Zoomer Zone: Do Video Games Stimulate Your Brain…Or Rot It Away?

EMMA DISON BRANTLEY

he first video game was invented in the late 1950s. Tennis for Two was played by two people with separate controllers connected to an analog computer with an oscilloscope used for the screen. With no arcades or roller rinks at which to “hang,” citizens would line up at the Brookhaven National Laboratory to play Tennis for Two. Since that primitive time, video games have exploded in the entertainment market, evolving into imaginative worlds with highly detailed characters and extensive lore. Many parents and scholars have attributed negative effects to those who have spent too much time playing video games. The stereotypical description of someone with “gaming disorder” is someone who is physically and mentally stunted, who prioritizes gaming over everything else, even personal care and upkeep. I believe the overuse of video games goes beyond just a lack of physicality, but actually may begin to distort the scope of reality and fantasy for someone with the disorder. In 2014, two Wisconsin girls, Morgan Geyser and Anissa Weier, lured their friend, Payton Leutner, out into the woods and stabbed her nineteen times, stating as their motive an attempt to appease the internet fictional character, Slenderman. Slenderman first appeared online in 2009 as an internet meme, but soon become widely popular through urban lore, hoax sightings, altered photos, and even a video game that came out in 2012. Geyser and Weier were both twelve years old when they became obsessed with the Slenderman myth and the associated game, and their descent into that fantasy world led them to plan and implement the vicious murder of their friend.

So how much video game time is too much? Extensive studies in videogame usage conducted by San Diego State University, The American Academy of Pediatrics, and the Kaiser Family Foundation indicated that just two to five hours per day of media

Ttime negatively impacted the player’s sense of reality. As an avid gamer myself, who can easily spend up to six hours at a time playing online with friends, I would argue that it’s not the amount of time kids are playing video games or looking at social media, but rather what they’re seeing and how much it’s affecting their other life activities. Geyser and Weier apparently had been plotting against Leutner for months; their parents told reporters that Geyser was never a very empathetic child growing up, and that Weier was Geyser’s only friend for much of their childhood. Studies have shown no direct correlation between video games and violence, but Geyser’s lack of socialization and self-imposed isolation seems to have led her to the internet for connection with the world (albeit a skewed version), and convinced her the cold-blooded murder of her best friend was an acceptable norm.

This was probably one of the most recent and best-known examples of how the heavy use of media and video games can distort the scope of reality. Nowadays, many people are inspired by events like The Slenderman Murder, and sometimes even attempt chilling ‘copycat’ recreations of these dreadful actions. I don’t believe video gaming is generally harmful in moderation, but the question of whether heavy use of video games stimulates your brain or rots it away is subjective. The answer depends on what you’re seeing, how often you see it, and whether your gaming is interfering with your personal life or has the potential to hurt the lives around you.

EMMA DISON BRANTLEY is a third-year student at the University of Cincinnati, where she is pursuing a degree in information technology on the game development and simulation track. When she is not gaming online, she spends time with her parents trying to help them not be so boomer.