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Psychologist: Porn and Video Game Addiction Are Leading To 'Masculinity Crisis'
HughPickens.com writes: Philip Zimbardo is a prominent psychologist from Stanford, most notable for leading the notorious Stanford prison experiment. He has published new research findings based on the lives of 20,000 young men, and his conclusion is stark: there is a developing "masculinity crisis" caused by addiction to video games and pornography. "Our focus is on young men who play video games to excess, and do it in social isolation — they are alone in their room," says Zimbardo. "It begins to change brain function. It begins to change the reward center of the brain, and produces a kind of excitement and addiction. What I'm saying is — boys' brains are becoming digitally rewired."
As an example, Zimbardo uses this quote from one young man: "When I'm in class, I'll wish I was playing World of Warcraft. When I'm with a girl, I'll wish I was watching pornography, because I'll never get rejected." Zimbardo doesn't think there's a specific time threshold at which playing video games goes from being acceptable to excessive. He says it varies by individual, and is more based on a "psychological change in mindset." To fight the problem, he suggest families need to track how much time is being spent on video games compared to other activities. "He also called for better sex education in schools — which should focus not only on biology and safety, but also on emotions, physical contact and romantic relationships."
As an example, Zimbardo uses this quote from one young man: "When I'm in class, I'll wish I was playing World of Warcraft. When I'm with a girl, I'll wish I was watching pornography, because I'll never get rejected." Zimbardo doesn't think there's a specific time threshold at which playing video games goes from being acceptable to excessive. He says it varies by individual, and is more based on a "psychological change in mindset." To fight the problem, he suggest families need to track how much time is being spent on video games compared to other activities. "He also called for better sex education in schools — which should focus not only on biology and safety, but also on emotions, physical contact and romantic relationships."
being that many of them won't pass on their genes, nature will take care of it
I've read a lot of stories lately about VG and porn doing this and that to our youth. Which game will be blamed for the next school shooting?
I've been saying forever that the keyword is moderation. Anything in excess will screw you up, be it porn, exercise, or board games.
As much as people laugh at the Men Going Their Own Way movement, there is a growing number of men who feel that it is not worth the effort to put up with today's rapidly-changing standards of manhood.
He also called for better sex education in schools
When I'm with a girl, I'll wish I was watching pornography, because I'll never get rejected.
Sex education does nothing to solve the real issues these Peter Pans are suffering. I'm pretty sure that the guy in the quote knows all about how "sex" works, probably in more detail than is actually needed.
Agent K: A *person* is smart. People are dumb, stupid, panicky animals, and you know it.
It begins to change the reward center of the brain, and produces a kind of excitement and addiction. What I'm saying is — boys' brains are becoming digitally rewired...."When I'm in class, I'll wish I was playing World of Warcraft. When I'm with a girl, I'll wish I was watching pornography, because I'll never get rejected."
Ok, I'll bite. It seems to me that the brain is just doing what it is supposed to do - adapt to the environment it is confronted with.
The changes in rewards go far beyond the brain. As a society in the US at least we've greatly limited the options kids have when they graduate from college, so there is little true reward for spending time studying. Likewise, there is little benefit from having kids - they're a huge expense, and a major legal entanglement when that girl decides to reject you after you have the kid.
If you want kids to study and get married, then you need to reward them from doing so - and not just in their brains.
Or, we need to question why we want kids to do those things in the first place. Why is it so important that boys and girls get happily married? If the boys are just as happy alone, why not let them be happy alone? The obvious answer is so that we can have lots of babies running around, but I'm not really sure why it is so important that we have lots of babies running around either. We used to have them out of self-interest so that they could care for us in old age. With increases in productivity it is more likely that we'll end up caring for them in old age.
>When I'm in class, I'll wish I was playing World of Warcraft.
Well, no shit. Most people would rather be doing something they like than something they don't like. And is it really a revelation that socially awkward nerds feel socially awkward around women?
The comments from the article sound eerily similar to those coming from Japanese men. More and more they are playing video games and watching porn rather than interacting with other people, most especially women.
It might have something to do with control. When you're playing a game, you are in control of your character. You are still at the whim of your surroundings and other players, but you are in control of "yourself".
Not so when approaching others and most especially women. With the decline of civility, asking a woman out and being rejected is no longer, "I'm sorry. I appreciate you asking but I'm just not interested" to, "Fucking loser! Why would you talk to me? Get the fuck out of here."
It's easier to not bother than deal with asshats.
