Porn and video game addiction leading to 'masculinity crisis', says psychologist

[wowisdeaderthandead]

http://www.independent.co.uk/news/sc...-10238211.html

A leading psychologist has warned that young men are facing a crisis of masculinity due to excessive use of video games and pornography.

Psychologist and professor emeritus at Stanford University Phillip Zimbardo has made the warnings, which form a major part of his latest book, Man (Dis)Connected.

He said: "Our focus is on young men who play video games to excess, and do it in social isolation - they are alone in their room."

"Now, with freely available pornography, which is unique in history, they are combining playing video games, and as a break, watching on average, two hours of pornography a week."

Thoughts? Has pornography and video game addiction negatively impacted your life? Has it made you less of a man and more of an overgrown man-child?

[Revi]

There's no way to know how I'd be otherwise, but sure, using my time spent on video games on something physical or productive would have been better. I think that's true for everyone.

[Meestercat]

I would say that societal flux is more likely to have an effect. Excess porn and gaming is likely to be a symptom rather than a cause.

[Hyve]

My thoughts are this is overblown nonsense.

I can understand that a pornography addiction can lead to some warped view with sex. Watching guys with massive cocks acting like vile pigs to cute young Women can cause a few issues, but that's rare and mostly going to occur with people who are likely to have a mental disposition towards those things anyway.

As for Video Games, that's just retarded.

[Independent voter]

Thoughts? Has pornography and video game addiction negatively impacted your life? Has it made you less of a man and more of an overgrown man-child?

The gene pool takes care of itself. If these guys don't want the hassle of breeding they will be erased, literally.

[Deleted]

addiction is bad, news at 11

whats so special about pr0n- or vidya addiction... beats me

[Deleted]

Thoughts? Has pornography and video game addiction negatively impacted your life? Has it made you less of a man and more of an overgrown man-child?

Irrefutably it has. But I wouldn't say it's the only cause. I have the mentality of a 13 year old on crack, despite being in my 20's.

However, I'd argue that it's not something that's necessarily "bad" or has to be stopped (Except in extreme circumstances).

Sure, the generation I'm a part of, and the ones after, have got less "manly" men and more "man-children", to use your words. But it doesn't stop us from behaving as we should in appropriate circumstances.

I swear about 1-3 times per sentence normally, for example, but in a serious situation, or speaking to someone who I respect, I will not swear at all (Or I'll apologise instantly if I do so without realizing).

It's more a case of people are evolving to meet the requirements to continuously strive by themselves (Since not everyone likes being in a room with another person). If they were 100% serious and "manly" all the time, they'd begin to just annoy themselves, I know I'd want to strangle myself if I act how I do in serious situations when I'm by myself.

[Deleted]

Aside from the fact that a lot of these young men are quite likely resorting to isolating (in so far as they even do that or you can call it that) is due to people like this psychologist who basically take offense and see issues in everything they do and outright "reject" them for well being them and such use this as a form of escape mechanism he is saying a whole lot without actually saying much at all. Odd.

[Gheld]

Good thing psychology is a pseudoscience and the premise is completely flawed.
(Pornography was readily available before. because people liked porn always, and before internet porn there was "Dad's secret stash." and one of your friends would inevitably gain access, thus making pornography freely available on a whim to young men well before the internet.)

[Deleted]

Sure, the generation I'm a part of, and the ones after, have got less "manly" men and more "man-children", to use your words. But it doesn't stop us from behaving as we should in appropriate circumstances.

Look blaming this on video games and pornography is weird to say the least, as it has been a trend that is going on for quite some time and has it's actual reasons somewhere else. Just look at depictions of "men" in modern media, they are usually depicted as "man-children" who need the help of women to even be able to stay alive and most "masculine" things are automatically viewed negative and shown to be a detriment.

So people actually avoiding that and going for games and such instead where they don't get hammered for being, well them, every day and on a permanent basis hasn't caused this problem it's mostly a just a symptom of it.

[zenkai]

Nah, I would think it would be more about the rise of obesity, if you're overweight you produce less testosterone.

