“Games are teaching critical thinking skills and a sense of yourself as an agent having to make choices and live with those choices.” – James Paul GeeAlthough I was quite intrigued with Johnson’s explanation of the complexity of video games and the opportunity video-game users have of practicing, albeit subconsciously, critical thinking, I still remain skeptic that popular culture is making society smarter. Only several weeks ago, a couple in South Korea was arrested for neglecting their 3-year-old baby daughter, who died of starvation. What shocked me the most about this case was that the couple had devoted countless hours raising a virtual girl character online to the extent that they barely found the time to feed their real daughter. This is pretty unsettling to anyone, regardless if you are a parent or not.
Although I am sure that Johnson would call the noted case an outlier in his research, the very fact that cases such as these are a reality causes me to question whether the critical skills acquired through video games can be transferred to the real-world setting. I definitely agree with Johnson that video games have increased in sophistication, and I am constantly amazed by how realistic and involving these systems have become, but there is no denying the fact that technology is also causing mental, and also physical, atrophy to a certain extent. I believe that many people have become so captivated and mesmerized by the sophistication of technology that they have fallen victim to apathy and complacency, spending countless time mastering complicated digital objects, yet unable (or even unwilling) to sort out real-life problems, some of which are much less complicated.
What I believe Johnson leaves out are the negative consequences of the rising complexity and sophistication of technology. If more and more time needs to be devoted to adjusting to newer and better technology in order to achieve the rewards for doing so, does that mean less time is devoted to confronting the demands of real life? To me, it is all about transferability, and it seems as though sophisticated technology has made people desensitized to the real-world instead of enhancing applicable critical skills.
I think that it is right to point out that Johnson neglects to point out the negative consequences related to the rising complexity and sophistication of technology. In his analysis, this aspect is severely lacking. There is something to be said about the negative impact that can result from the complete immersion into new, and rapidly developing technologies. The case of the South Korean parents neglecting their child is perhaps the most horrific consequence anyone can imagine.
ReplyDeleteYet, I can't help but wonder if the situation in question is in fact an anomaly. I believe that one simply does not become so immersed within a virtual world that they completely neglect the care of their own child. There are circumstances and predispositions that lead to such an event. As it seems to me, blaming the neglect and death of the child on video games is akin to the blame placed on Marilyn Manson and films like the Matrix for the horrific shootings at Columbine high school. It seems that there can be little to no evidence for such a corollary.
To some extent, Johnson himself attempts to eschew much of the scaremongering that has been associated with video games during their relatively short existence. It's not the video games or the technologies that are the problem in these situations. There are larger circumstances and histories that exist independently from the technology.
It is right to point out that Johnson neglects fully engage the negative consequences of video games and emerging technologies. Such a discussion would not only provide a more full of the issue at hand, but also strengthen his argument. I think that some times it is far to easy to write off the other side of an argument in text such as this. Indeed, Johnson is guilty of this. But, in the case of violence related to video games, it is a discussion that has been more than played out within the media sphere. While there are no doubt negative consequences to such total immersion within technology, the tendency towards real world violence and the argument that such technologies promote it is one that should be laid to rest.
We should be attempting to find more concrete negative effects rather than peripheral correlations and scaremongering.