British tabloid/glorified comic book The Sun has brought on a neuroscience expert to argue that videogames can cause temporary — and perhaps permanent — mental problems in children. Yep, it’s that time of the month where another British “newspaper” scares its readers into hating something irrationally.
Baroness Greenfield argues that a child’s brain, “can be temporarily disabled by activities with a strong sensory content — ‘blowing the mind’. Or they can be inactivated permanently by degeneration — ie. dementia.”
Apparently, “Screen technologies cause high arousal which in turn activates the brain system’s underlying addiction. This results in the attraction of yet more screen-based activity.” She uses all these words to suggest that kids need to step outside for some fresh air — good advice in any situation, without the need for scaremongering.
“There is a need to be outside, to climb trees and feel the grass under your feet and the sun on your face,” she adds.
So there you go, your children will literally have their brains rot if they play too many videogames, and we have a single scientist to prove it! Then again, considering you’d already have to be brain damaged to read The Sun in the first place, I doubt there’s much to be worried about.
