Therapist Repeats "Gaming is Like Snorting Cocaine" Claim

[Eldarion]

When psychology is a respectable field I'll start to care about what this idiot thinks.

 

[ltbigjohn]

i think this guy put the rapist in therapist because i don't like his ideas.

 

[sumanoskae]

Taking a controller out of my hands while I am trying to make progress would annoy me. It would also annoy me if someone took away a good book I was reading, because I would want to find out what would happen next.

Equating a large degree of annoyance derived from someone interrupting your progress with an addiction is...wrong. Some people do get addicted, but people tend to get addicted to lots of things. Tiger Woods is a good example.

Not to mention that it could be a delicate moment in a very difficult game that you've worked hard on. If my parent took the controller away while I was going up against the last boss in Demon Souls, damn straight I'd be pissed off. Do you know how long it takes to get to that boss, and how delicate of a strategic rhythm I have to maintain to stay alive. You're ignoring a huge part of my life, buying into that hacks that are trying to destroy it, and insulting the works of the many hardworking artists that populate this medium.

Do I really need to list off AGAIN, the reasons why this is sensationalist bullshit?, they've been doing it for years now, and it isn't any more true now.

They vastly underestimate the enriching experiences these works have to offer.
They've never played the games they criticize
Being able to distinguish reality from fiction is basic capability of any sane human being, and a lack thereof is a sign of severe mental disease
Statistically speaking, violent crime has not increased with the sales of games
If it was normal for people to kill each other or themselves over games, then it wouldn't be news
This happens all the time with rising art forms, and will continue to happen. Thankfully, it didn't stop comics, and hopefully won't stop gaming

 

[DelphiSantano]

"Therapist Repeats Idiotic Theory with no Grounding in Reality"

I wish these idiots would go and do something with their lives that doesn't require intelligence, they might stand a better chance at success. Then again, that's still a strong 'might'.

 

[acosn]

To make his point, he suggested that parents listening to the program "go upstairs to your kid's bedroom and try and take the (insert subject here) out of their hands." They will react "in the same way as an alcoholic would if you tried to take their booze. It's scary," he said. As for the claims about sleep disruption that started the whole mess, he said staying up late to (insert adjective, and subject here) causes an "endorphin high in [kids'] brains," leading to a "chemical imbalance" that disrupts behavior and learning.

That line of text is so exploitable.

 

[Rayne870]

take away his pen while he writes this bullshit and watch how long it takes him to freak out.

 

[mega48man]

oh my FUCKING GOD....I'VE ARGUED THIS POINT TO DEATH AND I'M ONLY IN HIGH SCHOOL!!!!!

last year, we did a mock debate. my topic; "do video games generated bad behavior in children?" my side of the arguement; "no". i was the underdog.....and i fucking won like *****, A+ and the other team got an E.

here was my arguement; violent people like violent things. if someone shoots up a school in real life because they thought they had fun in a video game, that person is obviously fucked up in the head. how many people played GTA4 and modern warfare 2? around a million, right? ARE ANY OF US HOMICIDAL PSYCHOPATHS??? of course not.

now this guy is getting pretty deep with the chemical imbalances, we learned about that in psychology 101, tu-cchez mutha fucka. however, do kids get up at 7 am after playing up to 1 or 2 am? FUCK NO, WE SLEEP IN UNTIL NOON!!!!!! and us teenagers stay up late all the time anyway! I'M DOING IT RIGHT NOW AREN'T I??? AND I'M NOT PLAYING MINECRAFT AM I?!?!? (you can't prove that, but i assure you, i'm not)

and really, if you're telling people something as dumb as this just because the pope said so, you really are a mindless drone with no free will. welcome to the world of religion. if he brings down video games because of that, i am gonna get sooooooo pissed.

you know what? the pope once critized the beatles because of john lennon's statement about being bigger than jesus, but a later pope said the beatles are ok. i bet in a few years once they get a better pope he'll be playing sam & max or bulletstorm. who doesn't like bulletstorm? i'll tell you who: FAGGOTS

 

[Mercsenary]

Go into your living room and turn off the TV whilst people are watching it, it will piss them off as well. Or take a book off them whilst theyre reading it... Scary stuff eh?

