Gender: Male Location: On a rock, floating through space..
This is ridiculous.
Computer games don't affect people. I mean, if video games affected us as kids, we'd all be running around in darkened rooms, munching magic pills and listening to repetitive electronic music...
Gender: Male Location: Impacting nations and generations
QFT.
The short answer is, YES.
The topic asked: Do games/movies/music effect kids?
Of course they do. Whether positive or negative, those forms of media have an effect on all of us.
The topic also asked: if they "alter" a kids mind.
Of course they do. We all start out as blank slates, and what we put in the barrel is what makes up who we are.
The last part of the topic asked about : "whacko".
This I don't know. I believe that media does influence, effect, and alter us as people, but whether or not it will manifest itself in some physical way, like violence, remains to be seen.
I think most people who commit the school shootings, for example, are already dealing with serious issues, emotionally, mentally, spiritually, etc...
The effect of media is more on an individuals mindset and their perception of life in general and people in particular, including perception of themselves.
If said child has no bearings on reality, and hasn't grasped the difference between fantasy and reality, then yes, it can have an effect and influence them. However, almost every time this could be countered by decent parenting -- informing the child about what is and isn't real. This is mostly relevant for younger kids.
Older kids, 11, 12, 13, whatever, no they won't be effected by them unless they have some deeper mental problem.
I have a hard time with my dreams. Sometimes, I think that what I dreamed actually happened and it didn't happen...For example, one time, I accused my brother of misplacing an object of mine because I dreamed that let him borrow it and I was pissed at him for "lying"...I then realized that it was only in my dream that I let him borrow and I had to eat some humble pie and apologize....
Is that normal? To confuse your dreams for reality?
Is it possible that these same people being discussed have a similar problem but it occurs at a conscience level due to psychosis or schizophrenia?
and honestly, these people, or "everyone", doesn't need a mental problem to confuse reality and fiction. Our brains evolved to survive in the real world, not to distinguish between a real world and simulated one. It is a difficult idea to come to grips with, because none of us think we are watching real life when we watch a movie, and the context does help us distinguish it, but that context is built over many years, and even then it is not 100%.
I would think, by definition, someone who shoots another (for seemingly no reason) has a mental problem (sociopathy at the very least). Yes, a schizophrenic would have a much higher degree of difficulty in distinguishing between reality and fiction (in some cases), but one does not need to be a sociopath or schizophrenic to mistake fantasy for reality. While I would argue that mental health and parental issues are at the heart of most spree shootings at schools or whatever, that doesn't mean we as individuals who do not have mental health problems are immune to similar problems.
For instance, as you noted with your dream, you can quickly realize which parts of your memory are real or fictitious with the eating of a little bit of humble pie. This would be the parental influence or media education.
Gender: Male Location: Impacting nations and generations
So you think that if we took 2 sets of "older" kids as you say, ages 11, 12, 13 and all of the kids were normal, healthy individuals who'd been raised to know the difference between movies and reality and showed one group nothing but porn movies and Hostel/Saw type slasher films and showed the other group Disney cartoons and Star Wars for say, 2 straight years... that both groups of kids wouldn't be affected in their thoughts, actions, and feelings?
And beyond that, both groups of kids would be exactly the same? Normal and well adjusted because they "know" it isn't real?
What you're describing would constitute torture. I'm talking about just watching movies/playing games in a normal manner, not forcing some kid to sit and watch certain things for years.
In that case, both kids would probably be affected, not because of what they're watching, but because of the amount of time they'd be forced to spend watching it.
I love horror and in fact, the first script I started writing is a horror film. I watch horror movies every chance I get...even the shitty ones. I don't kill people, hit people, get aggressive with people, ever...I haven't been in a fight since I was 17. I play violent videos games all the time. I can honestly say that I am not affected by that stuff ...but I am probably affected by in the fact that I think about "horror" film material all the time...you know, violent "scary" things. I have a slightly darker sense of humor that involves violence sometimes and it frightens people a little bit until I explain it to them. But on he whole, I am a very calm and benevolent person.
Playing an action video game reduces gender differences in spatial cognition.
Feng, Jing; Spence, Ian; Pratt, Jay.
We demonstrate a previously unknown gender difference in the distribution of spatial attention, a basic capacity that supports higher-level spatial cognition. More remarkably, we found that playing an action video game can virtually eliminate this gender difference in spatial attention and simultaneously decrease the gender disparity in mental rotation ability, a higher-level process in spatial cognition. After only 10 hr of training with an action video game, subjects realized substantial gains in both spatial attention and mental rotation, with women benefiting more than men. Control subjects who played a non-action game showed no improvement. Given that superior spatial skills are important in the mathematical and engineering sciences, these findings have practical implications for attracting men and women to these fields.
Psychological Science. Vol 18(10), Oct 2007, pp. 850-855
no they dont. every stimuli affects children. but it can never be a significant causative factor in ACTING OUT those fantasies. thta wud require other major problems outside videogames to be present.
BIBLE though, thas another story. that reall is sumthing that shoul have a 16+ parental advisory sign with it. and the quran too, n basically, most kinds of major relegious scriptures.
Sounds like me. I write horror stories as a hobby, but you would have to literally kill someone close to me to get me angry. I'm not an angry person.
In response to the original question, I think video games and the like only affect children depending on there outlook on it and how often they are played. If they are played constantly, then yes, it can have a negative affect on the child. BUT, if a child plays video games AND socialises with peers, gets involved in other activities, such as a community sport, then there wouldn't be much of an affect on the child. The child (with the help of the parents, of course) needs to establish the essential balance to make it all work correctly. Video games and movies are made for simple enjoyment. You can't make friends with a video game character or a movie hero, it just doesn't work. There are other, more important aspects to life, and video-game obssessed children need to learn that.
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This is how it hurts when I pretend I don't feel any pain ... This is how I disappear when I throw myself away
KMC Community Forums
Dec 7th, 2007 08:15 PM
Fail.
