Parents, please take a minute to read this article at CNN.com: The Demise of Guys: How video games and porn are ruining a generation. Research continues to show that the pleasure center in the brain is seriously affected by pornography and excessive video game use. While young women are not immune to the problems of what are sometimes called arousal addictions, pornography and video games are having a measurable affect on young men.
Psychologists Dr. Philip Zimbardo and Nikita Duncanshow report research hat the trap of pornography and video gaming is seriously affecting young men’s school performance, life skill development, and ability to build and maintain healthy relationships.
The excessive use of video games and online porn in pursuit of the next thing is creating a generation of risk-averse guys who are unable (and unwilling) to navigate the complexities and risks inherent to real-life relationships, school and employment.
Lest you think that only mild exposure or involvement with video games or pornography is not something to be overly concerned about, the authors report:
Less extreme cases of arousal addiction may go unnoticed or be diagnosed as an attention or mood disorder. But we are in a national, and perhaps global, Guy Disaster Mode that needs to be noticed and solutions advanced to fix a totally novel phenomenon, which will only increase in intensity and breadth without the concerted efforts of educators, gamemakers, parents, guys and gals.
We invite you to reflect as individuals, parents, grandparents, community members, church members…whatever your roles or responsibilities are, consider what you can do to help stem the tide of this growing problem. Hear more from Dr. Zimbardo in this TED Talk.
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While I completely agree with the dangerous nature of Pornography, I don’t understand how video games fall into the category of “arousal addiction” unless the video games are pornographic as well.
However, I agree with the author of this blog to the point, that there’s more going on here than just the symptom. There’s something far more systematic that needs to be addressed, otherwise we will end up teaching a generationo to avoid the symptoms, and they’ll be completely susceptible to the new symptom if the old reason isn’t addressed.
http://doublecrit.wordpress.com/2012/05/24/are-video-games-and-porn-really-ruining-men/
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H_Nu, I agree wholeheartedly that there is more to this than just the use of porn or video games. I appreciate you linking to your post as well.
I would add that I don’t think it’s just the digital age that is the problem. I think it’s even more potentially layered than that. And parents need to be aware. As you point out in your blog post:
“From where I stand, the problem may well lie with their parents. Where were mom and dad while their sons and daughters were burying their faces in the computer screen? Why didn’t their parents teach them about the ins and outs of life? Why didn’t they teach them about moderation? Why did they fail to prepare them for the real world, fail to prepare them for the inevitability that, someday, everyone has to grow up?”
THIS. Thank you again for sharing your thoughts. I think one step in the right direction is to talk about the problems and layers. Awareness is a first step.
p.s. I do disagree with you that ‘a little porn’ use is not a big deal, but I will be addressing in future posts how addiction is more about avoiding or covering or dealing with pain, boredom, stress, etc. And we’ll continue to try to talk about things parents can do.
~Michelle
Editor
I completely agree with this post. I have seen the affects of both gaming and porn. Especially since a lot of the games now have women wearing hardly anything. Even tho they are characters. they are made as life like as possible. The video game companies pride themselves on how realistic their games are, that includes the women in the games. Have you seem Mortal Kombat?? It is horrible!
And a little bit of pornography IS bad!! It makes you want more and more until you are sucked in so bad that you need help to get out. It’s very sad 🙁 Pornography kills you from the inside out. It affects everyone around you.
My husband of 4 years now has had a online game addiction for a year wont work wont go any were but that computer I feal so alone in this wont go to church any more