Tolle on TV, Video Games?

shanyin

Do you think (if you think it's true about TV) the same is true of video games? Mostly I mean the part about eventually being depleted of creativity and energy.

Maybe the fact that I'm having a hard time thinking about it means I play to many video games! :P.

ShiftPlusOne

Sure, that's a small aspect of it. I feel like he's exaggerating it by talking as if that's all there is to it.

But I think games are somewhat different. Games are more about a sense of accomplishment and 'doing something' as well as escaping rather than simply escaping.

Jeffrey

The types of games I play require a lot of problem solving skill and creativity to design characters or even role play. They stimulate discussion with others and sharing. Different strokes for different folks I guess.

Talisman

Currently I play Starcraft2. It requires strategic thought and quick decision-making. As apposed to a game like WoW that requires frequent frequent play in order to excell, I am able to play a couple games a day and have a lot of fun with it. I like watching player-made commentaries too. My girlfriend keeps me in check in regards to this hobby, to make sure that it doesnt become a habit.

ShiftPlusOne

Hmm, this is kind of almost relevant...

Mountains

In general, I think TV and everything associated with it (mindless "entertainment") is less good than bad. I haven't watched TV in almost 10 years, and I don't miss it one bit. People were being creative and all that long before there were video games, so I don't buy the "it makes me more creative" ploy to justify wasting your life parked in front of a TV or a computer either. Like the bumper sticker says:

KILL YOUR TELEVISION

mugzy

I love playing Halo Reach but have been trying to reduce the amount of time and energy I spend on it. It definitely makes me angry and upset, especially when playing against cheaters or unsportsmanlike opponents.

Of course I feel much happier and more fulfilled when I am meditating or practicing mindfulness, but at the end of the day I do love to play a game with friends. It's fun until it gets frustrating!

Spock

I have just meditated to try and get over my distrust of men with beards but without a moustache. It failed!

I like Mountain, have given up receiving a TV signal...I keep my 32 inch plasma for the odd DVD though.

My main reason for doing so was because it became a mindless distraction and I felt the quality had gone down. Still, there is the occasional programme that I do enjoy, but will carefully select from downloadable content on the internet.

Again, computer games have their place...but there is research to suggest that many are designed to become addictive.

If we can avoid craving then I don't see a problem. Unfortunately, many parents use TV or games as a babysitter and we all see the impact of such behaviour has on society. Fortunately in the UK we have the BBC so avoid too much advertising. We are lucky !

Jeffrey

Some people don't enjoy creativity at all times. Reading a book is not creative. Listening to music is not creative. It is appreciation just as is TV.

DaltheJigsaw

Games and TV are okay as long as their is a limit.
Or more like a balance/moderation.

shanyin

Currently I play Starcraft2. It requires strategic thought and quick decision-making. As apposed to a game like WoW that requires frequent frequent play in order to excell, I am able to play a couple games a day and have a lot of fun with it. I like watching player-made commentaries too. My girlfriend keeps me in check in regards to this hobby, to make sure that it doesnt become a habit.

Yup that's the one. I started playing Starcraft 1 about 9 or 10 years ago and got into pretty good. Maybe we should play sometime :P! (SC2)

Part of the reason I brought it up is I have a friend who had some, what I am guessing people would consider extreme things to say about video games. He told my friend 'they wreck people's lives'.

He didn't offer much back up to the statement so it's kinda just empty words just wondering what people thought of them.

shanyin

I play Starcraft 2, Black Ops, Halo Reach, they're all designed to be addictive. I can tell. I could go into it but take my word.

Thanks for that video. I had heard that video games released dopamine. I personally have been given all kinds of pills for chemical imbalances in the brain... which is confusing because nobody has been inside my brain. AAAAAAAAAnyways....

When I close my eyes I see Starcraft. I don't full out hallucinate but it's there. lol.

I started noticing it and then I read a story about a really good player who stopped playing because he saw zealots in some parking lots. (Starcraft 2 character type warrior people)

lol...

Supertramp

Like Jeffrey said, you can draw the line somewhere else. Books (fiction) are just as bad as television and games in this matter. It can be described as a way to "escape from Fact".

Mountains

Like Jeffrey said, you can draw the line somewhere else. Books (fiction) are just as bad as television and games in this matter. It can be described as a way to "escape from Fact".

I disagree, as does much research that's been done on TV viewing over the past 30-50 years. Your brain does not process visual images (TV/games) the same way it processes the written word. It's a totally different part of the brain. I'm not saying all TV is bad, but the vast majority of it is. I still watch films on DVD or streamed now and then, and there are a very, very few TV programs (mainly BBC and PBS) that are either legitimately entertaining or educational. But the other 99.9999% of TV programming is tripe.

upalabhava

There is a distinction made by Marshall McCluhan when he describes "hot" and "cool" media.

McLuhan actually calls TV "cool" though, saying it requires more effort by the viewer to determine meaning than a film does. See, Understanding Media.

(I wonder if he would change his mind about that now, though.)

“The banal and ritual remark of the conventionally literate, that TV presents an experience for passive viewers, is wide of the mark. TV is above all a medium that demands a creatively participant response.” source

Jeffrey

Yeah probably we should meet in the town square and dance to the fiddler square dancing and carving jumping jacks dolls. Actually that would be pretty cool hehe.

Epicurus

It's nonsense that games or TV inherently kill creativity. Utter nonsense. Most TV is shit, and a lot of games are shit too...but good TV and good videogames...like any form of art....can do wonders to one's creativity. It might get stored subconsciously and not concretely translate into any "skill"....but it helps you build a rich inner world of imagination.