Gaming is like a Cocaine Addiction - Do you do the line?

Melbosa · March 10, 2011, 01:30:28 PM

Article: http://www.mcvuk.com/news/43423/Two-hours-gaming-a-line-of-cocaine

QuoteJust one day after claims linking video games to sleeplessness emerged, Lancashire based therapist Steve Pope has made some of the most bewildering accusations yet about the possible harmful effects of gaming.

?Spending two hours on a game station is equivalent to taking a line of cocaine in the high it produces in the brain," Pope told BBC Radio 5Live in an interview last night. ?It's the silent killer of our generation.

?We're now onto second generation game station players who have always grown up with it. Computer game addiction can also spiral into violence as after playing violent games, they may turn their fantasy games into reality.

"It is the fastest growing addiction in the country and this is affecting young people mentally and physically."

Describing his campaign against gaming as a "personal quest to spread the message", Pope urged any parents listening to the broadcast to "go upstairs to your kids bedroom and try and take the game station controller out of their hands".

He said most kids will react "in the same way as an alcoholic would if you tried to take their booze ? it's scary".

Of the sleeplessness scandal, Pope claimed that kids who stay up late playing titles such as Call of Duty are unable to concentrate the next morning "because of the endorphin high in their brains" that leads to a "chemical imbalance" that disturbs behaviour and learning.

Best I can guess is that this doc wants his 15 minutes of fame...

What do you guys think?

Lazybones · March 10, 2011, 02:10:22 PM

I think I haven't had TIME for much gaming other than a few casual games to pass time on my phone. I think Caffeine is far more addictive than most gaming.

Darren Dirt · March 10, 2011, 03:21:19 PM

Quote from: Melbosa on March 10, 2011, 01:30:28 PM
Pope urged any parents listening to the broadcast to "go upstairs to your kids bedroom and try and take the game station controller out of their hands".

He said most kids will react "in the same way as an alcoholic would if you tried to take their booze ? it's scary".

Of the sleeplessness scandal, Pope claimed that kids who stay up late playing titles such as Call of Duty are unable to concentrate the next morning "because of the endorphin high in their brains" that leads to a "chemical imbalance" that disturbs behaviour and learning.

this doc wants his 15 minutes of fame...

imo this.

If a husband is watching a football game and the wife tries to take the remote, or stands in front of the TV, you get a similar groggy, disoriented, slow-to-react response, and possibly angry -- it ain't just brain-altering drugs that can do it, it's called FOCUS and ATTENTION. Heck, ditto for someone reading a very good book and the phone rings -- or a software developer deep in the zone coding!

And sleeplessness from doing any activity too late into the night = trouble the next day with cognitive functionality, duh. It ain't the "chemical imbalance" caused by a rush of endorphins, it's the not-enough-REM-sleephins.

Mr. Analog · March 10, 2011, 05:42:46 PM

What games is this guy playing???

Thorin · March 11, 2011, 08:42:49 AM

Thing is, a kid can go a week without video games without going into physical withdrawal. Try that with a crackhead, or a meth sketchhead, and you'll see what happens when they don't get their fix.

Lazybones · March 11, 2011, 08:47:38 AM

Studies also show that children value things different than adults, IE taking away a Teens cell phone to them could mean being a complete social outcast... Some of the same can be said about on-line gaming.. I spent more time chatting and "hanging out" with my on-line gaming friends than anyone at school... If someone had taken my computer away I would have probably freaked out.

Mr. Analog · March 11, 2011, 08:54:19 AM

This is a good point Lazy, suffering is one of those things that is relative to the experience of the sufferer.

Either way I reckon Mr. Pope has neither played many video games nor gone through addiction withdrawal and is using hyperbole to get attention (which, using his own rhetoric, is an addiction of its own).

Darren Dirt · March 11, 2011, 02:53:14 PM

my son has been in both extremes, playing WAY too much Halo 3/Reach, and then going a month without (for Lent) ... he never was as unreachable, or as physically-terrible, as a true addict of any physical substance.

He's now happy to be rid of that ballandchain, he's got so many other activities that actually amount to something, but that's just a metaphor, it wasn't really a physically-impacting "addiction" of his. It's no different than folks who watch 6 hours of TV every night. Don't take that remote away from them... but if they really want to "quit" they can, cold turkey, and it's not gonna be a living hell for them to handle the "withdrawal".

This Pope is certainly not infallible.

Darren Dirt · March 14, 2011, 06:37:12 PM

Digital Dummies?
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5xKxIz2PIgY

Mr. Analog · March 15, 2011, 05:58:51 AM

Quote from: Darren Dirt on March 14, 2011, 06:37:12 PM
Digital Dummies?
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5xKxIz2PIgY

Well, the question I have is this: what was before all this "handheld electronic distraction"?

-Radios
-Newspapers
-Telephone
-Correspondence

It wasn't so long ago that I would see people reading newspapers at their desks or listening to the radio or endlessly gabbing on the phone, are these distractions? And if so what are they distracting from? What did people do before that? They talked face to face.

The way I see it new technology has brought back the "face-to-face" because we can actively connect with people and have a dialog with them in real time (facebook, twitter, text messaging, etc). This is why it's so popular, we never have to lose contact with someone because of geography.

If you asked people 20 years ago if they felt guilty about spending time talking around the water cooler or sending hilarious faxes to people they'd say yes I'm sure, 20 years before that the same thing could be said about using the phone or having a coffee break.

I'm not sure where this whole guilt complex came from in the Western world, but many of us feel like we're "wasting time" when really we're just living life.

I DARE everybody to take two 15 minute breaks today and not feel guilt or think about work...

Darren Dirt · March 23, 2011, 01:47:19 PM

:sigh: kids today! http://www.geekculture.com/joyoftech/joyarchives/1471.html /curmudgeonvoice

Mr. Analog · March 23, 2011, 02:31:32 PM

It's scary how far things have slid actually...