Are Porn and Video Games Ruining a Generation?

[KageNoKensai]

I'd love to be a shrink just to do something like this for teh lulz.

Anyway, found something interesting in SlashDot:

"An editorial published at CNN is titled 'The Demise of Guys: How Videogames and Porn are Ruining a Generation.' It makes the sensationalized case that not only do game addiction and porn addiction share similar characteristics, but they're also both damaging to young men, destroying their ability to connect with women, and therefore threatening the future of our entire species. A response by IGN dissects the idea that pornography and videogames are pretty much the same thing. 'The article, by psychologist Philip G. Zimbardo and Nikita Duncan argues that young men are "hooked on arousal, sacrificing their schoolwork and relationships in the pursuit of getting a tech-based buzz."' Zimbardo, has danced this jig before. At the Long Beach TED conference last year he told a delighted audience that "guys are wiping out socially with girls and sexually with women." He added that young men have been so zombiefied by games and porn that they are unable to function in basic human interactions. "It's a social awkwardness like a stranger in a foreign land", he said. "They don't know what to say. They don't know what to do."'"

Link to article with other external links for further reading.

According to The Oatmeal (which isn't the most reliable of sources, though among the most entertaining), social media traffic surpassed porn traffic in the Internet in 2011. I guess they should probably say "Porn, Video Games, and Social Media are Ruining a Generation."

[FireclawX]

welll i think that it really should be "How Porn, Video Games, Anime, and Social Media are Ruining a Generation."

[Narutos pimp]

Oh really now? What about technology on a whole? Blackberries with BBM, chat sites, forums, dating sites and the internet on a whole. Imagine walking into a club and everyone is either on the side texting one another and updating there facebook profiles. There is no form of human social interaction. With technology there is no need to leave the house or interact with one another.

[wicked_liz]

"An editorial published at CNN is titled 'The Demise of Guys: How Videogames and Porn are Ruining a Generation.' It makes the sensationalized case that not only do game addiction and porn addiction share similar characteristics, but they're also both damaging to young men, destroying their ability to connect with women, and therefore threatening the future of our entire species

That word cannot be stressed enough. There are many articles like this that not only say the modern media is "ruining the youth", but that social networking will destroy society.

I did read an interesting one that asserts that reality TV is making us stupier which I found really meaningful to me.

A brief look back would show that people thought the same things of "rock & roll" (Elvis and The Beatles came under heavy criticism) for over-sexualizing young men and women and ruining the social and moral structure of the day. They also blamed dancing. See "Footloose" for further explanation, Kevin Bacon is awesome!

People now are quick to pass the blame on game violence for violent school shootings. My point being that just because there is an implied relationship doesn't show correlation.

Just because someone plays WoW, doesn't mean that it was the main cause of their messy divorce. Many couples play videogames together, and porn can often be a way to increase intimacy and sexual satisfaction in long term relationships where the chemistry has fizzled, but is often seen as damaging. This to me has a misogynistic overtone, because these studies assume that women don't like porn. The case being more that women under-report porn usage because it's seen as something potentially "shameful".

Inflammatory articles are really irresponsible in that they are always worded to attract the most attention and mislead people.

[SaA]

there is no such thing a ruined generation >.>

generations are supposed to be different from each other

and each and every generation has its own **** ups

[O$NA]

NO

[wicked_liz]

Then again our generation was probably already ruined by the heavy drug cultures in the 60's, 70's and 80's.

[Devil Bat]

CNN must think four player split screen in a video game counts as an orgy.

[KageNoKensai]

Originally Posted by wicked_liz

My point being that just because there is an implied relationship doesn't show correlation.

Perfect. Penn Jillette said it best, I'd say: "correlation is not causation."

[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.