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
PAGE 10 of 13
I could keep doing this all day.
COMMON DENOMINATOR= VIDEOGAMES
File it under "Things that make it easier for a certain behavior to happen"
Just like guns.
There's a reason for all the laws, even if the laws are ridiculously ineffective. It's to hopefully get you to think...
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Here is an interesting article, but the comment section had the right answer.
https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/wonk/wp/2016/08/05/how-sleep-holds
-back-boys/
angrygreycatreads
1:18 PM CDT
As a teacher of teens, one of the big differences I find between my male and female students is video games. Boys are much more likely to be gamers and as such are on their consoles until 4 in the morning regularly (at least my students), then they sleep through their first couple classes. Students self report this to me, parents report that their children are doing this, and their friends will say. "I got up this morning and Jimmy was still playing from last night" Pew Research supports that boys are more likely than girls to be gamers and have access to game consoles Where 72% of all teens play computer/console based games, it is 84% of boys and only 59% of girls. There is other research that suggests that screen time right before attempting to sleep is problematic, so I would assume that gaming until 4 and then trying to catch a cat nap would not be good sleep hygenie. This is a parenting issue. Our school begins at 8:25 and that is fine for most of the students
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Still doing a pretty good job of not really backing up your statement. You just found a comment on a random article that happens to support your point of view. It's the answer you're looking for, but I'm not convinced it's "right".
And even "angrygreycatreads" said it's a parenting issue.
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There isn't anything I could ever say that would convince you they aren't the dream boxes you seem to think they are, so why bother arguing your point? You aren't married, you don't have kids- have at it. I don't care as long as you only affect yourself. It's the generation of kids that are being affected that bothers me. They don't have any choices. They don't have any parents, either.
People are addicted. It's an addiction. Which explains the blowback when anyone bothers to point out it's an addiction, because addicts tend to not like it when you point out an addiction. Try talking about video gaming addiction seriously to a room of gamers and see how many death threats you get. You'll get the same reaction from a room of crack addicts, btw.
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At my age, I know a number of parents of teenagers to young adults, and the parents of boys ALL have the same complaint: their boys spend hours and hours playing video games, to the exclusion of almost everything else (except eating). I know a couple of parents who have both a boy and a girl of similar ages, and the problem is with the boys.
But maybe the girls are all on Snapchat or FB.
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I think it's time you disabused yourself of that pleasant little fairy tale about our fearless leaders being some sort of surrogate daddy or mommy, laying awake at night thinking about how to protect the kids. HA! In reality, they're thinking about who to sell them to so that they can get a few more shekels in their pockets.
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"People are addicted. It's an addiction. Which explains the blowback when anyone bothers to point out it's an addiction ..."
I agree that for some people, it's an addiction. Does that fact that I limited it to 'some' people make me an addict in denial? Well ... considering I don't play video games ...
I think I may have mentioned it before, but for one hospital job I had when I was a student, I used to do in-room EKG's. At the time they were uncommon, and involved cold, wet pads, and big, shiny electrodes, and wide rubber straps. But the thing is, no matter how novel it was, if the TV was on, within literally seconds, people would be glued to that TV. It was actually kind of creepy how quickly they tuned out of the real world, no matter what was going on. I came up with a theory that the TV people, through trial and error, had come up with a highly involving formula using close-ups, frequents cuts and shifting camera angles (as opposed to a single, static camera - so as to keep people from getting bored), melodrama, color, sound and motion, and probably other things I didn't notice. (Similar to how fast food places have come up with addictive foods, through seeing what people go for most.)
Games generally target males, and their formula is, I think, sex, violence, rapidly changing 'scenes', sound, color and of course an avatar's physical motion - shooting, running, etc - along with a 'feedback' that let's you know when you've 'done' something - your target burns up, or blows up, or changes ... I actually think the feedback is the most vital part. Without it, I think interest in the games would wither away (or they'd become pure porn).
So I think video games can be addictive, and intentionally or not, have been designed that way.
But they're not the source of all child abuse and neglect on the planet, for sure.
Let me just point out that the author left out vital relevant facts in the opinion piece. Doing that is known as cherry-picking. And whether you do that in the news, in discussion, in debate or in opinion, when you distort the facts, you've changed the nature of your communication into propaganda. But WE don't have any of THAT in the US, do we?!
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1Kiki, "... video games can be addictive, and intentionally or not ..."
Excuse me ... places where they teach you to write code,
As for code for computer & video games, it's highly emphasized ...
Games Must Be Addictive!!
Game companies may require a number of other game attributes,
But "Addictive" is real close to #1. ... Intentionally.
... oooOO}{OOooo ...
The meaning of life is Escape. Now all I want is a super Compulsive game.
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Quote:
Originally posted by Wishimay:
There isn't anything I could ever say that would convince you they aren't the dream boxes you seem to think they are, so why bother arguing your point?
I'm not convinced they're dream boxes, they're just games. They're a form of entertainment like movies, music, tv, board games, books. There are good games, there are bad games. There are positive elements, there are negative elements. My problem is that you are trying to present the point that they are "MOSTLY" a bad thing, and I think that is simply and observably not true. It seems to me that you personally have a very big problem with videogames and are selectively seeing only the negative in them and sharing some examples of these in the belief that it proves your point.
Quote:
Originally posted by Wishimay:
You aren't married, you don't have kids- have at it.
I don't see how my marital status and lack of children change things. If we're talking about how videogames are mostly a bad thing, I have as much (probably more) exposure to them as anyone else in the thread.
