thegaminggoose

Video Games and Addiction

by thegaminggoose on Aug.02, 2009, under Writings

A recent article in the Washington Post discusses a 2008 study that found some youths to be “addicted” to video games. The study claims that children can become so addicted that they will skimp on homework and even lie about how much they play. The study finds that 8.5 percent of children and young adults ages 8-18 show multiple signs of behavioral addition. The findings were published by Douglas Gentile of Iowa State University who runs the Media Research Lab that performed the study.  As I posted before, there is indeed some correlation between aggressive behavior and video games; however, one needs to be more realistic about this topic. One, what are they gauging as aggressive behavior? Two, can they make [ever] a direct correlation between games and aggression? It is not like acts of aggression were miniscule prior to 1972 and they increased exponentially as the years progressed. A correlation can be made between an increase in violence and other cultural factors. - the decline of the nuclear family, the ever increasing divorce rate/latchkey kid syndrome, poor discipline in schools, teenage parents. While it is probably certain violent video games can beget some aggressive behavior, the question remains to how much it actually creates is always left. Gamers say that no such thing while lawmakers and psychologists say that there is evidence. To the psychologists, I say, “Are you, sir or madam, a gamer?” If not, then you do not “get it.” To the gamers I say, cast your mind to your friends when you were 10-14 years old. (If you are that age now, I commend you for even reading this far.) There is a game that all boys play; it is called “let me hit you in the nuts.” Around puberty there is always one kid who, for some odd, homoerotic reason, likes to smack you in the balls. You are just hanging out with a bunch of your friends and – BAM, the kid smacks you in the jewels. Now, you can ignore it and let some alpha kid hit you in the balls or try to hit him back. In essence, he is getting you to touch his junk. This is not unlike the circle game where you play “two for flinching” and punch each other in the arm. You know the games. The one where kids used to erase the skin of the back of their hands with pencils or smack their knuckles with them. Boys are naturally aggressive. We learn it from our friends, fathers, and brothers. Not that I agree with all the ball hitting in a civilized society, but the reality is that Lord of the Cube hitters exists no matter what one does. Some people like to cite that video games do not lead to aggressive behavior. They are clearly incorrect. Games can impact aggression. But this is a slippery slope. No one has any idea what actually causes all aggressive behavior. And, more importantly, what is aggressive to you might not be aggressive to someone else. That dick boss of yours . . .no no, your boss is assertive. Not aggressive. [link]

At this point, two things should probably be noted. One, you are more than likely reading this because of video games. It is how I chiseled my little corner into the internet. Two, I am in no way discounting addiction by any means. Indeed, addiction is a serious problem in many cultures and I am quite certain that there are some people (both young and adult) who are addicted to video games. I do not take issue with that per se. What I begin to take issue with is what psychologists term as problematic for behavioral addiction. According to the article, “According to psychiatric and psychological experts, it has to damage functioning on multiple levels, such as family, social, school, occupational, and psychological functioning.” I, being the old, maladjusted curmudgeon that I am, take issue with every one of those. Exactly why are family, social, school and occupational functions inductive of a healthy person? I guess the issue that needs to be raised is, does everyone need people? Yes, we are a social animal, but not all of us derive pleasure from the presence of all people. Sorry to say, I am one of those people who really do not get my fellow humans. Allow me to clear this up, humans can become addicted to anything. Typically, anything bad is an addiction and anything good is not. You rarely hear people are addicted to Golf, but I know there are plenty of Golfers who knock off work to hit the back 9, who avoid spouses, and neglect children. There are plenty of people who over-eat, watch too much porn, watch too much TV, run marathons, read fantasy novels, comics, or watch loser reviewers on the internet . . .

Thank you for that one by the way.

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