Apr
15
Video Games, Esteem Booster?
April 15, 2009 | Tagged baylor_nms09 | 1 Comment
I thought the boy, Jarish, mentioned in Turkle’s Video Games and Computer Holding Power was interesting. His story is peculiar.
Everything physically described about him and his circumstancees in the physical world make him appear a seemingly hopeless boy with an unsuccessful future. However, it’s revealed that he excels in video games. His skills and techniques in video games are above average.
Now, what can this do for him? Well, obviously, it’s psychologically an esteem booster. Jarish seems to know his circumstances in the “real world” but finds comfort in the balance that he has in knowing and having a growing relationship with video games.
So my question is…Is this healthy? Even though it seems like an esteem booster; in the long run, is it really healthy for Jarish? Where will this get him?
Like Turkle points out, video games do have great benefits–they teach you skills and hone techniques that might come in handy in real life.
But I don’t know. Is it really worth all that time and money and abandonment of reality? Is the outcome enough to outweigh the costs?
Comments
1 Comment so far
I definitely got the impression that this probably wouldn’t serve Jarish well in the long run, it’d be fine in moderation but obsession on that level couldn’t be healthy. Then again, the circumstances of his family/upbringing didn’t seem any better. If the only place you can feel empowered and free is in a virtual environment lacking any human interaction, that’s probably a sign of underlying problems…
$0.02