Boris Johnson snogs Jack Thompson (but only metaphorically)

Sulkdodds

Sulkdodds

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Oh shit!

Boris Johnson said:
The writing is on the wall...computer games rot the brain...
...I refuse to believe that these hypnotic little machines are innocent...

...the nippers are bleeping and zapping in speechless rapture, their passive faces washed in explosions and gore. They sit for so long that their souls seem to have been sucked down the cathode ray tube...

...they become like blinking lizards, motionless, absorbed, only the twitching of their hands showing they are still conscious. These machines teach them nothing. They stimulate no ratiocination, discovery or feat of memory ? though some of them may cunningly pretend to be educational. I have just watched an 11-year-old play a game that looked fairly historical, on the packet. Your average guilt-ridden parent might assume that it taught the child something about the Vikings and medieval siege warfare. Phooey!
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Source.

Scandal! Boris Johnson misses a chance to criticise Labour's education policy and instead jumps on luddite band-wagon and attacks games console with sledgehammer. Coming soon: Boris Johnson stages xbox-smashing protest in front of Oxford Street HMV store. Well, it could happen.

I don't expect much of a debate here because A. this is a gaming website, go figure and B. it's a stupid argument anyway and fairly easy to demolish, but like most things in politics, it makes for a good laugh. As do the comments on the Telegraph's article, some of which make sense and some of which are ludicrous to the point of hilarity.

On another note - long time, no see, chaps.
 
Kids weren’t learning about anything long before video games came along. The way he makes it sound is that during the 60's and before kids were all reading the doctrines of Aristotle and having cultured debates on philosophy.
 
almost sounds as if the "nippers" are watching the tele:

"they become like blinking lizards, motionless, absorbed"
 
Your average guilt-ridden parent might assume that it taught the child something about the Vikings and medieval siege warfare. Phooey!
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Medieval: Total War led me to take a great deal of interest in the history of the period. So I learnt a lot from it.
 
Ah, Boris. A good old buffoon who knows next to nothing about what he's talking about. Always there for a good laugh.
 
"A NIPPER!!! He's A NIPPER! A NIPPER! HE'S A NIPPER!"

... what's a nipper?
 
Boris Johnson!? The confused, but ace politician, who nutted somebody in the bollucks during a charity soccer match?

I'm surprised Boris, deeply surprised, you hurt my feelings :(

[YOUTUBE]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8d4Z_KHlnGQ[/YOUTUBE]
 
Damn you Dan Turk!

I mean Boris!

*waves to Sulks*
 
Oh man intelligent people are laying the smackdown on those soccer moms :D

Best reply yet:
At last someone has spoken - agree agree agree - it frightens the daylights out of this grandmother.
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rofl
 
There is a good point on the issue buried somewhere, but Boris Johnson surely failed to find it.
Kids do play games and use the internet too much, which is sadly having a profound effect on this generation's social skills and emotional and physical health. But that's the fault of parents, not computers...
Growing up, or indeed existing in an electronic bubble is bad for you. That's pretty common sense stuff too.
 
There's a true enough problem with regards to 'addiction' and people staying on the internet or games too much at the extent of other things - god, that's a phenomenon I know only too well, and I think the internet is quite possibly the most addictive thing that has ever happened to humanity, partly because it includes most of humanity, and you're always waiting for a response from one of those three billion or so people...

But as you say the issue there is really people rather than playstations.

Not to mention there's no proven correlation between academic failure and computer games.

I'm not sure I agree with you one whether games/the internet have a "a profound effect on this generation's social skills and emotional and physical health". There have always been swots and there have always been under-achievers - but I've not seen any evidence there are more of either these days. Then again, I spent my lunch break last Friday talking about internet memes (notably: cat pictures) with some girl, so I may be wrong.

I suppose the internet must be having a profound effect on something. Otherwise, what would be the point?

