This is a perfect example of why video games are MOSTLY a bad thing.
POSTED BY: Wishimay
UPDATED: Tuesday, November 4, 2025 14:28
VIEWED: 26336
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It's called Escapism.
We had it back in the 1940's when I was a kid: comic books,
pulp fiction, the occassional movie, & one's own fantasyland.
Puzzle books are great.
Television became common place in the 50's.
I guess writing fiction or building models can be considered
escapism, eventho one has something to show for it.
Now we have computer games. Grreate for escapism, but they
didn't invent it.
To Blame the Game totally avoids the root cause: the need to run away.
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Has computer game addiction been studied?
What to do about it?
Video Game Addiction Statistics - Facts, Figures, Percentages, & Numbers
http://www.techaddiction.ca/video_game_addiction_statistics.html
By Dr. Brent Conrad
Clinical Psychologist for TechAddiction and author of "How to
Help Children Addicted to Video Games" (available as an instant
download with free email support from Dr. Conrad).
... oooOO}{OOooo ...
I've given up looking for the meaning of life. Now all I want is a cookie.
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Quote:
Originally posted by Oonjerah:
To Blame the Game
Yes, but this form of escapism ups primitive directives like fight, flight, rage, and apparently throwing toddlers. Seriously, have you BEEN around young guys when they game?
You might be ok, but it does something else entirely to testosterone...and some girls too.
Unfortunately, where there is males from the ages of 18-40, there is usually a baby or four around.
This are just a glimpse of what people do, imagine kids growing up with this..
Mentally ill playing violent video games is like marketing crack to drug addicts.
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Quote:
Originally posted by Oonjerah:
It's called Escapism.
We had it back in the 1940's when I was a kid: comic books, pulp fiction, the occassional movie, & one's own fantasyland. Puzzle books are great.
Television became common place in the 50's. I guess writing fiction or building models can be considered escapism, eventho one has something to show for it.
Now we have computer games. Grreate for escapism, but they didn't invent it.
To Blame the Game totally avoids the root cause: the need to run away.
Hey OONJ, thanks for your insight. It set me along a certain path, and I wonder what you think of it.
Escapism has always been part of our evolutionary makeup. You have to escape the predator, and when life becomes just too hard in one area, you move to another.
We have been "escaping" pain and trouble all of our evolutionary history ... escaping work through exploiting the energy of animals, escaping famine and uncertainty through religion and the storage of food, escaping boredom though storytelling, escaping frustration/ disorder through social memes, escaping pain with opium etc.
When archaeologists and forensic anthropologists study human and pre-human remains, they see evidence of near-continuous toil and trouble. Kennewick man, we are told, grimaced so persistently with pain that it remodeled his facial bones.
I think our modern problem is twofold
1) Our technology has advanced to the point where we can escape from life altogether .... even minor inconveniences and trivial discomforts.
2) Our society tells us that personal happiness is the ONLY life-goal and if we're unhappy it must be our fault. Our society tells us we SHOULD run away from anything frightening or uncomfortable!
-----------
"Pity would be no more,
If we did not MAKE men poor"- William Blake
THUGR IS A DEEP-STATE TROLL
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I Love the Pictures, Wish.
I posted this in "I Bid One No Trump" thread.
"I have a close relative who is angry. I know she loves every
second of her screaming, bitching & bullying. Rageoholics are
dedicated to the intimidating power trip; they don't even want
to get straight & treat others well. Meanwhile, her husband vents
his anger by beating the kids. They are devout Christians -- but
I think they always skip the parts where Jesus demonstrates
healing, peace & love.
Forgiveness? That seems to be the tricky one."
These people are Not Gamers.
They can be insane with anger, a danger to children.
Nevertheless, looks like the kids will all survive to adulthood,
whether they want to or not. These folks don't have a computer
game or a gameboy, nintendo, whatever, in the house.
I do not associate beating toddlers to death with computer gaming.
I believe it has more to do with: These folks Enjoy their anger!
