Are Porn and Video Games Ruining a Generation?

[wicked_liz]

Originally Posted by koi.no.michi

just going to point out that this is an editorial, meaning it is the opinion of the writer not all of CNN.

but well i have to say, i can see what they mean. i know some guys who are addicted to video games and their computers and when you put them in front of girls or even people in general, they become extremely awkward and have zero social skills. it is even to the extent that despite their grades and SAT scores, they were rejected from top universities because their interviews were THAT BAD. it's honestly just sad.

This is actually the reason that certain schools offer training programs to help people during job interviews and university interviews. If you have ever been to an actual interview it's understandable to see that it is a nerve wracking situation.

Not everyone handles it well, so having training exercises lets people experience what it would be like and form a basis for (situational) response. The more often you experience something the easier it is to not get freaked out. This is especially true to the idea of academically sound students not performing well socially.

This however, doesn't reflect on gaming/ porn. While it can be argued that the time spent on gaming/ porn should have been better spent honing their social-interaction skills, in actuality is was probably because they had a difficult time socializing that they sought to spend so much time gaming or watching porn.

Just using my family as a personal example; I know of people who started gaming at a young age, through their schooling and kept up with it through working life. Even getting married or having children doesn't put an end to people gaming. It can be a healthy hobby, many games now offer online support so that even when gaming you are doing it with a group of friends (whether online friends or rl friends).

Addiction is something different though:

Addiction is a condition that results when a person ingests a substance (alcohol, cocaine, nicotine) or engages in an activity (gambling) that can be pleasurable but the continued use of which becomes compulsive and interferes with ordinary life responsibilities, such as work or relationships, even health. Users may not be aware that their behavior is out of control and causing problems for themselves and others.

That taken directly from Psychology Today

Addiction itself implies harmful behaviour, while it does affect society it's cause and effect is more seen on an individual basis. It also isn't dependant on a person's age or status. Addiction can be found in all parts of society and across generations. While differeing generations may opt for different substances or activities the damage doesn't really change.

Saying that Gaming/ Porn is ruining a particular generation stills sounds overblown and illogical.

They are also arguing that what it is being destroyed is the person's ability to interact socially which also doesn't make sense since the way we interact socially is formed over time and can be altered by experiences. Periods of isolation can cause withdrawal, but should not be permanant. A person can be kept in a same gender institution for years (the case of nuns and priests/ monks) and yet (over time) come to form 'normal' associations within society (individuals who choose to leave the cloister or abbey and later get married).

It takes extreme (usually traumatic) events to damage an individual to the point that they can no longer be reached and such a circumstance can hardly be so common as to be said to ruin and entire generation.

Look at the terrible devastation caused by wars, and the way that people rebound from it. Even the case where there is lasting survivor trauma, people often strive to go on normally. If everything that ruined society was taken seriously the human race would have dies off long ago.

[-Omega-]

Originally Posted by wicked_liz

If everything that ruined society was taken seriously the human race would have dies off long ago.

It's not everything though. It's just video games.

[wicked_liz]

Originally Posted by -Omega-

It's not everything though. It's just video games.

I wonder what type of games they meant? Like MMORPGS, FPS, or the Ballroom dancing Barbie game.

Maybe they just decided to split the difference with an H-game like "Do You Like Horny Bunnies?"



I know that I've lost some time this year to those [GD] Angry Birds

[-Omega-]

I think they mainly mean games like GTA or MK though they are probably including any game that can be addicting as well which basically could be all video games.

[kamina777]

Originally Posted by -Omega-

I think they mainly mean games like GTA or MK though they are probably including any game that can be addicting as well which basically could be all video games.

In the article, they mention the Norwegian terrorist who learned how to kill with call of duty.

[wicked_liz]

Guy Disaster Mode

The article is quick to point out that aggressive people are the ones that mostly play violent games, like that Norwegian terrorist. To effectively scare the reading audience. That guy played CoD, and he's a complete psychopath, obviously these researchers must be on to something.

Should we be worried that all the socially awkward nerds that play WoW, enjoy porn and can't get a girlfriend are going to start foaming at the mouth and go on a rampage?

Should we post warning signs in IT departments in office buildings and campuses?

FEAR THE TECH ADDICTS

[KageNoKensai]

I've yet to read the CNN article, but from what I gather the connection established was that porn addiction and video game addiction shared the same facets. Hence, porn addicts = game addicts = ruined generation boohoo.

I have to agree that porn addiction is quite ugly. But I have to assume that different forms of addiction to anything would naturally share some similarities. The condition is the same after all: addiction. Regardless of what a person is addicted to, it won't be pretty. Anyway, going as far as to say that porn and video games ruin generations really sounds like stretching the truth. Won't gain a lot of sympathy there from level-headed people.

Interestingly enough, both porn and video games are simply forms of entertainment. Adult entertainment and gaming, that is. Both are legal (in the case of porn and even prostitution, just in some countries) forms of entertainment. How about Facebook? last time I checked there was an official disorder called Facebook Addiction Disorder (sounds like a FAD, don't it? lols). I wonder if that addiction ruins generations? Facebook, among other social media sites, seems to have greatly benefited and indeed directly contributed to the movement that has come to be known as the Arab Spring - i.e. in terms of modernization and emancipation from dictatorship, not in terms of escalating violence and civil disorder.

Ah, but I go off at a tangent to the discussion. Perhaps I'll drop by again after reading the CNN article.

[Narutos pimp]

Nuff Said!

Spoiler

That's how the man really is gonna evolve too.

[wicked_liz]

Luckily "generations" extend outside of the U.S., so I'm guess that all the disenfranchised kids from foreign lands will have to ruin the generation another way.

[Deathcloud]

This reporter is probably some old fella who snapped his grandchild watching porn, one of those teens that don't get off the console when he says so. Now he's mad, so he wrote an editorial.