Re: Amen on video games

February 15, 2007

-- Re: Amen on video games

A person who will become addicted to Video games is not necessarily going to

become addicted to alcohol, meth/cocaine or steal cars or attend rave

parties. Its not all or nothing. I would prefer my child read, listen to

music, play basket ball, jam with friends in their neighborhood band, and

many more activities than play video games. If you saw how some of them

behave during and after playing video games and the obvious damage it does

to their personalities/brains, its as though they are on meth/ cocaine.

After being particularly aggressive and irritable my son will confide that

he was playing a DS game too long (2-3 hours) and decide to put it away. Its

the games , not addictive personalities that I see as the problem for us.

Fortunately he is aware and only pulls out his DS 3-4 times a year with the

attitude, " maybe it wont affect me this time " .

~

----- Original Message -----

From: Aliceann

Oh , but I do see and my children now are 32 and 28. My grand daughter

5, now knows to say, ok, the computer is going off (she loves the Disney

kid games and Nick Jr. Games). She will now say the same about the TV

unless she spends too much time watching all the alluring ads and has

trouble with the transition. She had a very tough time adjusting from

external world of grown ups telling her this and her internal world learning

the cues because it is harder work to self-observe and take action on those

observations.

I agree, children who read and play outdoors, and work on farms or in cities

with something productive are better integrated and balanced. They also are

better accepted if they do the dog and pony show to please the adults. It

takes a few years before they can see it any other way.

I also am a former dorm parent and private school teacher. I really do know

what it is like when there is too much connection with sensory input and how

aggressive, dreamy, out of touch kids and adults can become. When faced

with the current world, I am guessing you can see what the added incentives

are too. Who the heck would want to drop into the reality of today's world

if it could be put off? Where else could one have the armor, skills and

special qualities lacking in teen skills except in a virtual world where one

can go to a virtual vendor and say, " make it so. "

I know a lot of adults who are fervently wishing for a complete wipe of the

past 6 years as a forlorn dream of mending what has been so terribly

devastated, not just for us but for some generations to come.

And, to differ, while kids with Aspergers and hypersensitive syndromes are

less likely to cross addict, they still do. Since your son has figured out

the game influence, he already has tools to recognize addiction. Would he

have those tools otherwise?

It also makes a big difference whether the games are live online or simply

confined to a Playstation and the virtual world without other social

interaction.

If you want to see where some of these game skills can go, check out how the

military has been training and how law enforcement and medical students are

training on virtual fields of battle, virtual city streets, and in virtual

ERs and hospital/surgical suites. Yesterday a paper was published about the

use of virtual reality and simulation to help amputees gain improved balance

and cope with pain, without the blasted hydrocodone/oxycontin blanket. That

is where the skills of game playing can go, and the teens who play are far

ahead of many who do not and who need to learn how to use these skills as

tools in addition to toys. They need supervision and the opportunity to

describe what they are experiencing when they play so they can learn the

limits. It is not sufficient simply to turn off the systems and games.

The discussion earlier today on this forum about attention and boredom is

and example. I believe it was who mentioned training need to be fun

and easy at times, then hard and more demanding, then back again for real

benefit. The colors on the screen, the flicker rates (refresh rates), the

shapes of things on a screen all can be used to achieve either interest, or

if pushed, aggression, or soporific fog. We are minimizing these brain and

body effects if we, as trainers, say they are limited to whether the

trainees like them or not. That misses 90% of the training influence and

effect.

I thank you for your patience in stating your concerns.

Best Regards,

Aliceann

February 16, 2007

Hi

I was asked to do a presentation about computer and television over use a

few years ago. In preparation I went on a couple of theses lists and there

was not much response. Now that there are studies been done that are showing

that over use can have negative effects there seems to be interest. I find

it interesting that we are waiting for . So I took it away from him and he

did not miss it. I did not allow aggressive or violent games but rather

strategic games. We need to start to trust in our intuitive feelings rather

than wait for a study to tell us whether it is good for us or not.

In regard to addiction, we need to ask first, why are the kids becoming

addicted to the video games or anything to that matter. In my opinion, they

are looking for ways to feel good! They are looking to the outside for

things to make them feel good.

A person who becomes addicted to video games may not become addicted to

alcohol or drugs because he already has something that he is addicted. to.

Take away the video games and see what happens. Will he or she feel the need

to replace that with something that will make them feel good. The issue is

not the video games, the alcohol or what ever. if the kids are feeling good

about themselves why would they need something to make them good.

We can not get rid of the games or the computers. They are here to stay.

Just like alcohol is here to stay. What we need to do is to talk with our

children at an early age and teach them that computers are tools.

Last but not least, we the parents need to work on ourselves as our children

learn from us.

Styffe

Focus Fitness

044 720 18 55

www.heartsmart.ws

www.focusfitness.ch