Joseph Ratner: Round Up Blog Post

 

Introduction:

 

Hey all! There are so many misconceptions about Video games in regards to addictiveness so the purpose of this post is to find how video games can be the problem and the solution.

 

https://www.psychologytoday.com/blog/talking-about-trauma/201412/video-games-rated-addictive
Brief Summary:

 

This article compares video games to DRUGS! But only because they’re considered both addictive substances, which are used to cope with stressful situations. The author of this article, Robert T Muller refers to video games being similar to a casino. Loud noises, bright screens, and people deeply focused on the game that they are completely oblivious to all their surroundings. Humans receive pleasure after the brain releases dopamine into the receptors. Drugs mimic that sensation with give you that “high” sensation. Humans naturally release this chemical however drugs release 10X the normal amount, which is how it becomes addictive. Why would anyone want to stop feeling that good? This is how addiction occurs, you enjoy the feeling and since your tolerance to the substance increases you must intake more to receive the same high you had previous to that. Muller continues sating that this could happen for people who are active gamers. The ways that these games are designed are to reward the player after he completes a hard task; this strategy makes it tough to put the controller down. That is how the game sucks you in. Like I previously said video games are also used as a coping mechanism. Let me explain… The world around us is so stressful and sometimes it’s just easier to escape this reality to tap into an alternate animated reality. That is completely healthy, as long as you make sure to come back to the real world. Unfortunately for some gamers this can be quite catastrophic because they are enjoying the game so much that they don’t go to work, don’t finish homework, don’t stay clean, don’t get proper nutrition from food, and don’t see friends or family. Video games although can be used as a healthy coping strategy if used correctly can result in an addiction that is hard to stop.

 

 

 

Introduction:
Our hero’s coming back from over seas deserves a rest! The purpose of this post is to share how possibly intense video games CAN help soldiers with PTSD. Many soldiers that return from war have trouble sleeping because they would have horrifying flashbacks of specific times while they were at war.

 

 

https://www.psychologytoday.com/blog/talking-about-trauma/201412/video-games-rated-addictive

 

Brief Summary:

 

This blog is short, strong, and right to the point. An experiment was done with 98 soldiers and categorized them into two groups. One group being soldiers playing games very frequently whether it be daily or weekly and the other group would play games not that frequently, more like monthly or yearly. The results were shocking nonetheless and proved that the group with more violent gameplay time had less dreams about battue because they were exposed to it a lot during this friendly video game. This experiment conditioned the soldiers and allowed them to sleep more peacefully and actually numb the chaos that they had experienced in battle.

 

 

Introduction:

 

The purpose of this blog is to inform parents about the damage that violent video games can cause to children. There are specific video games such as grand theft auto and any war game desensitizes them to the real life violence.

 

http://psychcentral.com/news/2006/07/28/video-games-desensitize-to-real-violence/137.html

 

Brief Summary:

 

“An exposure to video game violence creates anger and aggressive thoughts can be harmful in reality”. 85% of video games display some sort of violence while about 50% displays serious violence. A test was conducted where scientists monitored heart rate and skin response measurements while these college students were playing video games and then immediately after they saw real life footage of violence on the tv. The participants who were playing the violent video games experienced lower skin response measurements while the ones who were playing non-violent games. Video game technology is too realistic and not animated like it used to be. This can be detrimental to the player because they are constantly exposed to all this blood and gore and sometimes get rewards for doing the most killing. I must confess that I too occasionally partake in violent video games and now about reading this article I definitely minimize the amount of violent video games that I play.