We will bankrupt ourselves in the vain search for absolute security. -- Dwight D. Eisenhower
pr0n costs much less than a girlfriend or a divorce.
Just like comic books and television screwed up a generation of kids, right? You could also use the same argument to say that kids in the 1800s just spent their time reading novels instead of having real life adventures.
And stop promoting promiscuity, which causes all sorts of emotional damage in the long term. Instead, let's promote loving relationships, sexual or otherwise.
I'm not saying people shouldn't have premarital sex. I'm just saying that people shouldn't hook up with someone they met in a club or give it up on the first date.
Same with porn. A little from time to time is fine. Watching really kinky stuff or watching it multiple times a day is not healthy.
If there was more love in the world, there would be fewer problems, like single mothers, high divorce rates, and teenage pregnancies. But our school systems promote "sexual freedom", codewords for promiscuous behaviour. Let's change that by finding a middle ground between the conservative abstinence only bullshit and this liberal sex everywhere bullshit.
Amen.
I don't think there are many guys out there, video game addicts or otherwise, who would prefer masturbation to porn over sex with someone they like, trust, and feel comfortable with. The problem is, as Mr. Zimbardo alludes, we don't demystify sex for kids so that it becomes a regular life experience. If you never get anything more than an awkward biological overview of sex from school it will, at least for many boys, remain this mysterious, anxiety-provoking, forbidden fruit. Some magic experience that women zealously keep locked up in the castle. Porn is nothing more than a safe, artificial side-channel outlet for temporary relief of sexual frustration. It's lame but it is also understandable.
tl;dr - Our society sucks when it comes to preparing kids for sexual maturity.
Ive dated a lot of women who it turns out are looking for the "cowboy" type or the "biker" type or the "go chiefs" type. And are unhappy with me because i havent subscribed to any of these store-bought personality templates.
I prefer to just be who i am. A multifaceted individual with a wide variety of interests and hobbies.
Women HATE that.
the excessive use of video games and online pornography is pushing young men into a crisis of masculinity that leaves them bored at school, disinterested in human contact, and opting out of society.
Bullshit. Kids are bored at school because schools have been redesigned into standardized testing mills that cater to the lowest common denominator through inadequate funding and overzealous administrators. Theyre 'disinterested in human contact' because every single friend and acquaintence is manifest immediately in this neat new tool called the internet, and its generally only a pocket away. Theyre not opting out of society, theyre opting out of your idea of society. two failed wars have left them with limbless parents and friends that sit in the basement and eat cold canned raviolis. An entire generation has been shunned from the labour market because the adults they trust squandered through greed and hubris the future of society. And things they dont care about like abortion, gay marriage bans, and contraception have suddenly and inexplicably become the only thing in the last decade theyre forced to care about. theyre opting out because your pepperidge farm andy roony wank fest does not exist while a world of perpetual debt under minimum wage absolutely does.
Good people go to bed earlier.
Boys behaving like boys is a "problem", apparently.
It's also far less rewarding.
For those that want to claim that there are too many problems with the people they've dated, perhaps they need to take the time to evaluate the type of people they've been with, to figure out if there are any common traits that define them. They might discover that they're attracted to crazy people because of some interesting characteristic that unfortunately comes bundled with a whole slew of negative traits.
At least that was my experience. Once I figured out the kind of woman that I shouldn't date and avoided dating them it was a lot easier.
Do not look into laser with remaining eye.
Why should there be an expectation for the two to behave the same?
The golden rule: If you are attracted to an attractive woman's body, you are a pervert and a pig.
Golden rule part B: if you are not attracted to an unattractive woman's body, you're a shallow pig.
He's looking at the symptoms and declaring them to be the problem without any real understanding of the underlying causes.
Guys focusing on video games and porn are a natural result in a society which is heavily biased in favor of women. Hell, I'd rather avoid dealing with women romantically too, given all the risks involved. All it takes is the mere accusation of rape, and a man's life can be torn to shreds. But even beyond that, we see a legal system completely set against men; custody, domestic violence, divorce? All stacked against men.
So more men are choosing porn and forgoing women. Seems like a perfectly rational response to me.
Mod me down with all of your hatred and your journey towards the dark side will be complete!
