All the World's Wrongs: Games At Fault!

[gIzzE]

I think it is nonsense that it has no effect on the human body.

I use a screen for probably 12-15 hours a day, I know for a fact that if I turn off my macbook/screens around 7pm I definitely sleep better, or fall asleep a lot quicker.

When I go away and have no screens at all by day 3 or so I do feel better in myself, but probably because I am doing healthier things that sitting there.

I guess that is the main problem though, more a lack of doing other things than the screen itself, if I were to do a good few hours of exercise and then use my screen, even for a few hours, my body would feel better in itself and everything that goes along with that helps. Problem is I get on my screen at 9am and often don't switch it off till 2am. If I was sat looking at wallpaper for the same time I would probably not be at my best either.

[wakka]

The amount of time I spend looking at a screen is ridiculous.

Wake, shower, get on bus. Look at phone.
Get into office. Look at computer.
Leave office, get on bus. Look at phone.
Get home, play videogames/watch movies.
Go to bed, read -> the ONLY thing I do all day which isn't purely functional (cooking, showering, etc) and doesn't involve a screen.

Even when I'm in a meeting I've got my laptop in front of me for notes and so on.

I'm glad to hear it's not gonna make my eyeballs explode to be honest. Sometimes my eyes do go all funny in the evening though, lines start appearing when I look at a screen. Not great.

Now granted I could be much more active and go running etc. But I don't . Both my career and hobbies are very sedentary.

[Cassius_Smoke]

You need to listen to different radio stations (or stop altogether) and maybe change where you are getting your news. I only saw this study reported on one site and it was pitched as a pretty good news story and read like a well balanced article.

I'm making a conscious effort to avoid the news all together this year. I only had radio 2 on because I jumped in the car and it was on.

[Dogg Thang]

I'm making a conscious effort to avoid the news all together this year. I only had radio 2 on because I jumped in the car and it was on.

Yeah, you’re probably better off. It’s generally not good for our mental wellbeing, I reckon.

[Asura]

A scientific study has shown that using screens for long periods of time has no physical effects on the human body.
Of course this has granted the media the opportunity to jump on video-games as the root of all evil.
It seems parents are unable to prevent children from playing Fortnite for hours at a time because scientists said its OK.
If you are relying on science to discipline your kids, I think you are doing it wrong.

The problem is that the parents can't discipline the kids for too much online media because they're busy swiping through Facebook all the time. They need something they don't enjoy

[Dogg Thang]

Yep. There have been a couple of studies on this and I know we’re guilty in my house - in a lot of households, parents are on screens much more than the kids.

But “screen time” has always been deceptive. Not all screen time is equal. Not by a long shot. Not even within the same medium.

[briareos_kerensky]

Remember Jack Thompson? He's back, and of course the root of violent behaviour is always videogames.

[Cassius_Smoke]

Oh FFS. What an idiot.
School shootings are usually perpetrated by kids in school - kids in school play video games - therefore video games are the cause.
He forgets that kids also: watch films, play sports, use social media, listen to music, study and do a whole host of things.

[endo]

And not forgetting, of course, easy access to firearms.

Kids in British schools play the same video games. Number of school massacres perpetrated by said kids in British schools = 0. Weird.

[Dogg Thang]

He's a knob. He's also wrong. He's always wrong.

I do think ratings should be enforced though. At the very least it would level the playing field considerably among parents and help to somewhat remove it as a scapegoat for people like him.

[Asura]

Oh FFS. What an idiot.
School shootings are usually perpetrated by kids in school - kids in school play video games - therefore video games are the cause.
He forgets that kids also: watch films, play sports, use social media, listen to music, study and do a whole host of things.

The thing is, the games industry years ago used to always fall back on two defences:

1) Stuff like "movies are more violent"
2) Studies about how there's no link between violent media and behaviour

The problem is that these defences are paper-thin. The former shifts the blame, which is no use, because other media kick the can back. The latter is difficult to justify because even if it's true, I think most people would believe that providing the interactive experience of violence to a person who is predisposed to violence is a bad combination.

Ultimately these are broad, cultural problems which have complex solutions, but those don't sell newspapers. Kids who shoot up schools often do so in response to familial situations, bullying, or a lack of awareness that they have a significant mental health issue (and I include "misanthropy" as one of those issues if it is to the degree of sociopathy). We, as a society, have a stigma about mental health which seems to be gradually shifting, and that's great.

I think most teens go through a misanthropic phase. It's part of growing up. Naturally, though, we don't all go and shoot up a school, and the availibility of firearms is not the sole reason, because nations like Canada which share the US's gun-culture don't have anywhere near as many of these incidents. Even so, naturally, firearms help.

[Cassius_Smoke]

The conclusion drawn from 'Bowling for Columbine' seems to indicate that the US has something uniquely wrong with the way they view and use firearms as a society. As said, Canada has the same gun laws and the same video-games and movies and doesn't have the level of shootings USA does.
its just sad that we are discussing this same argument that's rattled on from the early 90s. I'd like to think that people with any sense will just ignore it as BS.

[Dogg Thang]

Yep. Canada may have as many guns but I don't think it quite shares the "gun culture" of the US, or just the culture of violence. It's an analogy I have used before but if toddlers somewhere are stabbing people with forks, you need to take the forks away until you're sure you've taught them not to do that. If the next preschool up the road doesn't have the same stabbing incidents, that's not a reason to keep the forks in the one that has the problem. The US has a gun problem, plain and simple.

[briareos_kerensky]

Pennsylvania lawmakers have again put a bill forward that will tax 10% "violent videogames" (those rated M and AO under the ESRB) in an effort to prevent school shootings. The same bill was deemed unconstitutional last year.
I thought that by now everyone would have understood that the only way to prevent school shootings is not to have schools at all.

https://www.pcgamesn.com/pennsylvania-violent-videogame-tax

[fishbowlhead]

Pennsylvania lawmakers have again put a bill forward that will tax 10% "violent videogames" (those rated M and AO under the ESRB) in an effort to prevent school shootings. The same bill was deemed unconstitutional last year.
I thought that by now everyone would have understood that the only way to prevent school shootings is not to have schools at all.

https://www.pcgamesn.com/pennsylvani...-videogame-tax

Those morons in the states genuinely would get rid of schools before giving up their precious guns.