Quote:
Originally posted by Wishimay:
It's the generation of kids that are being affected that bothers me. They don't have any choices. They don't have any parents, either.
Which generation of kids is it? Because the generation above me complained about videogames when I was younger, still complain now. We turned out alright. The kids below me? On the whole they seem to be doing ok too. And of course there are choices, and most of the children within a generation probably have parents too. It seems like you're referring to specific individual cases again.
Quote:
Originally posted by Wishimay:
People are addicted. It's an addiction. Which explains the blowback when anyone bothers to point out it's an addiction, because addicts tend to not like it when you point out an addiction. Try talking about video gaming addiction seriously to a room of gamers and see how many death threats you get.
Some people probably are addicted. The death threats thing you mention is probably disappointingly common too. Maybe not so much in face to face situations, but certainly in online threads. That is a definite problem that needs to be addressed and while not exclusive to videogames - it seems to be an internet cultural issue - the videogames "community" does seem to attract a lot of it. I think it's more an arsehole problem than an addition problem. Lack of accountability, lack of face to face interaction.
I think 1KIKI is much closer to the mark. Videogames are addicting for some people, just due to that nature of the risk/reward challenge and feedback loop. Some people will get hooked. I'd say there is a subset of games, mostly in the free-to-play model, that are actually deliberately hooking into the addictive nature of that loop to get people to pay money. Sometimes it's not too bad, but sometimes it seems quite insidious. Almost like relying on that minority of people getting hooked to get paid, making it prohibitive to progress without money. But that is not all games, they're not inherently bad things that are responsible for all these problems claimed. I'm not quite sure why without the feedback games would just become porn though, that seems like a leap. Unless you'd also describe all movies generally as porn?
I just think there is a lot more to videogames that people are wilfully ignorant of. Games can tell engaging stories, some of them get a bit artsy and explore themes and feelings with the gamey/feedback part taking a backseat to the narrative. Some encourage creativity, learning and teamwork. They can be very social both in a real world go out and meet new people, discover new places pokemon go type of way and a connecting people online from across huge distances kind of way. For the most part, they're just good fun. I think a lot of the concerns with what they're doi
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From what I have seen, they ARE a negative thing. And like I said, you just affect yourself. You aren't ignoring a hungry, dirty child or your relationship with a spouse, but I assure you, if you were to have those things you would see what a problem it is firsthand.
http://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation/2013/09/12/child-abuse-negle
ct/2803099/
• Nationally, more than three-quarters of these (reported abuse) cases are classified as neglect, 8% as physical abuse and 9% as sexual abuse. Specific rates vary among states.
Let's not even get into Pokemon Go. I'm guessing you haven't seen the hundreds of articles about the people walking off cliffs, into oncoming vehicles, invading private properties, leaving kids alone for hours...
No, you see teamwork, and mobility and all the good funzies to be had. You aren't looking at the bad because you don't want to. You rationalize it all out. You admit there is a lot of asses in gaming, but you honestly don't think the fact they are addicted has anything to do with it. Maybe if they weren't gamers they would learn to interact and NOT BE asses.
We are just going to have to agree to disagree. You think I'm looking for a scapegoat for a problem you don't think exists and I think you are intentionally marginalizing the effects of gaming simply because you enjoy it and you don't think it has affected you. I submit that the fact that you look at relationships with people as less important than gaming means it has affected you. Who knows who you would have been if you weren't a gamer??
BTW, I just filled out a TV survey and was shocked to find all 3 of us together watched less than 5 hours in a week, with my daughter watching the most, and it was primarily instructional tv. So, no....not a hypocrite. Or a porn addict, though men seem to have that addiction problem more as well.
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Yes, I'm not ignoring a hungry dirty child or a spouse. If I had a child or spouse I doubt I would see this problem you mention, because video games wouldn't cause me to neglect them. I don't neglect any of my other relationships in favour of games, I don't see why that would be different.
The article you linked has no connection to video games at all. Are you suggesting I don't think neglect and abuse is a problem? That's not true, both of those exist and need to be dealt with.
Regarding pokemon go, I've seen hundreds of articles about dozens of incidents like those that you mentioned. Again those are a minority. Millions of people play video games, some of them are idiots and will do stupid things. This does not indicate a video game problem. Have you not also seen all the positivity around the game or do you filter that out?
I disagree with your assessment that I rationalise it out and don't see the bad because I don't want to. I've pointed out problems, you've acknowledged that I pointed out some problems. I know more problems exist. I may have a deeper knowledge of the problems than you do because I actually do play games and have an interest in them. You take issue because I don't see problems exclusively. I recognise that some of what you say has truth, just not to the extent that you claim. You seem to reject wholeheartedly that there could be any truth to what I'm saying.
I think you're being highly irrational, so we probably will have to agree to disagree. I don't think you're looking for scapegoat for a problem that doesn't exist. I suspect you're looking for a scapegoat for a problem that does exist, but it exists in your life specifically. You also assume it to be a fact that I think relationships with people are less important than video games, this is just silly. I maintain healthy relationships with people, hell there are people on this very site that I've became very close to. Been friends for ten years or so now. Speak to them every day, I fly out to visit them. You may choose to put a negative spin on it, but sometimes I even play video games with people I care deeply about. And it can help make us feel better when we can't be together in the same place. Some of my friends don't play video games at all, and we still get on just fine.
I maintain that you have failed to show that they're mostly a bad thing. You've just shown that you don't like them very much.
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