Grand Theft Childhood

[DeadJonas190]

So the US Department of Justice funded a study about violent video games and their effects on children. The book Grand Theft Childhood is a result of that study and G4 had a very interesting segment about the results. I tried to embed the video, but for some reason I can't get it to work properly (and yes I did a search on how to do it but I must have done something wrong because it would not embed for me). Here is a link to the video

http://www.g4tv.com/xplay/videos/21264/Face_Time_Lawrence_Kutner_and_Cheryl_Olson.html

Watch it, its a little over 6 minutes long and it pretty much puts Jack Thompson out of a job.

[SymphonicX]

Cool vid....!

[MinionZombie]

Aye indeed, saw this over on ActionTrip, great video and great research from those involved. I liked how they basically bitch-slapped the 'games make you nuts' type studies. :D

But what they were saying made a lot of sense, including the 'if you always play violent games all the time you are at a risk of being more troublesome' - that kinda makes sense, in that, if you submerse yourself in negative things constantly, you'll just end up being negative yourself all the time - however, the vast, vast, vast majority of people don't do that - with such a variety of games out there, it's hard to do that, and with films and TV and books and friends to chat with and so on, that's an event that'll be sitting on the shelf, unused and dusty.

Also of great interest - those who didn't play any games are equally at risk of being troublesome. Also the thing about videogames and social competence among males - very true.

[Rottedfreak]

In the UK we dont need video games to steal an individuals childhood, we have bitter and resentful parents and guardians, ashamed of their early innocence, giving their kids crap for it and a sauasage factory system to destroy esteem of various groups including children.

[_liam_]

Well said.

To be honest even if they are playing violent stuff all day, I don't think it warps them - when you play a computer game I firmly believe that your brain breaks it down into its components rather than literally accepting what is happening.

In other words your backbrain doesnt think "I am driving this car through these people", I believe it thinks "I am guiding this shape over these other shapes". It gets reduced to a question of hand-eye coordination, and I don't think it has an impact on the subconscious at all.

Simply put, i've been playing shooting & driving games my whole life, and I still haven't been sufficiently motivated enough to obtain a licence to do either :D

[MikePizzoff]

Simply put, i've been playing shooting & driving games my whole life, and I still haven't been sufficiently motivated enough to obtain a licence to do either :D

Exactly.

I've been watching Beavis & Butthead since it first aired and never once have I ever thought about putting a dog in a washing machine, hitting a frog with a baseball bat, or doing any sort of harm to any animal, ever. (I'm an avid animal lover, in fact)

People just hate to face the facts about what really drives people to do these things and feel the easiest way out is using a scapegoat.

[Yojimbo]

Dudes, wasn't there a similar issue with the Three Stooges, with parents saying that they feared that children were going to be hitting each other with hammers and the like? What bunk!

Though I gotta say, GTA makes me want to drive more recklessly than usual! But so does rock music and Paul Harvey on the radio.