(Second of three parts)
Stanford University professor Philip Zimbardo says violent video games have been associated with violent behavior.
The Columbine High School student killers had immersed themselves in the game聽 Doom聽 before going on their murderous spree.聽 Some American teens had killed their parents for keeping them away from their games.聽聽 A Norwegian murder suspect reportedly used World of Warcraft and Call of Duty for shooting practice before聽 killing more than 75 people.
Of course, millions of other gamers are law-abiding citizens.聽 But Zimbardo argues that several studies, such as that by L. Rowell Huesmann of the University of Michigan and Laramie Taylor of the University of California-Davis, which was published in the 2006 Annual Review of Public Health, show that people who play violent games tend to become more aggressive afterwards.
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What makes so many people, especially males, so addicted to games and porn?聽 Addiction seems hardwired into our brains.
In the 1950s, psychologists had already pinpointed our brain鈥檚 pleasure center, found in the limbic system.聽 When rats were allowed to use a lever to stimulate electrically聽 their limbic system, they 鈥渟elf-stimulated hundreds of times per hour.鈥�
What is worse, 鈥渆ven when given the option to eat when hungry or to stimulate the pleasure center, the rats chose the stimulation until they were physically exhausted and on the brink of death,鈥� Zimbardo and psychologist Nikita Duncan tell CNN, as they discuss their book 鈥淭he Demise of Guys:聽 Why Boys Are Struggling and What We Can Do About It.鈥�
Nothing counts but the present moment, neither consequences from the past nor plans for the future.聽 Nothing is as important as being in the game or indulging in porn right now.
鈥淭his new kind of human addictive arousal traps users into an expanded present hedonistic time zone,鈥� Zimbardo and Duncan say.聽 鈥淧ast and future are distant and remote as the present moment expands to dominate everything.鈥�
In the 1990s, Zimbardo had already observed young men on campus so immersed in video games 鈥渢o the extent that they were giving up the real, face-to-face world for the virtual world.鈥�
Instead of just offering a break from work, video games and porn can become addictions. That is where the problem lies.
Traditional addiction, such as to alcohol or drugs, is based on the compulsion to have more and more of the same thing.
鈥淰ideo game and porn addictions are different,鈥� Zimbardo and Duncan say.聽 鈥淭hey are聽 鈥榓rousal addictions,鈥� where the attraction is in the novelty, the variety or the surprise factor of the content. Sameness is soon habituated; newness heightens excitement.鈥�
Consequences are dire.聽 鈥淭he excessive use of video games and online porn in pursuit of the next thing is creating a generation of risk-averse guys who are unable (and unwilling) to navigate the complexities and risks inherent to real-life relationships, school and employment,鈥� they say.
Changes in the brain
When the next edition of 鈥淒iagnostic and Statistical Manual for Mental Disorders,鈥� the bible of psychiatrists, psychologists, and other mental health professionals, comes out next year, Internet addiction may be included, at least in the appendix.
In 2007, according to Maressa Orzack of Harvard University鈥檚 McLean Hospital, around 5 to 10 percent of surfers have some form of addiction.聽 The percentage might be higher today.
In 2009, Chinese researchers in Shanghai Jiantong Medical School found a decrease in 鈥渂rain gray matter density鈥� in Internet-addicted teens.聽 In 2011, Kai Yuan and Wei Qin of Xidian University in China found more 鈥渕icrostructure abnormalities,鈥� including the shrinking of surface brain matter.
In June 2011, the article 鈥淗igh Wired鈥� in the magazine Scientific American gives the details:聽 鈥淪everal small regions in online addicts鈥� brains shrunk, in some cases as much as by 10 to 20 percent.聽 The affected regions included the dorsolateral prefrontal cortex, rostral anterior cingulate cortex, supplementary motor area and parts of the cerebellum.
鈥淲hat鈥檚 more, the longer the addiction鈥檚 duration, the more pronounced the tissue reduction,鈥� the article continues.聽 鈥淭he study鈥檚 authors suggest this shrinkage could lead to negative effects, such as reduced inhibition of inappropriate behavior and diminished goal orientation.鈥�
Addicts have more problems storing and remembering information, and their decision-making abilities are 鈥渋mpaired鈥攊ncluding those to trump the desire to stay online and return to the real world.鈥�
With such hardwired changes deep in the brain, no wonder gaming addiction is so difficult to deal with.聽 Other studies have linked addiction to depression, impulsiveness, aggression, poor school performance, job loss, marriage breakdowns.
Zimbardo links addiction to poor social skills.聽 鈥淭he illusion of connectedness when a person is playing a video game is no substitute for real interaction.聽 Boys who invest hours upon hours in these pursuits are less able to socialize themselves when it comes to real life.鈥�
(To be concluded next week)
Catch Philip Zimbardo鈥檚 talk at www.ted.com. E-mail the author at blessbook@yahoo.com.