"Video Game Addiction" to be Forum Topic at Sandy Hook School District

[frizzlebyte]

Grieving is an explanation, not an excuse. Calling video games an "addiction" amounts to engaging in pseudoscience to equate engaging in an entertainment medium with drug use.

It's all well and good to empathize with people who lose a family member to the Black Plague; that empathy doesn't mean you're somehow obligated to accept their need to burn witches.

Funny thing is, video games can cause the same kind of chemical responses in the brain that lead to addiction (though compulsion would be a more correct term, I suppose).

The good that I think can come from this is that video game obsession (and this is different from passion; passion is a positive side to obsession. Addiction is not) often starts as a salve for other issues in someone's life (and I know; I've been there before). If a parent sees their kid's life being consumed by video games, it might get them involved to know if anything is wrong with their child, and get them some help.

 

[JET1971]

Anyone else noticing that some here are saying they shouldn't target video games because they are an easy target and yet blame guns which are an easier target? Video games and guns are not the reason these things happen. Give someone a gun and they do not automatically turn into a psychopath and start shooting places up just like someone playing the latest COD or GTA does not make them a psychopath and start shooting places up if they already had access to a gun. Guns are another scapegoat and arguing for no guns does not solve the problem. But nobody is saying anything about the most recent school tragedy that did not include a gun. That is the same situation that needed prevention the only difference is it is not important because it wasn't a mass shooting but a mass stabbing.

The way to solve the problem is learning to spot the signs that an individual needs help and get them the help they need before they get to the point that shooting some place up seems like the only option they have left. Get these people help and mass school shootings/stabbings will be a thing of the past. Blaming guns is the same as blaming games, it does not solve anything.

As for the school district wanting to teach parents how to spot addiction, that's a good thing. Using that as a way to pass blame for what happened at Sandy Hook is pathetic.

 

[weirdee]

Deal with the feelings as they must, but also deal with the actual issues concerning guns and support for alienated youth.

 

[Callate]

Funny thing is, video games can cause the same kind of chemical responses in the brain that lead to addiction (though compulsion would be a more correct term, I suppose).

The good that I think can come from this is that video game obsession (and this is different from passion; passion is a positive side to obsession. Addiction is not) often starts as a salve for other issues in someone's life (and I know; I've been there before). If a parent sees their kid's life being consumed by video games, it might get them involved to know if anything is wrong with their child, and get them some help.

If video games are becoming an overwhelming fixation of someone's life to their significant detriment, certainly taking some measures to wean them off their fixation might be a positive step.

But "addiction" is still a misleading word, and one with an unwarrantedly negative connotation. Video games don't appear to show any greater effect on dopamine levels in the brain than activities that are considered natural and healthy, such as food and sex, and far less than cocaine or methamphetamine. A Psychology Today article disabuses the notion that video games are even comparable to another non-chemical "addiction", gambling.

As described, the forum appears to come front-loaded with negative conclusions and likely to cause anyone who attends who might be "on the fence" to assume that anyone in their life playing video games is an addict in need of treatment. It claims that video game "addiction" is broadly accepted and clearly defined in a way that gives those with negative presuppositions about games an undue sense of authority.

If I thought the forum was more genuinely focused on helping people who needed help, I could be more supportive. What is being described sounds more like it was designed to create business for underqualified therapists.

 

[antipunt]

Need help??

Call us. 1-800-Videogames

 

[RicoADF]

For parents that own guns and don't want their kids near them, this is absolutely the best solution. Put them in a safe or a vault, give it a combination that only you would know, and check it every so often to make sure no one gets in there.

Or you know, not have a gun? I know to you American's it's a scary prospect but alot of us over seas have never touched a gun because their not revered in the same way. The problem seems to be that because the US 'won it's freedom' with guns their seen in a different light than those that haven't been through a civil war and I believe this is a large part of the problem. Guns aren't the issue, but the way the culture treats them and sees them is. After that is fixed the rest will fall in line.

 

[Someone Depressing]

Obviously, games aren't the issue here; there are many and the cuts are probably still too fresh to talk about it without offending anyone. It's a mixutre of guns, education, maybe bullying, all kinds of insane crap that nobody really knows too much about at this point.

