general_kill
Deity
- Joined
- Apr 14, 2003
- Messages
- 2,870
tl;dr version: I noticed some of the most notorious serial killers lacked social contact during adolescent years and became engorged in their own fantasies. Do you think internet and social video games which serve as social outlets are helping to prevent future serial killers by giving them the crucial social interaction they need at a critical time in their lives?
If you have free time version:
Somehow, I stumbled upon A&E biographies of serial killers like Ted Bundy and Jeff Dahmer. The thing I notice about them is their lack of social interactions during adolescent years. These two serial killers were bright, good looking, well-mannered, and seemingly normal individuals before their evolution into killers. However, Ted stuttered when he was young and admitted he did not understand social interactions. Jeff was also a loner and his father said something along the lines of "when you don't have social interactions, you start fantasizing, and sometimes those fantasies can become real."
So I wonder, do you think that the internet and social video games help alleviate this problem for people? In other words, can they serve as an adequate medium to relieve the effects of social-deprivation?
I remember only a few years ago when I was drowning in the click driven social politics of high school. I lost practically all my friends when I no longer fit in with my click and became something of a fish out of water. It was a very lonely and humiliating experience to walk through the hallways getting snubbed by former friends. For about two years up until the end of Junior year, I really didn't fit in anywhere. I basically struggled through the school days until I can get home and play warcraft III, counter strike, and eventually world of warcraft. Needless to say, my social activity took a huge nose plunge and I experienced the worst kind of social awkwardness.
I have to admit, if it weren't for the fact I can socialize with people on forums and in video games, I would probably have lost all my social skills during those two years. Without the attention grabbing power of internet and video games, I would have little else to occupy my thoughts with than how much my life sucks. There's no way a TV could have been interactive enough for me to stave off those thoughts. And I'm quite convinced that if you think about how much life sucks all the time, very bad things start happening in your head. I personally became very desensitized to other people's troubles and as terrible as it sounds, it made me jealous to see other people happy.
I know for a fact that there's no way I was going to develop into any kind of criminal. Aside from the obvious moral repugnance I have against murder or mutilation, practically, it would be very hard for me to stand the sight of blood and gore. I'm a pretty manly dude, but I am secretly afraid of needles, blood, and gore. I won't watch horror films unless my manhood is on the line, and my skin crawls even hearing people describe using needles to inject heroine or something. And I can't watch that clip of JFK getting his brain splattered. However, I could see how someone under different circumstances can succumb to darker callings. Everyone knows isolation is bad for mental health.
So I think it's official, playing video games and going online might make you a loser, but at least it will prevent you from being a serial killer.
And btw, if anyone is going through the depressive state I went through in high school, it will definitely get better. There's just something about that age range that make kids sad. But just keep your heads up, allow others to get close to you, and you will make the right friends eventually. By the time I graduated high school, I had 5 very close friends and many more common friends who really made the last year a blast. I'm very thankful to have escaped the rut of high school and I'm grateful for everything that helped me through those years (including video games).
If you have free time version:
Somehow, I stumbled upon A&E biographies of serial killers like Ted Bundy and Jeff Dahmer. The thing I notice about them is their lack of social interactions during adolescent years. These two serial killers were bright, good looking, well-mannered, and seemingly normal individuals before their evolution into killers. However, Ted stuttered when he was young and admitted he did not understand social interactions. Jeff was also a loner and his father said something along the lines of "when you don't have social interactions, you start fantasizing, and sometimes those fantasies can become real."
So I wonder, do you think that the internet and social video games help alleviate this problem for people? In other words, can they serve as an adequate medium to relieve the effects of social-deprivation?
I remember only a few years ago when I was drowning in the click driven social politics of high school. I lost practically all my friends when I no longer fit in with my click and became something of a fish out of water. It was a very lonely and humiliating experience to walk through the hallways getting snubbed by former friends. For about two years up until the end of Junior year, I really didn't fit in anywhere. I basically struggled through the school days until I can get home and play warcraft III, counter strike, and eventually world of warcraft. Needless to say, my social activity took a huge nose plunge and I experienced the worst kind of social awkwardness.
I have to admit, if it weren't for the fact I can socialize with people on forums and in video games, I would probably have lost all my social skills during those two years. Without the attention grabbing power of internet and video games, I would have little else to occupy my thoughts with than how much my life sucks. There's no way a TV could have been interactive enough for me to stave off those thoughts. And I'm quite convinced that if you think about how much life sucks all the time, very bad things start happening in your head. I personally became very desensitized to other people's troubles and as terrible as it sounds, it made me jealous to see other people happy.
I know for a fact that there's no way I was going to develop into any kind of criminal. Aside from the obvious moral repugnance I have against murder or mutilation, practically, it would be very hard for me to stand the sight of blood and gore. I'm a pretty manly dude, but I am secretly afraid of needles, blood, and gore. I won't watch horror films unless my manhood is on the line, and my skin crawls even hearing people describe using needles to inject heroine or something. And I can't watch that clip of JFK getting his brain splattered. However, I could see how someone under different circumstances can succumb to darker callings. Everyone knows isolation is bad for mental health.
So I think it's official, playing video games and going online might make you a loser, but at least it will prevent you from being a serial killer.
And btw, if anyone is going through the depressive state I went through in high school, it will definitely get better. There's just something about that age range that make kids sad. But just keep your heads up, allow others to get close to you, and you will make the right friends eventually. By the time I graduated high school, I had 5 very close friends and many more common friends who really made the last year a blast. I'm very thankful to have escaped the rut of high school and I'm grateful for everything that helped me through those years (including video games).
errrrr.......gonna have to get back to ya on that.