[Meestercat]

Good thing psychology is a pseudoscience and the premise is completely flawed.
(Pornography was readily available before. because people liked porn always, and before internet porn there was "Dad's secret stash." and one of your friends would inevitably gain access, thus making pornography freely available on a whim to young men well before the internet.)

C'mon now, a few grubby 70s wank-mags found at the back of a wardrobe does not even register compared to Internet porn.

[Kraenen]

Zimbardo should know that porn and video game addiction may well be symptoms of our culture's poor ability to teach manhood. His other points are right, and though we think we're still being social in video games it's led to a reinforcing of real life social anxiety.

[Deleted]

more of an overgrown man-child?

I suspect there are some kids that aren't as well socialised as they once would have been due to a number of factors. Among these are perhaps gaming and isolation. I don't thing one is wholly the cause of the other. It also coincided with a mass paranoia of predatory paedophiles leading to kids being kept indoors more and until a later age.

Kids just don't go through the same stages they once did. e.g. A typical right of passage when you were a kid used to be that you fell out with your friend, had a feud, had a semi serious rough house fight(before you were big enough to do any real damage) and then made peace. Now it seems young men more often get into their first disagreement with a stranger and when they are bigger (and often drunk) without the social skills to back down or only go as far as required if it gets physical. There's probably something similar that has affected kids acquiring courtship skills and confidence as they don't develop the same innocent crushes as they once did by mixing with other kids.

[Hyve]

C'mon now, a few grubby 70s wank-mags found at the back of a wardrobe does not even register compared to Internet porn.

I'll have to agree with you there. There is a big difference between looking at the same picture over and over again, and having access to millions to HD videos in a plethora of categories that suit your personal tastes.

[Sky High]

So don't spend 4 hours a day jacking off, simple. As for the rest I'm not sure what a "masculinity crisis" is.

[Kraenen]

Good thing psychology is a pseudoscience and the premise is completely flawed.
(Pornography was readily available before. because people liked porn always, and before internet porn there was "Dad's secret stash." and one of your friends would inevitably gain access, thus making pornography freely available on a whim to young men well before the internet.)

You're ignoring the obvious difference between the internet and the old stash...

[Gheld]

C'mon now, a few grubby 70s wank-mags found at the back of a wardrobe does not even register compared to Internet porn.

Video playback technology was around back then to. They had these strange plastic magnetic tapes, Veyachesses I think they were called. You could put them in these things called "V Seers" at somebodies house whose parents weren't home. And they put a moving picture on the "Teevee" screen.

[Aeula]

Well that's bullshit as someone who meets the criteria he's asking for I feel very masculine, just ask my glorious neckbeard and the people at my college, I have asserted myself as the alpha male there, at least in the areas where I urinated on the walls. Women scream in euphoria when they see me approach, foam doomhammer in hand.
This psychologist knows nothing of masculinity.

[Yvaelle]

I think the old will always find ways to say the new generation sucks.

I'm surprised at Zimbardo though, modern gaming is a socially active environment - to paint it as social isolation is highly inaccurate.

Also, while I think porn may shift our perceptions of what is normal sexual behaviour (in both good and bad ways), I think the idea that it is causing some sort of epidemic of masturbation is inaccurate: young men have always been furious masturbators - they just used to do it to the Sears Catalogue bra section (our parent generations) or sitting by a window watching exposed ankles walk past (victorian era).

Sex and masturbation probably haven't increased in desire or activity (in fact, a recent study revealed Millennials have markedly fewer sexual partners by their age than Baby Boomers did) - what has changed is that the taboo of publicly discussing it is fading. Even in eras of free love and sexual promiscuity like the 60's and 70's, the social norms in the US/Can were set by movies like Grease, in which women are socially outcast for even acknowledging their desires.

A more interesting point discussion might be that sexual activity is falling while masturbation is rising, and that could be to do with technological advancements (internet, toys), or STI and pregnancy risks (increased awareness) - and it may be good or bad. But while I'm sure there are antisocial CoD-playing masturbators - to suggest that is some sort of crisis of young men, or that it wasn't always so (expressed in some other away) - is silly.