Really, we shouldn't retaliate right now. I imagine that, if they believe that it's physically possible to be addicted to video games, then they don't know anything about them. Let the community have their loud, tear-driven say.

 

[WouldYouKindly]

I don't even understand how guns help you! Gun safety people say "guns should be locked up in a gun safe" but if you get robbed and you're in the house, how are you going to defend yourself with a gun? IT'S IN A SAFE! "excuse me Mr. Robber, I am just going to get my gun" ... "oh, yeah, no worries ... take your time dude, no rush!".
.

Since you haven't been quoted into oblivion yet, I figure this is ok.

As I do own a gun and it isn't locked up, I do have some rules. 1.) If there is going to be a child in the house, it will be locked up and unloaded. 2.) If I feel depressed or I suspect any person in the house is depressed, the gun will be dismantled as much is practical.

It's the truth that you are much more likely to kill yourself with a gun than someone will kill you. Also more likely that a kid will find the gun no matter where you hide it. Also, ounce of prevention. Proper alarms, door locks, and a dog are very effective at getting random criminals to choose another house. Finally, most criminals who break into places are not interested in hurting you. They want your stuff, not anyting to do with you. They'll damn well try to steal when you're not there.

 

[omega 616]

I don't even understand how guns help you! Gun safety people say "guns should be locked up in a gun safe" but if you get robbed and you're in the house, how are you going to defend yourself with a gun? IT'S IN A SAFE! "excuse me Mr. Robber, I am just going to get my gun" ... "oh, yeah, no worries ... take your time dude, no rush!".
.

Since you haven't been quoted into oblivion yet, I figure this is ok.

As I do own a gun and it isn't locked up, I do have some rules. 1.) If there is going to be a child in the house, it will be locked up and unloaded. 2.) If I feel depressed or I suspect any person in the house is depressed, the gun will be dismantled as much is practical.

It's the truth that you are much more likely to kill yourself with a gun than someone will kill you. Also more likely that a kid will find the gun no matter where you hide it. Also, ounce of prevention. Proper alarms, door locks, and a dog are very effective at getting random criminals to choose another house. Finally, most criminals who break into places are not interested in hurting you. They want your stuff, not anyting to do with you. They'll damn well try to steal when you're not there.

Last time I got into a "robber wont try to harm you" argument, all I got back was "I wont take that chance" and in my head I saw

Spoiler

I look at all these other places that have gun laws and are doing just fine, they aren't being ransacked every 2 minutes, the government hasn't turned into North Korea or any other argument for guns ... to which I get, "America isn't like those places".

I always liken it to an atheist arguing with a Christian, the atheist will pull out all this scientific evidence to rule out the Christian god but the Christians just say "but the bible says ...", much like Americans say "but the second amendment says ...".

 

[ThreeName]

Fuck we're a bunch of indignant cunts aren't we? Gamers really are pathetic little creatures, crying whenever anyone dares say anything bad about their hobby.

It's a general meeting about raising kids. They weren't even drawing links between the shooting and video game, you geniuses and the rest of gaming media are doing all of that.

Guess what the other topics include? ?Tips for Managing Sibling Rivalry? and ?Spring Forward! Ideas and Programming Suggestions to Enjoy Summer". Untwist your panties and get on with your life, stop trying to be so fucking offended all the time. What is this, Tumblr?

 

[ThreeName]

It's worth noting that an official report on the motives behind the Sandy Hook shootings <a href=http://www.escapistmagazine.com/news/view/129971-Sandy-Hook-Final-Report-Finds-No-Link-With-Games>found no links with video games.

No it is not worth noting. It's irrelevant. Stop writing sensationalised clickbait nonsense. These people are just running general workshops for issues affecting kids today, not "blaming" video games or in any way suggesting that video games were responsible for the shooting. Stop jumping down their throat. It's disgraceful how googling "Newtown Recovery Project" just leads to a bunch of video game websites complaining that video games are being addressed in a management course about fucking children.

This poor community just want to draw together and help parents raise their children as well as possible. I'm honestly disgusted that gamers are acting like this.

/rage

 

[grey_space]

Blaming video games (music, tv, etc) isn't the answer.

Stricter gun control isn't the answer.

Providing an actual way to diagnose and combat mental illness, rather then treat it like something to be ashamed of and not properly fund it.

