Boris Johnson on Video Games

[Switch]

If any of you don't know who Boris Johnson is (well most of you probably) basically he's a silly bloke from the Conservative party in the UK who's always putting his foot in it, and never stops. It's almost like he enjoys being a national laughing stock. And now, he's done one of these "the evils of video games" dealies. Everyone's doing it in the States right? Must be a good idea. Wrong, Boris. Wrong. ^^;

[Dark0ne]

I saw it earlier on today, along with some really idiotic comments afterwards. He is a tard, as are all the people in his area who vote for him. 'Nuff said.

[Tiberiu911]

They have not been properly programmed, because they have not read enough. The only way to learn to write is to be forced time and again to articulate your own thoughts in your own words, and you haven't a hope of doing this if you haven't read enough to absorb the basic elements of vocabulary, grammar, rhythm, style and structure; and young males in particular won't read enough if we continually capitulate and let them fritter their lives away in front of these drivelling machines.

 

Well it seems the author doesn't knows that some games out there actually require reading, especially RPG's.

 

I see that consoles are called drivelling machines, electronic opiate, hypnotic little machines ,machines to the eyes of those that can not tolerate gaming fun.

 

"I are plawing two much video james. I am bicoming illitirate. Oh no!"

[Povuholo]

"I are plawing two much video james. I am bicoming illitirate. Oh no!"

:D Noh! , plaing gamz dus not lowur yor ritin ant redin skils, it just dosnt help dvlopin dem! Ekspt fr rPgs!

 

And if they still kick up a fuss, then get out the sledgehammer and strike a blow for literacy.

Woah where did that aggressiveness come from??! He must've played a video game...

[Abramul]

I'm inclined to think that instant-messaging programs do more to damage grammar than video games could possibly do. But at least this is a better argument than "Video games make kids kill people!".

[Vagrant0]

I'm inclined to think that instant-messaging programs do more to damage grammar than video games could possibly do. But at least this is a better argument than "Video games make kids kill people!".

I wonder if anyone's ever considdered that kids may be naturally inclined to violence, and the lack of parenting and an increased intake of additives like yellow 5 (shown to promote aggression) are just making it more obvious.

 

As for the whole kids and grammar thing. Television does most of the damage way before videogames could be played. You sit a kid down in front of a television where everything they see requires at most 5 minutes of actual attention at a time. You do this for several hours a day, several days a week for 5 or 6 years... Naturally the brain of that individual won't be used to any dedicated effort for longer than those 5 minutes. This is one of the reasons why ADD is so damn common in the US. When they get into school, they can't pay attention to the teacher, so therefore cannot learn. You give them drugs, which helps them learn, but doesn't increase their natural (non-doped) ability to concentrate. While some videogames may require less attention than others, in general, when playing a game, you HAVE to be focused on what is happening for long periods at a time. The more often you do this, the more comfortable you are at focusing on a single thing for a significant period of time. The problem then becomes one of transfering that ability to something not related with learning. This problem is the main problem here, without a reason to pay attention to something else, they'll just fall back into their old routine because it's easier. Parents and teachers have to give that reason.

 

As proof of this, being exposed to online chatting, forums, and such where litterate people exist and encourage literacy does eventually improve the grammar of the person. This is because they first, want to be there, and second, need to learn how to spell and create sentences in order for anyone to answer their questions, or read their posts. They're forced to improve, or just give up entirely. However, being exposed to things where litteracy isn't an issue (like AIM, YIM, most chatrooms) they tend to get worse, using no punctuation, abbreviating everything (occasionally just because they can't spell the whole word), and occasionally using leet speak any time their intelligence is questioned (has that ever worked?).

 

Bottom line is that if kids aren't in an environment where literacy (or attention span) is important, the skills related to it will become lax. Videogames may be part of that environment, but are only a small factor that doesn't even come into play until later in life. Most of the basic development for speech and language occurs around ages 3-6. Most of the illiterate kids running around have been illiterate their whole lives. If it was really being caused by videogames, they would be bright and capable children till age 10, then become a drooling idiot by age 11, ruling out more serious medical conditions, I don't think there's ever been a case where this has happened. From the time they're born, they're overstimulated, and overfed on processed foods containing countless chemicals. Then when something looks wrong, we start giving them more chemicals to balance the ones they have (trial and error mostly) It's no wonder why kids are so damn screwed up these days. Garbage in, garbage out.