Stigmata said:
Also, 'sup Sulkdodds?
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Ah, nothing much. Got into the university I wanted, but that required a lot of work, which is to an extent why I haven't been around here much anymore. I guess I just got out of the habit. Since I was offered a place I've been having a ball going out with friends and just generally enjoying having free time again. And you?
 
Sulkdodds said:
There's a true enough problem with regards to 'addiction' and people staying on the internet or games too much at the extent of other things - god, that's a phenomenon I know only too well, and I think the internet is quite possibly the most addictive thing that has ever happened to humanity, partly because it includes most of humanity, and you're always waiting for a response from one of those three billion or so people...
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It is addictive. Most of the time it isn't even entertaining, it's just pure habit.

But as you say the issue there is really people rather than playstations.

Not to mention there's no proven correlation between academic failure and computer games.

I'm not sure I agree with you one whether games/the internet have a "a profound effect on this generation's social skills and emotional and physical health". There have always been swots and there have always been under-achievers - but I've not seen any evidence there are more of either these days. Then again, I spent my lunch break last Friday talking about internet memes (notably: cat pictures) with some girl, so I may be wrong.
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Well it stands to reason that if you spend most of your free time, particularly if it is a time of profound mental development (childhood/adolescence) not socialising, it's going to cause social problems down the line.
We aren't born with social skills, they must be learned - and they need practice just as any other skills do. As I found out when I became a recluse for years and had to relearn everything from scratch.
I think there is also the issue of children not learning how to cope with emotional problems as well as they should, because it's easier to offload burdens now. You can just fire off a text message to Sandy, or tell hundreds of willing listeners on the internet about your dilemma in a matter of minutes, or seconds. I think it creates a kind of emotional dependence.

I suppose the internet must be having a profound effect on something. Otherwise, what would be the point?
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Damn right. The internet is an amazing and wonderful thing...probably the most important invention of our generation. But it has its share of problems too, and it's a long list.
 
Hmm.

I tend to look at the phenomenon of the Internet as a social tool in a wider context. It does create a sort of emotional dependence, but at the same time it allows us to do so many things so much more quickly. And in a way, the "emotional dependence" is simply the Internet existing as an emotional outlet, to make up for what it has replaced (in this case, face-to-face and/or phone conversations).

I liken it to the invention of things like telegrams, or the telephone. Before the telegram, people could only really communicate face-to-face, and then all of a sudden they could send messages to each other by way of sending slaves with pieces of paper off on a hundred-mile trek and hope he doesn't get eaten by wolves. When the phone was invented, all of a sudden you could have real-time conversations with people who were thousands of miles away, rather than physically travelling to the other person's home. In these cases, each invention brought a separate feeling of social distancing, but also brought greater convenience and efficiency, and also allowed people to converse if they would otherwise be unable to.

This isn't to say I don't agree that the prevalence of Internet/technology addiction isn't somewhat worrying, but there are clear benefits to its use. And even for all those people who spend hours on end in front of a screen, almost all of them still understand that no amount of technology can recreate the enjoyment of physically spending time together with others.

Sulkdodds said:
Ah, nothing much. Got into the university I wanted, but that required a lot of work, which is to an extent why I haven't been around here much anymore. I guess I just got out of the habit. Since I was offered a place I've been having a ball going out with friends and just generally enjoying having free time again. And you?
Click to expand...
I've been lounging around a lot, doing some script-writing, and getting back into the swing of college things. Taking film for my second semester, and we haven't really done anything yet, so I've also spent far too much time on HL2.net and 4chan. And also eating these damn chocolate-covered pretzels. One wonders how fast a heart attack is approaching...
 
The internet isn't that scary. It's a text telephone.

I've been educated far more via my handful of videogames than I have with my entire extensive music collection.
Ban music I guess?
 
Kids have always had distractions but they're becoming shinier and shinier every year, but heavy discipline from the parents can counter that all by itself.
 
Oh Boris, what have you done now? You hilarious buffoon you!
 
Do we write angry letters, or do we march on his house and burn it to the ground?
 
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