I totally agree. Unfortunately mental health is still almost a forbidden topic in most modern societies.

It's easier to blame one thing as the 'root of all evil' as it were, rather than tackle the enormous social, environmental psychological, and emotional causes of these tragedies that are occurring all too frequently.

If it wasn't games, it's be something else.

 

[Happiness Assassin]

While I am fine with people having their forums to open up a grounds of discussion, I feel that choosing to focus on video games (a subject only tangentially related to Sandy Hook and has been shown to have no link to most violent crime) only obfuscates the real issues surrounding this tragedy. Namely, access to guns and the treatment of the mentally ill. While video game addiction can in fact be a real issue, here it seems to, at best, be a symptom of the shooters others issues.

But if there is one thing people in this country that people don't like to talk about even more than gun control, it is the mental health system. While people can actually get into debates and argue about guns, people almost refuse to acknowledge the massive problems with our current health system. People like to think of mental illness as not a big deal, thinking it is more a sign of weakness. Hell, for the the longest time I refused to get help for my own illnesses and have know many others who are still struggling to come to terms with this. If we want real change, we have to be willing to talk openly about these issues or else we risk them going unsolved.

 

[Rabid_meese]

I see a lot of people getting upset about this. Just stop.

It doesn't hurt anyone to allow a discussion on video game addiction to take place. Nor does it indict gaming as the sole cause of the problem. If someone has a point you disagree with, the mature thing isn't to complain and shut them up about it - it's to have a civil discourse about the pros and cons of their arguments. Debate.

We might not like to admit it, but violent media might have a role in these kinds of things. To the average person, they don't - but the average person doesn't shoot up places either. If media is negatively impacting some (which, lets face it, in some respects it does), addressing it won't mean violent video games will go away, or be banned. If anything, it could serve as a point of saying "Hey, if you think you're kids 22 cents short of a dollar, maybe you shouldn't get them these."

I don't think video games (or media) cause violence in an overwhelmingly vast majority of the population - but speaking for 100% of all 7 billionish people is hard to do. I don't think it will hurt anyway if someone with a different opinion discusses their opinions. We have a slew of scientific and anecdotal evidence to support that games don't cause violence, and in the US, our First Amendment protects games.

 

[Dascylus]

So, next year I will be holding courses at a community college aimed at providing parents with a better understanding of the games their kids may be playing...

I feel that parents should be provided with the right information to make decisions on their childs gaming habits and also understand how to approach the topic with them in the best way.

Video game addiction will be a part of that. But just because a real topic is discussed does not mean we should demonise the subject of the addiction and nobody has said that the parental forum at Sandy Hook will do anything of the sort.

 

[Hero in a half shell]

So, next year I will be holding courses at a community college aimed at providing parents with a better understanding of the games their kids may be playing...

I feel that parents should be provided with the right information to make decisions on their childs gaming habits and also understand how to approach the topic with them in the best way.

Video game addiction will be a part of that. But just because a real topic is discussed does not mean we should demonise the subject of the addiction and nobody has said that the parental forum at Sandy Hook will do anything of the sort.

No doubt, educating parents and guardians on modern videogames, micro-transactions, age ratings, length of time they should play etc. is something that needs to be done more, and I see very few people in this thread actually railing against the idea of more education for parents, what I do see in this thread is a frustration against the very real possibility that videogames will be used as a scapegoat to explain the actions of disturbed mass shooters, and thus nothing will be done about researching and addressing the actual problems that cause so many American teens to tragically end up murdering people on rampages.

There's almost certainly no easy fix to the issue of school shootings. It's probably due to several very complex factors, possibly including but not limited to depression, drugs (recreational or prescribed) mental health, anger issues, social isolation, domestic problems, influence of media, access to guns, bowling etc. etc.
Frankly we don't know what effects these issues have (or if there are other issues that also contribute) because no one has ever come up with a definite profile or causal link, but what I do know is that blaming it all on videogames and demonising them, while it may give some grieving people comfort in the short term, is not going to fix the issue, and it's just sticking our heads in the sand until the next big massacre, instead of proactively trying to stop these tragedies.

 

[Middle_Index]

They tried it with so called "video nasties" in the 80s and now its video games. Its easy to take one clip out of context to feed into peoples paranoia.