They've given themselves permission to take it out on others.
If they do finally get into Therapy, if it's good therapy that could
work when applied to their own-inner lives, they will quit!
They will not look in the mirror and say, "I am the problem. I'm what
needs to change."
Rigid Angry Ego is the Killer.
... oooOO}{OOooo ...
I've given up looking for the meaning of life. Now all I want is a cookie.
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Quote:
Originally posted by SIGNYM:
Hey OONJ, thanks for your insight. It set me along a certain path, and I wonder what you think of it.
Escapism has always been part of our evolutionary makeup. You have to escape the predator, and when life becomes just too hard in one area, you move to another.
We have been "escaping" pain and trouble all of our evolutionary history ... escaping work through exploiting the energy of animals, escaping famine and uncertainty through religion and the storage of food, escaping boredom though storytelling, escaping frustration/ disorder through social memes, escaping pain with opium etc.
When archaeologists and forensic anthropologists study human and pre-human remains, they see evidence of near-continuous toil and trouble. Kennewick man, we are told, grimaced so persistently with pain that it remodeled his facial bones.
I think our modern problem is twofold
1) Our technology has advanced to the point where we can escape from life altogether .... even minor inconveniences and trivial discomforts.
2) Our society tells us that personal happiness is the ONLY life-goal and if we're unhappy it must be our fault. Our society tells us we SHOULD run away from anything frightening or uncomfortable!
Signy, I'm so olde, I missed that whole trend.
I'm from the Old School Self-help.
Read a few excellent self-help books; go to therapy. Learn to meditate.
Look in the mirror.
"OK, Self. I'm going to re-Parent Me with honesty, wisdom & nurturing."
As for "anything frightening or uncomfortable!" couldn't we just clean
up our personal space?
... oooOO}{OOooo ...
I've given up looking for the meaning of life.
Now all I want is a cookie with icing on top.
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Quote:
Originally posted by Oonjerah:
I do not associate beating toddlers to death with computer gaming.
I believe it has more to do with: These folks enjoy their anger!
They've given themselves permission to take it out on others.
If they do finally get into Therapy, if it's good therapy that could
work when applied to their own-inner lives, they will quit!
They will not look in the mirror and say, "I am the problem. I'm what
needs to change."
Rigid Angry Ego is the Killer.
AND YET, GAMERS ARE KILLING TODDLERS.... which means there is a direct link. They are so hyper-focused that a child interrupts them with a need and the reaction is rage. The game itself inflates the behaviors, and it doesn't matter that that isn't the intent, it is what happens.
It's NOT an either/or thing. It's BOTH. It is that they have no personal control AND the video game is a catalyst for the behavior.
So I will go back to my original statement: These things need to come with WARNINGS.
I'm not saying NO GAMING (and even if I did it would hardly matter) I'm saying that the manufacturers know that they are addictive and can spur negative emotional reactions SO THEY SHOULD COME WITH WARNINGS.
How about a "If you neglect or harm a child because of your gaming addiction, you are already a LOSER."
Or "We're glad you love our virtual world, please don't let it affect your responsibilities in the REAL WORLD"
Who could say no to that???
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lol
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Quote:
Hey OONJ, thanks for your insight. It set me along a certain path, and I wonder what you think of it.
Escapism has always been part of our evolutionary makeup. You have to escape the predator, and when life becomes just too hard in one area, you move to another.
We have been "escaping" pain and trouble all of our evolutionary history ... escaping work through exploiting the energy of animals, escaping famine and uncertainty through religion and the storage of food, escaping boredom though storytelling, escaping frustration/ disorder through social memes, escaping pain with opium etc.
When archaeologists and forensic anthropologists study human and pre-human remains, they see evidence of near-continuous toil and trouble. Kennewick man, we are told, grimaced so persistently with pain that it remodeled his facial bones.
I think our modern problem is twofold
1) Our technology has advanced to the point where we can escape from life altogether .... even minor inconveniences and trivial discomforts.
