it that leads a person to make one decision instead of another anyway?
These are incredibly badly understood ideas, and yet so many people say things like you do, as if they are the most obvious statements around.
Self-control? Self-delusion is more likely.
You haven't seen those new clam-shell packing things have you? I lost my entire right hand to one of them. It just chomped it off like a wad of humid cotton candy.
You can't compare highs between Coke and ANYTHING. Good science, Mr. therapist. Its almost as if this guy has never heard of Dopamine.
To explain, your brain gives off Dopamine when it gets happy - simply put. COCAINE chemically forces you to OVERPRODUCE Dopamine production, making you high. Things that aren't chemical cannot do that.
Just... Here:
I see so many things that are wrong with what this "therapist" is saying. So, let me get this straight. This person thinks playing video games will lead to an addiction at the level of someone who uses cocaine? That doesn't make sense. At all. Cocaine causes tachycardia, hallucinations, delusions, increased risk of stroke and heart attack, asthma, nosebleeds, dyspnea, lung trauma. I'm pretty sure that makes cocaine much worse than video games.
Everything is addicting to someone. Religion, drugs, games, knitting, driving, exercising, eating. Oh yeah, being an idiot and saying stupid things also seems to be an additction.
You can't compare highs between Coke and ANYTHING. Good science, Mr. therapist. Its almost as if this guy has never heard of Dopamine.
To explain, your brain gives off Dopamine when it gets happy - simply put. COCAINE chemically forces you to OVERPRODUCE Dopamine production, making you high. Things that aren't chemical cannot do that.
Just... Here:
You can't compare highs between Coke and ANYTHING. Good science, Mr. therapist. Its almost as if this guy has never heard of Dopamine.
To explain, your brain gives off Dopamine when it gets happy - simply put. COCAINE chemically forces you to OVERPRODUCE Dopamine production, making you high. Things that aren't chemical cannot do that.
Just... Here:
How can you be addicted to Ebay? Moreover, is Ebay even a game? Is there some cheat code you can enter for infinite cash or something? That is the only scenario I can think of that would resolve those two inconsistencies. You would eventually run out of cash otherwise, and ebay isn't even a game.
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