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Video Game Addiction?
(7 votes, average: 4.14 out of 5)
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A Mysterious Midget brought this to my attention. So some bitch from Texas thinks video games should be considered a serious addiction just because of her own failure as a parent. Now this is really unfair: they’re only talking about online games here but are trying to apply it to all video games. I’ll admit: some people can get very addicted to online games (personally, I find them boring). But is it the nature of the game that does it? Perhaps, but unlikely. Is it the game producer’s fault? Hell no. If someone has locked themselves in a room to delve into a fantasy land that screams that there is a much more serious underlying problem. Ever think that maybe these people are just, I dunno, depressed?
But of course no one takes personal responsibility anymore. We’re apparently just easily manipulated by outside sources, so much so that the slightest influence of one of these devious forms of entertainment can control us completely. It can’t possibly be that you’re a weak-minded idiot or that you’re a bad mother.
Joyce Protopapas of Frisco, Texas, said her 17-year-old son, Michael, was a video addict. Over nearly two years, video and Internet games transformed him from an outgoing, academically gifted teen into a reclusive manipulator who flunked two 10th grade classes and spent several hours day and night playing a popular online video game called World of Warcraft.
"My father was an alcoholic … and I saw exactly the same thing" in Michael, Protopapas said. "We battled him until October of last year," she said. "We went to therapists, we tried taking the game away.
"He would threaten us physically. He would curse and call us every name imaginable," she said. "It was as if he was possessed."
When she suggested to therapists that Michael had a video game addiction, "nobody was familiar with it," she said. "They all pooh-poohed it."
Last fall, the family found a therapist who "told us he was addicted, period." They sent Michael to a therapeutic boarding school, where he has spent the past six months — at a cost of $5,000 monthly that insurance won’t cover, his mother said.
So, let me get this straight: Your son, in High School, one of the roughest periods in anyone’s life, for some reason withdrew into gaming. And this is the game’s fault? You don’t think maybe he wasn’t worried about the future? About what he’d do after High School? Was under so much pressure he just withdrew from the world into one more comforting where he could have grand, supernatural adventures? Did you ever TALK to your damn kid about what his problem might be?
You tried to take it away, but he threatened you, so you just sat back and did nothing instead. Yeah, kids are terrors, I know, I was a terror when I was 14 and my mom handled it beautifully and I’m grateful for that now.
So then, instead of taking charge as a parent, you took him to therapy, got ONE IDEA stubbornly in your head and insisted it to the therapist, even when the therapist told you "no you’re wrong, lady, let’s find the real problem". And so you dragged your kid from therapist to therapist until you found one that would agree with you. THAT’S NOT HOW THERAPY WORKS!
And now you’re on a mission to stamp out video game addiction, right? Because you sent your kid to boarding school so you didn’t have to deal with him and your insurance won’t pay for it because video game addiction isn’t real. Go to hell, lady.
How does one cure video game addiction anyway? Besides, you know, self-discipline. Should we send people into 12 step programs, you know the ones that are just thinly veiled attempts to convert people to Christianity? And that don’t work? At all? How about you, Ms. Protopapas (which is a retarded name, by the way), take responsibility for your own fucking kid and worry more about why he withdrew into fantasy worlds more than the fact he’s done it.
P.S. goddamn ads being ironic as always!
I agree. But I also think ALL video game addiction is bogus. I think applying the word ADDICTION to every troublesome behavior is bogus. It’s ignoring the other reasons why someone can’t stop doing something. People who are “addicted” to video games and similar to people who are “addicted” to porn or “addicted” to eating. It makes them feel good and safe, so they do it. The question, especially for kids like this kid, is why don’t they feel good or safe doing anything else? Maybe your kid’s being bullied, or like you said, maybe he’s depressed. Maybe he has an anxiety problem, maybe he doesn’t feel confident doing anything else, maybe he’s self medication some other problem that he has.
Jesus people. Games are not heroine. You will not get the ITCHIES. There is not a chance you will DIE without it.
It’s just another one of the anti-game things that not only are silly, but hurt kids. By blaming it on a game addiction, you’re KEEPING the child from his/her real issue. And that’s more than stupid, it’s fucking sad.
@Sarah - Indeed. You’re also teaching them that nothing is their fault, and if something goes wrong for them they can entirely blame an outside source.
I just (recently) got my ass kicked because of a game. My mothers handling it. I’m not stupid, I know I probably deserved it, so I’d have to say, This lady is an asshole who doesn’t know how to handle a child. And shes a Protopapas. y’know what, anyone who acts stupid nowadays, I’m gonna call them a protopapas. I swear I’ll do it.
I don’t think anyone could have said it better. Except maybe my friend’s brother, who would also probably be considered a gaming addict by this lady. It’s like parents who blame video games for their kids bad posture because they never thought about making their kid take a break now and then since then that would involve *gasp* BONDING.
Video games? Addictive? Lies, all lies! I have gone out of my way to prove this to a certain person several times by not playing video games for long periods of time. (still doesn’t believe me…) Sure, it can get boring without them, but I’m always bored anyways.
I find it funny that every single time the news does a special on internet game addictions or something my parents call me in to watch it. And I’m always like O_o I just left the computer to watch this. If I really was addicted would I have even left in the first place?
But I think video game addictions is total BS, and people really should start being accountable. Just because you screwed up doesn’t mean its the end of the world.
Wow. The stupidity of our country rises! Soon we’ll be land of the brainless and home of the dumb asses. -_- I’m sure most other countries view us as such already.
http://psychcentral.com/news/2007/06/26/video-games-no-addiction-for-now/
A good article on the subject.
This type of debate has been going on for a while, especially with online games. Some other parent was trying to sue the makers of World of Warcraft because her son killed himself because of something another player did to him in the game. This is just another example of how the prevalent culture in this country encourages blaming everyone else for your own problems, and completely destroys the concept of personal accountability.
It’s also insulting to people who actually have serious mental issues: “Oh, you have a genetic condition that causes you to hear voices convincing you to hurt yourself and others? I know what you’re going through, I play video games too much.”
Thank Gawd they dropped that shit.
Funny, I was just reminded of this because of the posting of an article in the forum I frequent SAYING that they dropped it (I mean, for now I would think) and there was much discussion. One brought up the point of ‘gee, maybe there’s ANOTHER problem?’ but I also think that people shutting themselves away and playing games for hours could also pertain to boredom
Lordie only knows when I have nothing better to do I stay on the computer or fuck around with games for several hours.
Oh noes, I must be addicted! D:
Ah, don’t you just love how they have to generalize everything?
I think people are always looking for scapegoats to blame for why their kid isn’t perfect. My parents blame my male friends and the internet.
black-allison - Video Games will always be used as scapegoats to blame for every god damn thing that happens to our youth today.
Ex. 1
Columbine - People blamed video games and Marilyn Manson for inspiring the teens to commit the crime.
They digged deeper and found out they were bullied as kids.
Ex. 2
Virginia Tech - People blamed movies and (most likely) video games for this school shooting. But when they digged deeper they found out he was mental as a child.
So video Games aren’t always the reason teens have problems.