Therefore we must ban EVERYTHING

 

[mega48man]

When psychology is a respectable field I'll start to care about what this idiot thinks.

weeeeell, i'd retract that statement if i were you. psychology is pretty popular, i'm taking a class on it. it's very interesting and answers a lot of medical mysteries. instead, think about what he says about staying up effecting chemical imbalance and compare that to who many teenagers in this country stay up late......interesting, no? it's not just us gamers who stay up late, it's everyone. it's what teenagers do, we stay up late. he's using psychology like a blind trained rifleman shooting his gun off. he knows what he's talking about, but he isn't applying what he knows properly.

 

[Zinaxos]

If my mum wanted my controller I would give it to her, no questions asked. I wouldn't throw a fit or freak out. She can have it. This is such a stupid claim.

 

[FungiGamer]

To make his point, he suggested that parents listening to the program "go upstairs to your kid's bedroom and try and take the game station controller out of their hands." They will react "in the same way as an alcoholic would if you tried to take their booze. It's scary," he said.

I once tried to take food away from a snarling hungry lion and it bit my arm off. That lion must've been addicted to eating food!

 

[Eldarion]

When psychology is a respectable field I'll start to care about what this idiot thinks.

weeeeell, i'd retract that statement if i were you. psychology is pretty popular, i'm taking a class on it. it's very interesting and answers a lot of medical mysteries. instead, think about what he says about staying up effecting chemical imbalance and compare that to who many teenagers in this country stay up late......interesting, no? it's not just us gamers who stay up late, it's everyone. it's what teenagers do, we stay up late. he's using psychology like a blind trained rifleman shooting his gun off. he knows what he's talking about, but he isn't applying what he knows properly.

It being popular does not make it a valid field of medicine. We know so little about how the human mind works that psychology is still 90% bullshit and guesswork.

 

[AngryFrenchCanadian]

If it's just a therapist, then there is nothing to worry about. Now, if a thousand renowned therapists were to say the same, I'd start worrying. Until then, we can just ignore him, as extraordinary claims need extraordinary evidence.

 

[thecoreyhlltt]

I think having a job is worse than playing games. I have to work 9-5 and have nightmares about my job. Games dont do that to me.

Also my job has me waking up early so I can get there on time cutting my sleeping time in half, along with them nightmares. I dont get much sleep. Id rather just play video games.

not that i'm on that dick Pope's side, but i've had tons of game dreams/nightmares... I LOVE EM!

 

[ScoopMeister]

I'm pretty sure that a two hour gaming session isn't equal to a line of cocaine. I don't have greasy hair, I'm not borrowing money and not paying it back. If someone came up to me and took the controller out of my hands, I would be confused or think it was a joke rather than act like a joke.
Also, if you split up the word 'therapist', you get 'the rapist'. Just thought I'd point that out(See, I can make ridiculous claims too).

You, my friend, are analytical genius. I lolled at that last comment.

 

[Vault101]

I freebase my games....

anyway I can sort of see this with the WOW thing but seriously this is just stupid

(plus I think in some cases playng games all the time is a symptom not a cause)

 

[lSHaDoW-FoXl]

"go upstairs to your kid's bedroom and try and take the game station controller out of their hands." They will react "in the same way as an alcoholic would if you tried to take their booze. It's scary,'

(Face palm) Is this guy REALLY a therapist? I'm pretty sure someone else commented on this already, (one hundred people) but regardless I guess I'll shoot -

More like kids - or anyone - don't enjoy having things taken from them. If the kid had a guitar and he enjoyed playing it he'd react no differently. Heck, if any of my parents wanted me to get rid of something important to me just because they were stupid enough to believe a stupid article I'd be pretty bat shit.

 

[jakefongloo]

the key difference between games and ANYTHING else is that anything else you can pick up where you left off.
When you get your sandwich back you get to continue eating where you left off
When the T.V. comes back you can fastforward (lets face it everyone has DVR) to where you left off
When the book goes away you skim the pages flipping to where you left off

When someone turns off your game before you save you have to do that shit ALL OVER AGAIN

I would be unruly pissed too.
Fuck if I forget to save for a long time in Fallout and I die? I don't play the game for like fucking 2 weeks

 

[neolithic]

I've never sucked a %$## for video games before.... /arguement

 

[godfist88]

if I came in your room and took your dumb thesis while you were still writing it you'd be pissed off too.

seriously this guy has no idea what he's doing. he's just jumping on the video games are evil band wagon. way to take someone else's message and market as your own, loser.