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Gaming Addiction

US 13-year-olds are fairly conservative: Time poll

WASHINGTON, July 31 (AFP) - It might surprise their parents, but in the age of graphic lyrics and violent video games, American children entering their teens remain very cautious about sex and dating and still trust their parents and church, according to the newest edition of Time magazine.

In a story on the lives and thinking of American 13-year-olds, Time reports that sixty percent of the 500 surveyed by the magazine are against sex before marriage, and 63 percent believe they are too young to date at their age.

The 21-page cover feature characterizes kids at 13 as "backstage adults" in a particularly precarious formative period.

"It is the age of childhood leaning forward and adulthood holding back, when the world gets suddenly closer, the colors more vivid, the rules subject to never ending argument," writes Time editor Nancy Gibbs.

If anything is surprising in Time's feature, it is how normal and conservative - in a day of provocative music videos, widespread Internet access, and lurid cable television shows - today's 13 year olds are.

Nine out of ten of those polled on line by the magazine said their relationship with their parents is good or excellent, and only seven percent said their parents were too strict.

And 63 percent consider their religious faith at least somewhat important in their lives. But today's early teens face new issues their parents, and even older siblings, never faced, like cyber-bullying, according to Time.

The magazine reports on a Clemson University survey showing that over one-fifth of children in eighth grade, those between 12 and 14, have been victims of on-line bullying, which includes receiving ugly text messages or being hurt by on-line rumors.

In 360, Glenda Chong’s guests discuss the latest trends in online gaming and protecting our young. 

Viewer comments >

Good online video games lets you journey with friends/strangers into an alternate realm of fantasy.

The gamer's original intention is to escape from reality for a while. When your daily performance gets affected by this get-away , you know you're addicted.

Its hard for one who is addicted to properly draw the line between this fantasy and reality. Failure to do so would mean he would be permanently engaged in this fantasy.

Lee Chenghao

In my opinion, video gaming like going to the arcade, LAN-shops can be bad as

1) impressionable youngsters may fall into bad company at such locations.
2) such venues encourage kids to spend money before they learn how to earn them.

Other examples of video gaming includes personal gaming consoles and pc gaming in the comfort of one's own home which had more or less received it's own share of criticism over the years such as gaming is unhealthy because gamers gets addicted to the set.

Addiction is a very subjective topic. What defines addiction? In this case, gaming 2 - 3 hours each day or gaming non-stop for 10 plus hours to the extent of forgoing your meals??

For me, the latter means addiction. As long as what one is doing is not disruptive of one's normal lifestyle (example, forgoing meals or lack of sleep leading to poor performance) then that's not a bad "addiction" in my opinion...

However, with all due respect to the topic "ONLINE video gaming", I feel that all of us should recognize the fact that online gaming had more or less become a common past-time for the general public as gaming constantly progress forward to the next tech level.

Addictive as online video gaming can be, it should be viewed in a more favorable light than the conventional video gaming.

As a adult who had enjoyed gaming as past-time, I discovered the beauty of online gaming via Xbox Live. As compared to my days of "gaming alone" at home, playing the latest RPG or FPS genre or MMORPG game.

There's a very big difference as playing alone lacks the challenge no matter how good the AI of the game, and typing is ain't my ideal method of communication thus nowadays I will rather purchase online-enabled games as such games allow me to enjoy them with my friends online .

As I had mentioned, Online video gaming is addictive. But the addiction is to the 1) interaction with your friends while 2) playing the game in the comfort of your own home rather than just the need to play the game.

For me and most of my online friends in Xbox Live, the game session ends once most of us call it a day thus there's never the issue of disruptive excessive gaming.

Raymond Lee

"We recognize that, like other forms of entertainment, the Internet and applications such as video games can be abused. We advocate responsible gaming among adults and we encourage close parental supervision of minors when playing computer games."

Microsoft Singapore