It is my point of view that humans happen to be in the position of making destructive relationships as well as associations with just about anything. Searching for pleasure and avoiding suffering will be a standard trait of the human condition. This characteristic can at times lead individuals toward the use of escapism. Sometimes this can be a needed manner of surviving and is incredibly healthy - other times it can cause counterproductive personal and social habits.
Just what that means is that, yes, somebody could get very involved in watching motion pictures, or reading books, or tweaking their MySpace page, or surfing, or playing games, or swimming or drinking, or using substances, or having sexual intercourse, or anything which they find useful to get away with, that they actually start to ignore other valuable aspects of their lives and it turns into a serious predicament.
Every little thing done excessively will not be good for you.
Everyone knows this. It is obvious. Why then, must CNN concoct a report regarding the "super-evil-ultra internet addiction / World of Warcaft" and basically paint this as some type of major danger to take into consideration?
I am going to inform you exactly why. It is because things such as the world wide web as well as World of Warcraft are things which plenty of "mainstream" people still do not understand - and individuals fear as well as go after what they do not comprehend. It really is that straightforward.
Frankly, I do think that any safe and sound piece of home entertainment which is capable of taking a person out of their lousy day as well as able to brighten them up for a while must be commended, not attacked. Isn't that one of the desired attributes of amusement?
Furthermore, the following is some food for thought - The young adult in the article was basically ignored in social circles, miserable, and feeling all alone. As he was in this state of existence, his parents did nothing helpful to address it since so long as his grades were coming in okay and he was not being arrested for something, they can care less that he was in fact miserable. (I know a lot of you out there reading this article know exactly what I am talking about.)
So then, he discovers World of Warcraft, and turns into a social god in that video game. In that world, he mattered, in that world others regarded him according to his behavior and not how he appeared. He acquired good friends, and went on real activities together with them. He enjoyed himself as well as his self-esteem was raised. He was able to see his own worth and make significant contributions in a setting which was meaningful to him.
This seems awesome to me.
By his own mom's admission in the piece, she said that she found her son turn out to be "More excited, and animated and active" than she'd ever seen him before. And this was in some manner a bad thing???
So now they got this young man all beat down on camera stating that he wasted a year of his life... yet I believe otherwise.
The fact is that he has real recollections of being on real escapades with friends, while being happy in the moment as well as recognized for his feats.
That in my opinion is not a waste. I will tell him as much. What exactly is life meant to be anyway? The endless quest for the acquisition of excellent grades, money and objects?? I say no. Existence ought to be about having meaningful encounters that matter to you - and this man's quest through World of Warcraft was a fulfilling one for him.
While a vehicle you purchase will probably wear-out and vanish in ten years, your wonderful experience in World of Warcraft is going to last right until the day you die.
World of Warcraft is not a drug. It is far from an evil thing. It is not a danger and it is not any more addictive than anything else that is capable of developing your self-confidence and making you feel that you mean much.
I suspect that if the reporter actually cared about the health as well as well-being of young adults in these times, she would have dug into what that dude's life was truly like at home. What role the parents took part in his depression as well as low self-esteem. Exactly what were the things that society as well as culture did (and is doing) to create the will to escape the world at the magnitude that he did. Those are the hazards, not the world wide web or World of Warcraft.
Think about the cause, not at the symptom. Think.
But you see, exactly what we have here is a reporter who is hoping to boost her profession by being sensationalistic and we have parents who happen to be much more concerned at pointing a finger at a video game as the source of a problem, instead of themselves.
Unfortunately, fear sells, and this reporter is taking advantage of that fact. That's all that this post accomplishes. It's not really enlightening, and it offers absolutely no answers - it simply raises the spectre of fear and to some degree perpetuates the notion that the responsibility for addictive problems might lie in the object of addiction instead of in the social composition as well as culture around the individual or the individual themselves.
About the Author:
The Jace Hall Show is an online reality webseries that covers video game news and personas as well as interviews with film/tv/sports personalities. It likewise has posts that features World of Warcraft addiction and World of Warcraft story.
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