And really, why would young men take the risks? Not only is there an easy way out (that you lament), but there's also very little in the risk-benefit department. The demands on boys are insane: Treat women as equals, but provide for the family, but share responsibility for the kids and don't forget quality time with the wife, but forget about seeing the kids when the wife gets a divorce, but keep paying for the kids. Check your privilege, you're the reason why women clutch their purses and switch to the other side of the road, but be masculine and decisive, but ask for explicit consent, but make sure she really means it and won't change her mind, but don't be whipped. Fact is, a very large percentage of women are best avoided, not made sacrifices for, and I mean because they're bad for anyone, not just you. Yes, dating is a numbers game, but it looks like it has a big Russian roulette component lately.
They then both called the guy "an idiot".
They missed the fact that SHE could have asked him out. It's the 21st century, not the 18th century.
The reason guys spend all their time playing video games instead of out is that the video games are better than real life. Women expect men to be the 50's guy - bring flowers, etc. But they don't want to be the 50's girl.
The crisis in Masculinity is concurrent with a crisis of femininity. They feed off each other like a viscous cycle. As long our culture continues to complain about men not acting like it thinks men should act - all the while encouraging women to do what they want, we will have no progress on this issue.
Please note, I am not saying that women should act like a 50's girl. They are free to act like a modern woman. But don't complain about what men do and ignore what women do. (In fact, I think women should act like a modern women - and includes asking men out and buying them dinner for a first date. You want equality, you have to actually act equal, not insist on special treatment).
excitingthingstodo.blogspot.com
How is treating women with respect and not like fuck toys acting less masculine? Sounds like your ideas were screwed up BEFORE you played video games.
Translation: Girls don't like me, so it must be their fault.
The world's burning. Moped Jesus spotted on I50. Details at 11.
I'm not anti-science, but I do believe that too many times scientists draw conclusions based on biases. This is one of those. The bias seems to be that isolation is bad and that people should be around other people. He mentions that it changes brain function but names no specific trending to bad behavior because of those brain changes. Many people like to be alone, I am one of those. There is no better image of hell to me than living in a big city or doing the club thing. I would be perfectly content snowed into a swiss mountain cabin alone for 8 months as long as I had internet.
Digital is, by definition, imperfect. Analog is the way to go.
Claiming normal male behaviour is a disease.
Da fuq?
How did *that* get modded insightful. Being completely addicted to anything, no matter how harmless in moderation (games, porn, alcohol, other drugs) etc is generally considered to be a bad thing.
It's certainly not "normal male behaviour".
I think the only reason this post got modded informative is because anything that takes a dig at feminists on slashdot gets modded up no matter how batshit crazy.
SJW n. One who posts facts.
And it has since the beginning of "civilization".
The top 10% of men in genetics or wealth get all of the benefits. The bottom 90% get to die in wars and in mines and in workplace accidents, supporting the harems and lifestyles of their "betters". If they don't die they go home to a woman who wishes she were still young and pretty enough to bag one of the alphas and she takes it out on him daily. His kids, coworkers and relatives don't respect him because for the last 50 years the western advertising machine has been propagating the message that the average man is boring, tedious, and disposable.
Unlike reality videogames generally give you guaranteed reward for the amount of time you put into them. And competition is fundamentally fair since everyone starts at the same place. As opposed to reality where your ending status is very much determined by your starting status.
Some men just aren't born to compete, and don't have the innate resilience to keep trying despite repeated failures. That doesn't mean those men are less deserving of happiness and satisfaction and peace, they just have to find their own and ignore the bullshit that "society" keeps heaping on them.
Only if you're a pussy and buy your girlfriend shit. If she says you need to buy her shit to prove you love her, run the other way, fast.
So much for wanting equality. All women want to do is use men for their wallets, and then when they start losing their ability to do so because they are losing their beauty, they settle down with the stable guys they've rejected their whole lives.
Then you're dating the wrong women. My wife isn't that way. She doesn't have a real diamond engagement ring (and she know it - she'd have killed me for spending $ 2+K on a ring.)
Date a shallow woman, Get a shallow woman. Date an interesting woman, Get an interesting woman.
UPS Sucks
Odds are stacked against men. From the fake "rape culture" propaganda and an environment that ensures if she regrets a hook up you will too, stacked courts, diminishing reasons to get married. Why hook up with a woman when she can change her mind, take at minimum half your stuff, and if you have kids the courts are stacking in such a way that a man will lose?
Men are playing video games and retreating from women and normal society in general because masculine men have an uphill battle to fight. When even former places of refuge for men to be masculine are attempting to force masculinity out of society men are retreating even further into their own self contained worlds.
