Society and Will Power (Score 1)

Looking through all the replys I was glad to see the majority of society still seems to be sane. It is too easy to blame the problems in society on such simple influences as computer games.

To think a person's actions are so easily influeced should be insulting. Think about what you're saying: "I can't control my self; when I watch TV or play games I'm forced to abandon all common sense and mimic their actions in real life!" I mean come on...

I'm 18 now and like many people in my generation I've had my time playing the various violent games: Wolfenstein 3D, Doom, Halflife, BF1942, Max Payne, GTA3,etc etc.
To me, as with most people they are an escape. I don't consider the violence to be perverted or disgusting. It's a fantasy that is all. (I believe there are enough comments on fantasy vs reality). As far as the benifits from games there aren't many. But I consider games to be just as bad as TV or any of the other entertainments in life. After a while it all blends into an infinite barage of superflous images. The first sit-com is fun but after 4 hours do you really have the right to say you are still gaining something from watching. It is the same with games, after 4 hours you have entered into an addiction not entertainment.

I believe the greatest threat games have is their addictiveness. During high school my grades hardly suffered due to games, but think of all the things I could have done instead. I might have written a program, built a robot, read a book. Any number of things would have been more useful. Now I'm not saying no one should watch TV and no one should play games. If you think that's what I'm about then you've missed the point. This is about will power and self control.

And this is what a great many in my generation lack. Nearly everyone I know procrastinates. It is easy to fall into an endless loop of doing the minimum at the last minute, pulling off that A cause you're a bright kid and can whip out that essay in 2 hours after midnight, but you've wasted your time. I realized now that I could have done much better. Some books try to give the answer, but it's ludicrous to believe people can change over night. "The Seven habits of the Highly Effective Teen" while saying what you should attain does not explain how to one can actually obtain it.

In our society will power is only learned from our parents. Unfortunatly no where in the education system is there a class on time management and balancing your life. Health is a load of crap. What the real "health" should include is a real course in FirstAid/CPR from the red cross, and a trip to the morgue. Society has a peverse ignorance of death. I have a good friend who works as a forensic entomologist. A group of us in the Venture Crew (co-ed Boy Scouts, yes such a thing exists) went to the morgue to view a body. How many people can say you've done that. Hardly 1% of the population I would expect. We are made of the same vulnerable biological matter as the rest of the planet, believe it or not. Our culture has such a fear of death that when it confronts us we can only think of what a chaotic and horrible thing it is. I am willing to bet that if these kids had visited a morgue, this would not have happened.

Life is about balance, people need to understand and embrace this. Now this will sound quite idealistic but it's true. One must learn to balance all things in life, School, Sports, Computer Games, TV, and self education. If we could only learn to be more productive through our self developement the world would be a much better place.

Depresion comes out of imbalances. If you play computer games all the time or watch TV day after day it will lead to depression. If all you do is read Fantasy/SciFi/Romance(pick your poison) novels all day, you are entering the same sort of tempting addiction. The temptations in life are infinite. Now I'm not particularly religious, but I find religous philosophys to be interesting and insightful. I think that in the world today, where many of us are losing our traditional religions, we are also losing an important and neccisary aspect of our culture.

This comes back to what I mentioned earlier. Wil Power is learned only through your parents if you are not religous. Think about it what is religion inforcing most? Balance and self control. Too many of us including myself, do not learn how to balance their lives in their early childhood. Only when I graduated did I begin to grasp the importance of being able to balance my life. I realized that all the time I played computer games was only contributing to my mild depression and feeling of helplessness. And I was helpless, as many of us are! If you indulge in the endless temptations of life then you lose the power to shape your destiny.

Think of all the skills as a musician, as a programmer, as a carpenter, that might be developed with the time you put into computer games. As a society we need to learn to enjoy the greater intelluctual stimulations of life. I, along with many people, feel they are being drained. You go to work you honk your horn, you return home , you flick on the TV, and for what? You buy fancy new computers and new books and bigger televisions, and do you feel better no? Do drugs solve it... somewhat. But is chemically altering your brain to produce chemicals that would be created naturally really the best way. NO!

What is depression? It is pain from your mental lifestyle. If you hurt your leg, you feel pain, you know to be careful and let it heal. If you are depressed, your body is telling you that your activities do not fullfill its mental needs. If you are depressed and watch TV all the time, then your body is telling you that you engage in too much endless entertainment and that it makes you sick! One must learn to acheive control and balance over your life and there is no easy way. You just gradually grow into it.

I feel a major contributor to depression is the endless amount of entertainment in the world. We engage in so much of it that our minds become polluted by these fantasys. After a while it becomes neccissary to step back from the hussel and bussel and realize that none of it matters. You need to engage in more spiritual activities, with your partner, with your family, with your friends.

Not to say that friends can't be an addiction either. If every day you go out and drink and have fun, even if you are doing it responsibly and have little risk of injury you are still engaging in another fruitless activity.

Like I said, life is about balance and the ability to control your own life. Computer games are only one of the poisons that pollute our daily lives, now a little poison makes you stronger, but indulging in its effects will only cripple your body and your mind.

Arlo