2) Our society tells us that personal happiness is the ONLY life-goal and if we're unhappy it must be our fault. Our society tells us we SHOULD run away from anything frightening or uncomfortable! - SIGNY
Signy, I'm so olde, I missed that whole trend.
I'm from the Old School Self-help.
Read a few excellent self-help books; go to therapy. Learn to meditate.
Look in the mirror.
"OK, Self. I'm going to re-Parent Me with honesty, wisdom & nurturing."
As for "anything frightening or uncomfortable!" couldn't we just clean up our personal space? = OONJ
Ok, so some help here w/ understanding your post? Part of your post seemed to say that "escapism" has been around for a long, long time. When I extend that thought, I perceive that we have "needed to escape" throughout our entire evolutionary history, because there never has been a society or environment so perfect that we didn't need to. People have been escaping for hundreds of millenia with religion, alcohol, and psychoactive plants.
You say that you're so old that you missed being indoctrinated (?) into escapism as a goal, and yet - since my logic tells me that escapism predates even you - how did you manage to escape escapism?
Did you lack means in your youth? Or were you taught, or did you learn, a different way of being (as you imply about re=parenting)? And what do you mean by "cleaning up our personal space"? Do you mean our emotional and mental landscape? Or something else?
Quote:This describes the behavior of ANY addict when something gets between his or her addiction.
AND YET,GAMERSADDICTS ARE KILLING TODDLERS.... which means there is a direct link. They are so hyper-focused that a child interrupts them with a need and the reaction is rage. The game itself inflates the behaviors, and it doesn't matter that that isn't the intent, it is what happens.- WISH
So yes, games are addictive. THEY ARE DESIGNED TO BE THAT WAY. Game designers can track which features of a game prompt extended or return play: They release different versions and see which versions prompt more game-playing. for example, designers find that "saving" something prompts more game-playing that "killing" something, and then they refine what is being "saved" (a book? an animal? a person? If a person: a child? a female?) to prompt even MORE game=playing. So games are deliberately being evolved to engage addictive behavior. It's not an accident.
I don't know what the answer is, except that I believe that too much screen time for young people is destructive. This is one of those cases where our technology is bad for us, and being implemented ... not for OUR good, but for the profit of a few people who control it.
But most people believe that technology is somehow an unstoppable force, and that implementing it is inevitable, so even if some people recognize that techno
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Signum: "2) Our society tells us that personal happiness is the ONLY life-goal and if we're unhappy it must be our fault. Our society tells us we SHOULD run away from anything frightening or uncomfortable!"
OK, I missed most of that paragraph.
"personal happiness is the ONLY life-goal" ... No, when I was
a kid, we were entertained by heroic figures. Heroism was our goal.
We were here to help others.
I was born during WWII, when all of the USA were Big Damn Heroes.
"if we're unhappy it must be our fault." True. We are responsible
for our own happiness. To think that others are making us happy or
unhappy is immature. It denies a basic responsibility.
"Our society tells us we SHOULD run away from anything frightening
or uncomfortable!"
Yes & No. The Town has a problem that they can't solve. The Lone
Ranger & Tonto ride into town, tackle the problem & solve it, because
the LR is your basic hero.
Some problems need a hero. While solving the problems presented to
us in the computer game, we get to Be The Hero.
So ... When we can't solve the problems in our Real Life, we can run
to the computer game and solve the problems there.
Yes, I recall reading years ago: If you wanna write computer games,
here's what they gotta have: Gotta be fun. Gotta be rewarding.
Gotta be Addictive.
Signum: "how did you manage to escape escapism?"
I didn't. I had a hyper-imagination. Along about age 4, I began
to use it to escape ... always in fantasyland. I'm still there. One
has to make their living with their left foot. ... Otoh, there has
been some emotional growth. I eventually became responsible
for what I think and feel.
... oooOO}{OOooo ...
I've given up looking for the meaning of life. Now all I want is a cookie.
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