3rd wave feminist recognized that men were retreating into games so they created the Gamer Gate fiasco which was nothing more than a false flag bitch-a-thon trying to take over that refuge as well. It's still a bit early to say, but I think they failed, but since Gamer Gate was nothing more than a political move rest assured, there will be another double-downed attempt to destroy that refuge again.
Here's a really good book on the subject written by a woman no less, so don't dismiss it as just men sitting around bitching.
The preceding post was not a Slashvertisement.
Zimbardo isn't a feminist, and I wouldn't put my money on him being taken in by feminist propaganda.
However, I think his study is missing some significant elements. He is too quick to postulate the cause-and-effect relationship. Other psychologists have shown that overcrowding also causes voluntary social isolation. Bullying and other such environmental factors also drive people to prefer solitary entertainment. I think the addiction to video games is as much an effect as it is a cause in a whole cluster of social events.
I will point out that a common belief among men in America, be it true or false, is that women:
1) are very demanding in romantic relationships.
2) are not very giving in romantic relationships.
3) are fickle and will leave you as soon as they get bored (with no concern over how much of an emotional attachment you have to them).
4) are not interested in much of anything that men find engaging, and won't join men in men's lives so much as pull men out into the woman's lives.
Maybe this is different for millennials or younger. I don't know. But I do know plenty of geeks who feel this way about women and all have stories to back it up. They don't even bother trying to seek romance because they see it as an uphill battle with no prize at the end. The games and porn are an easy way to fill the time instead.
Actually, the golden rule is, 'Treat others the way you would want to be treated yourself'.
Think about that in context.
It is pitch black. You are likely to be eaten by a grue.
The golden rule: If you are attracted to an attractive woman's body, you are a pervert and a pig.
Uh, no. If you are attracted to an attractive woman's body, and then you make an ass of yourself over it, whistling at her, making crude remarks to your friends, or making unwanted physical advances, then you are a pervert and a pig.
It's really not complicated.
Help your GF get off to?
The "conclusions" of "abnormal behavior" were made from observations that kids would rather be at home playing instead of sitting in a class AND from the fact that young humans will seek sexual satisfaction but avoid rejection.
That sounds like something a ROBOT might find strange.
Not a human being. Particularly not one who actually went through puberty at some point in their life.
In short... like most psychology studies out there, this too is most probably bullshit.
Mit der Dummheit kämpfen Götter selbst vergebens
Exactly. After a string of toxic relationships I realized I was chasing women that needed to be saved. Trouble is, they always needed to be saved, they never stayed saved. They always had problems that had to be fixed by someone else, ie, me.
Once I realized this, I made a point of avoiding women that were 'vulnerable' in the sense that they were on the tipping point of needing to be saved. The woman I married was self-sufficient and took care of her own problems when I met her, and if anything I provide that soundingboard for her to sanity-check ideas against and to vent to. On an entirely practical level I can take care of things that were previously contracted-out (ie, auto repair, house maintenance, technical support) but she knows how to get these things dealt with if necessary; if her car breaks down she can have it towed without requiring me to drop everything and rush to her side. We make each others' lives better, but we can each stand as individuals and take care of things without excessive drama. It allows us to be together because we want to be together, not because we're not functional in a co-dependent state.
Do not look into laser with remaining eye.
Ding, ding, ding.
Relationship portrayal in media is ridiculously far off from healthy relationships. Oafish, meek men in shows, moves, etc. are constantly shown as walking wallets who's sole goal in life is to please some insufferable, raging twat. It's infuriating. It's the equivalent of children watching Disney Channel shows, and using it as a model for how to interact with their parents.
So, ya, don't chase shallow, selfish women.
instant access to vast libraries or pornography is liberating men from the need to hitch themselves to a woman for sexual satisfaction
That's the most ridiculous thing I've ever heard. In the first place, how many people would rather watch porn than have sex? I'm not saying there's none, but in most cases it's probably rooted in anxiety as opposed to an actual preference, all else being equal. A choice made out of fear is not the same as a preference made out of desire.
In the second place, porn wasn't a prerequisite for masturbation the last time I checked. And I checked pretty recently.
https://www.eff.org/https-everywhere
I don't think that's what he said. I reread it several times and still didn't see that. So I'll tell you what is considered a problem since you want to engage in argumentum ad absurdum.
