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There are several different aspects of life that can effect a human socially. Some can be little and others can be major occurences. Many people across the country and world spend a majority of their day infront of the TV screen with a controller in their hand playing video games and blocking out the rest of the world for the time being. Can video games effect the social lives of humans? That is one of the main questions asked about these so called gamers. What effects does sitting infront of a screen playing the same game for 10 hours a day? This is another good point that many researchers and health care providers have been focusing on for a while now. These gamers only have one thing on their mind and that is how they are going to make it to the next level or how they can beat the computer. It takes some of the manufacturers years to make and come out with these games. Then, it only takes the gamers a few days or hours to beat the entire game. Is this a good thing? More and more people become obssesed with video games each year and center their lives around one little disc.

Theme: What impact video games have on humans socially

Broad topic: The negative and positive of video games and how the effect the lives of humans.

Concepts:
-Technology
-Living conditions
-Everyday life
-Manufacturers
-Who the companies target
-Game systems
-Activities
-Support

Relevant Conversations/sources
-Gaming magizines
-Network television series
-Network presentations into the lives
-Newspaper articles
-Psychological reports
-Online articles

Working research questions???
What are some of the negative and positive effects of video games?
How have video games effected the lives of teens?
What are the social lives of these teens like?
Are they involved in school activities?
Do they have too much time on their hands?
Do they have a job?

Our group decided to focus on the main quotes from chapter 6. We pulled out the main quotes from each page and then inturpreted what we thought Rheingold was trying to say. By doing this we thought it would give the reader a better sense of how Rheingold likes to write. If you read over the main quotes we pulled out the reader is able to have a much better understnading of the opinions of the author and his different views. After posting and discussing these quotes we then edited them. Finally after all the computer work and research was done we had to do a little presentation. Our group just stood up infront of the class and presented our work. We just explained how we chose to pull out the main quotes and then write down what we believed the author was trying to say. We also explained to the class in more detail what our overall chapter was about.

How can video games effect someone socially?

http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2005/03/04/60minutes/main678261.shtml
http://www.personalityresearch.org/papers/kooijmans.html
http://www.jyi.org/volumes/volume11/issue2/articles/lee.html
http://socserv.mcmaster.ca/soc/courses/stpp4C03/ClassEssay/videogames.htm
http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2006/11/061128140804.htm

Negative effects of viedoe games?

http://atmizzou.missouri.edu/mar06/videogames.htm
http://www.physorg.com/news5758.html
http://www.aafp.org/afp/20020401/tips/1.html
http://daniela.supersized.org/archives/42-The-negative-effects-of-violent-computer-games-on-children.html
http://www.oup.com/us/catalog/general/subject/Psychology/Developmental/?view=usa&ci=9780195309836

Positive Effects
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/7912743/
http://onlyagame.typepad.com/only_a_game/2005/07/the_positive_ef.html
http://www.psychologymatters.org/videogames.html
http://www.everything2.com/index.pl?node_id=975566

QUESTIONS:

What effects vidoe games have on the brain?
-This question would probably be the first question many parents would ask.
What are some of the other physical effects?
Can playing video games cause any damage to your over all health?

Does playing video games have any positive effects?
Some researchers say there are several positives….
-Video game playing introduces children to computer technology.
-Games can give practice in following directions.
-Some games provide practice in problem solving and logic.
-Games can provide practice in use of fine motor and spatial skills.
-Games can provide occasions for parent and child to play together.
-Players are introduced to information technology.
-Some games have therapeutic applications with patients.
-Games are entertaining and fun.

What would the main negative effects be?
Just some of the major ones I found….
over-dependence on video games could cause social isolation because they are often played alone.
pacticing violent acts may contribute more to aggressive behavior than passive television watching. Studies do find a relationship between violent television watching and behavior.
Women are often portrayed as weaker
Game environments are often based on plots of violence which can follow over to the real world.
Many games only offer an arena of weapons, killings, kicking, stabbing and shooting.
Playing violent video games may be related to aggressive behavior, many doctors have found this to be true
Many games do not offer action that requires independent thought or creativity.
Games can confuse reality and fantasy.
Many games the player must bnecome more violent to win. Makes the person see the game through the eyes of the controls.

Video games become more and more popular each year. I did some research and came up with a lot of information dealing with the health of teens that play video games for a majority of their day. These games have become so important that kids are skipping school to play them or even camping outside of best buys to make sure they get the game the first day it comes out. In one of the articles i read the author states that 38% of teens that play video games are not involved in sports or other activities. one of the problems may be they have to much time to waste. These teens basically do not leave their house for the day just to play their favorite game. This is not a healthy lifestyle at all for these teens. It is not good for both their physical and mental health. Video games is becoming more important then school, homework, studying, sports and basically everything else in their lives. In the future i think this topic will be a much larger problem then it already is in todays society.

After reading this article it maskes you realize how much our society relies on computers/machines. Many think this makes everyone much more lazy then they should be?? How much more advanced can these machines become in the future?? Only time will tell but as of now I think without computers it would just slow down our everyday life. Computers are used in eevry house hold, large and small business, and pretty much anywhere you could think of. In todays world, computers arent just used for work and research. They are used for other things such as communication, military use, and to play games on. Would our society be able to function the same without the use of these machines? This is one of the questions I asked myself while reading this article. In my opinion I believe our world would be an entirely different place without the availibility of computers.

This chapters main topic and discussion point is basically about the wirelss internet options we have today and what could happen with the internet in the future. Wireless internet makes a lot more sense then dial up connections or anyhting else because its 10 times easier to use, available in many more places, and only uses a low frequency signal. Simple things like instead of typing a paper at ur desk you can sit in your bed or anywhere else in your house and do it with a wireless connection. Wireless internet is also pretty cheap because multiple people can connect to the same source and if that source isnt working for some reason there is usually plenty other ones available. Another one of the newer ideas out there today is wifi or using radio signals. Rheingold talks about this being used because you can basically use this anywhere you would need to and it would be even cheaper. He also talks about how this changes the older ways of doing things and how far we have come with this kind of technology. Overall wireless has certainly changed past ways of doings things for students, businesses, and just about everyone else.

Rheingold gives many examples of how technology is shaping our everday lives. Without all of this technology our country would be lost. With all of the examples given, it makes you think that we have become pretty lazy in todays society. Its hard to think of what our country would be like today without all of these advances and what the main ways of communication would be. I know even if one of my friends is right across the street or somewhere near by I would pick up the phone and call them before getting up and walking over. I think the technology we have makes everything much easier and go a lot faster. We may not be as advacned as some countries but overall I think we have plenty of technology to use for now.

I think blogging is an easier way of getting your point across. For myself it’s more difficult to speak off the top of my head. Blogging gives you more time to think about what you are going to say. Reading the bolgs is also helpful because it helps in understanding what other people have to say and the points they are trying to make. Blogging may take a little more time then just speaking but in the end it is an overall better tool for discussion.