Demise of Guys because of Porn/Games

[Melbosa]

TED Talk Vid: http://www.ted.com/talks/zimchallenge.html
CNN: http://edition.cnn.com/2012/05/23/health/living-well/demise-of-guys/index.html?hpt=hp_c2

So basically Philip Zimbardo has research on hand that shows porn, games, and internet usage in general is going to cause the male generations to come fail in relationships with Women, with Educational pursuits and in the Higher working class in general because of the time spent on these activities in our youth.  While I would guess there is some weight in these statements, would I blame the porn, games and internet community for this or parenting itself?

What do you guys think, about this or the videos above, as I know most of us have indulged in at least 2 of the 3 activities above in our youth.

[Melbosa]

OH and a response to the article on CNN found on IGN that I thought was funny: http://ca.ign.com/articles/2012/05/25/are-porn-and-games-basically-the-same-thing

[Melbosa]

DD actually has posted about this guy before: http://forums.righteouswrath.com/index.php/topic,7232.0.html

[Lazybones]

If porn had anything to do with success, women would already rule the world...

Trade online porn with collecting stacks of mags.

Trade online gaming with being obsessed with watching sports...

Any difference in generations of men?

[Thorin]

I haven't done the research, and I haven't read his.  Every generation does something different from the previous, and every generation says Thing XYZ that the newer generation does is going to rot their brains / destroy their souls / end humanity.

I like how the article uses examples of three men that are three years apart to extrapolate the DOOM OF EVERY MAN, 3.5 BILLION OR SO, WE'RE ALL GOING TO DIE, never mind the fact that a majority of those men do _not_ have access to high-quality online porn nor videogames.  Seriously, there are people _living in boats their entire lives_.  Really, they're just talking about a subset of humanity, the First World men.  And most of them are getting a rich enough education to understand why education is important (although they'll never admit it until they're in their 30s).

[Mr. Analog]

I think there are other, more complex sociological forces at work.

The interesting thing about TED is its about ideas, not all of 'em are right or even scientific.

[Thorin]

Yeah, but talking about complex sociological forces won't get you a splashy headline at a news site.

The same problem exists in current climate science - the desire for splashy headlines.  It ends up skewing the real science.  For instance, one of my kids' teachers asked the class what the most prevalent greenhouse gas is.  My kid answered water vapour.  The teacher argued, but my kid stood their ground - actual science says it's water vapour.  But listen to all the sensationalistic news about oceans rising twenty meters and swallowing the world, and you'll think it's carbon dioxide - not correct, but that's all the news media talks about.

Same thing here, there's lots of factors and they haven't even started discussing causation versus correlation yet, since as many people point out a correlation between violent video games and violent players could show a causation of violent games make violent people OR violent people play violent games.  But the news media always reports the former.

[Tom]

Yeah, but talking about complex sociological forces won't get you a splashy headline at a news site.

The same problem exists in current climate science - the desire for splashy headlines.  It ends up skewing the real science.  For instance, one of my kids' teachers asked the class what the most prevalent greenhouse gas is.  My kid answered water vapour.  The teacher argued, but my kid stood their ground - actual science says it's water vapour.  But listen to all the sensationalistic news about oceans rising twenty meters and swallowing the world, and you'll think it's carbon dioxide - not correct, but that's all the news media talks about.

Same thing here, there's lots of factors and they haven't even started discussing causation versus correlation yet, since as many people point out a correlation between violent video games and violent players could show a causation of violent games make violent people OR violent people play violent games.  But the news media always reports the former.

Yeah, CO2 isn't even one of the strongest non H2O greenhouse gasses. There are plenty of them, though they tend to be less plentiful. The reason CO2 gets a bad rap is cause we pump a lot of it out. It's something we could do something about if we tried. Also, CO2 has been shown to be a major player in forcing major climate trends, on both ends of the spectrum.

[Thorin]

My point was not so much what CO2 does to the atmosphere or not, but that the news media focus on it _because it's sensational_, same as they're doing with the idea of video games + porn = end of civilization.

[Tom]

My point was not so much what CO2 does to the atmosphere or not, but that the news media focus on it _because it's sensational_, same as they're doing with the idea of video games + porn = end of civilization.

Indeed. I was just adding extra information

[Darren Dirt]

TED Talk Vid: http://www.ted.com/talks/zimchallenge.html
CNN: http://edition.cnn.com/2012/05/23/health/living-well/demise-of-guys/index.html?hpt=hp_c2

So basically Philip Zimbardo has research on hand that shows

Usually that kind of sentence beginning winds up ending with "almost any one of us are just one small step from being Nazis ourselves, given the right circumstances". Nice to see him branching out

DD actually has posted about this guy before: http://forums.righteouswrath.com/index.php/topic,7232.0.html

As Melbosa pointed out, see the Zimbardo stuff linked ^ and be reminded how lucky we all are being born in such relatively "civilized" times, in a relatively free geographical zone on this pale blue dot.




but I gotta chime in: "young men are  ?hooked on arousal, sacrificing their schoolwork and relationships in the pursuit of getting a tech-based buzz?..." today it's story-driven one player gaming, a half-decade ago it was MMOs, and 50+ years ago it was alcohol or drugs or rock and roll ... always looking for a "buzz", we (humans, not just men) end up being distracted from, and avoiding paying sufficient attention to, "What Really Matters*", only nowadays it's almost uncapped potential. Cue memory of that ST:TNG episode where only Wesley and his cute girlfriend (a young Ashley Judd) didn't get sucked in to the videogame...



Then again, even Zimbardo isn't ready to give up on our species:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Philip_Zimbardo#Other_endeavors





*sorry I just couldn't resist -- also I kinda mean it.

[Mr. Analog]

I love this, so many opinions, 0 facts.

"What Really Matters"^TM as brought to you by 1950s idealism