Boys hit things. Boys fight and get back up and are friends again. Boys throw things. Boys are dirty and messy. Boys are loud. Boys are disruptive. They're clumsy. They have scraped knees and elbows. Mostly, they're different from the quiet, engaged, neat, clean, tidy, and wonderfully behaved girls. And they are different, because they're programmed to be different. It's not a problem if a boy, or a group of boys, or even a whole lot of boys are more like girls. The problem comes when you try to force those that aren't into being like that, the same way there's a problem when you try to force a tomboy into being a girly girl or vice versa. If you disagree, then we can certainly start forcing all girls to be huge tomboys and punish any little girl who likes to play with dolls or wear frilly dresses. We can make sure no one is who they are biologically programmed to be and punish them all equally for any violations.
One might argue that structuring a boy's entire life in a such a way that every approved activity is completely at odds with their natural inclinations would have a predictable result of creating compulsive behavior around the few available activities that provide a release.
Maybe you just really hate feminists and see conspiracies everywhere, or maybe you are just trying to justify your own self destructive behaviour, but either way it's wrong.
Or maybe it's just a standard human response to the environment? Just about any organism would retreat from a toxic environment, why would young men be any different? Society tells them in no uncertain terms that they get less rights in relationships, less reproductive options and once they reproduce they are merely to be used for income. Why the hell would they now want to go ahead and have what *you* and the rest of the attackers call "normal"?
They are getting pleasure from something that harms no one, except for that one little fact that society can no longer use them. As long as they continue getting more pleasure from porn than from real women I see no problem here. when they want real women they will go out and find them, and if they find the demands too great then they will retreat back into their porn/VG world.
The only losers are the women, who will now have to share the few men that *are* available. Like I pointed in a post to *you* many months ago, treating men badly simply to further what you think women want only results in the women who are the losers. Maybe you should suggest a mens-only school, or special bursaries for men only to make more men available for relationships? After all, you suggested similar for women multiple times on this forum.
I'm a minority race. Save your vitriol for white people.
Bullshit. I spent my 20s playing video games after work every day and weekend, watched tonnes of porn, same as the people in this article. My 30s are full of children and well adjusted family life. Its like anything, some people grow out of it, and some let it take over their lives.
You should say, TO SOME PEOPLE this is clearly damaging behaviour. I would submit that those are the same people that would easily find something else to damage themselves with if not for porn and video games.
In summary, its just a bunch of hot air. In past ages these young men would go to war, join a cult, or bury themselves in their work.
Obviously you want your kids to have limits on their computer time, but once they are in their 20s they are enough of an adult to realize what they want, make their own decisions. Drinking, drugs and video games is as good of a way to spend your life as any other when you have no real obligations.
Society doesn't really make many productive things for young men to do in the evenings. The two I can think of that are the most popular when i was a 20 something were waste money on clubs/bars or exercise. You cant exercise more than a few hours a day, and most 20 something are dead broke because of all the income inequality in our lovely world. A 20 year old with no family has very few time sinks. What is the alternative? what should these kids be doing? buying $7 beers at the club trying to impress whores? Volunteering at a church? get real! Video games are cheap, porn is free. That's why they are successful and people are into them as hobbies. Not because peoples brains are changing or some such bullshit. Im pretty sure guys always liked playing games and naked ladies.
As a potential lottery winner, I totally support tax cuts for the wealthy
Sorry but it's not that simple. Men's behavior is an adaptation to changes in social structure. In the past, rejection was about the only thing a guy had to face. Today, it's fraudulent, career destroying sexual abuse/rape charges, financial ruin from extremist 'family' court judges in divorce, and, really, indifference from the now hyper gynocentric/effeminate culture. Hell, even coming on to a woman in what most would consider appropriate circumstances (at a bar/club lets say) carries a real risk of being carted off to jail because she 'felt uncomfortable'. A lot of guys are doing the math and realizing the dwindling rewards of pursuing women no longer offset the increasing risks. These threats are not simply anxiety that can be willed away. They are very real and increasing with every socjus type law that is passed.
The bottom line is that feminism removed almost all the incentives for men to marry and commit, leaving only the responsibilities for cleaning up any 'mess' that might occur for choosing to interact with women at any level, from casual/professional interaction to sex/marriage (why did she choose to have the baby? because she knew she could get the state to bilk it out of him). You can thank affirmative action for that. Women are now a privileged caste, and in caste societies, the lowers often avoided interaction with the uppers just to minimize the probability of trouble. Thus, the only guys left at the table are the desperate sorts who will take any beating for any sort of female attention, even if negative, and the player sorts you mentioned. The whole situation is degenerate.