"Video Game Addiction" to be Forum Topic at Sandy Hook School District

[Fractured Silhouette]

Connecticut's Newton Public Schools district, the site of the tragic Sandy Hook Elementary shootings, will feature the parent forum on video game addiction as part of a series sponsored by the Newtown Recovery Project.

A parent forum on video game addiction will be held next week in Newtown, Connecticut, the site of the infamous Sandy Hook shootings in December 2012 that claimed the lives of 20 children and six adults, including shooter Adam Lanza. The event is part of an ongoing series of forums hosted by the Newtown Recovery Project, set up in the wake of the tragic killings.

According to the Newtown Bee, the April 24 forum "will provide information on the definition and criteria for video game addiction, the psychology of video game addiction, signs a child may need help, what makes them so addicting, negative consequences of gaming addiction (physical, social, etc) and treatment."

The forum will be presented twice, once during the school day at 10 a.m. at Newtown's Hawley Elementary School and a second time at the school at 6 p.m. Another parent forum will be held the day before, April 23, titled "Springtime Stress Management."

It's worth noting that an official report on the motives behind the Sandy Hook shootings found no links with video games.

http://www.escapistmagazine.com/news/view/133842-Video-Game-Addiction-to-be-Forum-Topic-at-Sandy-Hook-School-District

I really like how there's a forum about videogame addiction but no mention of mental health care or gun control. This is clearly a scapegoat to escape the horror of the event.

[Emerald Dream]

Honestly, this is only newsworthy because it has "Sandy Hook" in it. If it's any other town, it's not news.

[Cygnus]

How about they make it a debate instead of a forum so you can see two viewpoints? Oh wait their interests are the only thing they care about.

[Fractured Silhouette]

Honestly, this is only newsworthy because it has "Sandy Hook" in it. If it's any other town, it's not news.

No. It's newsworthy because it's unfairly shining a negative light upon a popular medium of entertainment that has nothing to do with the event to make people feel better instead of addressing the actual problems that led to the event. I honestly don't care what terrible event it was, this is still wrong.

[Emerald Dream]

No. It's newsworthy because it's unfairly shining a negative light upon a popular medium of entertainment that has nothing to do with the event to make people feel better instead of addressing the actual problems that led to the event. I honestly don't care what terrible event it was, this is still wrong.

I think we believe the same point, but are looking at it in a different way.

The article itself said it was determined there was no link between video games and Sandy Hook. So why is scheduling a "forum" about video game violence even happening? Seems counterproductive to any sort of healing process, if you ask me.

Whoever was involved in this knew that "violence" and "video games" and "Sandy Hook" would get press coverage, and they succeeded in getting it. The actual press over this (and how the people involved try to not so obviously manipulate the media) seems like the bigger story to me than the actual "forum." The reason this unnecessary event is taking place in Newton is only for media coverage, and not to help anyone.

I do agree that it casts an unfair light on video games. However, people have been hollering about video game violence for years. I don't agree with their viewpoint.

[ImAurora]

Video games are always the scapegoat for those things because people want to just pass the blame to something that has nothing to do with the situation instead of assessing the actual problem.

[Vlerchan]

What Emerald Dream said, if this was being hosted anywhere else we wouldn't be hearing about it.

Another forum where they try pin problems on video games isn't news.

[Babiole]

I think we believe the same point, but are looking at it in a different way.

The article itself said it was determined there was no link between video games and Sandy Hook. So why is scheduling a "forum" about video game violence even happening? Seems counterproductive to any sort of healing process, if you ask me.

Whoever was involved in this knew that "violence" and "video games" and "Sandy Hook" would get press coverage, and they succeeded in getting it. The actual press over this (and how the people involved try to not so obviously manipulate the media) seems like the bigger story to me than the actual "forum." The reason this unnecessary event is taking place in Newton is only for media coverage, and not to help anyone.

I do agree that it casts an unfair light on video games. However, people have been hollering about video game violence for years. I don't agree with their viewpoint.

That's very much true. Video games usually don't have an effect on violence. I play video games all the time. And besides, Lanza was not playing Call of Duty - he was playing Dance Dance Revolution, which contains no violence. And face it - the majority of boys play video games. Most girls play video games too.

This story worried me more because of the focus on the guy's Asperger's. It's bad enough that where I live, autistic people are often ignored because of the reliance on outdated psychoanalysis. My parents basically have had to spill their guts to get me help. But according to one story I read, Lanza's mother's negligence of his problems led him to become a killer. She basically spent all her time with those kindergartners and did not get the medications that he needed. It doesn't excuse what he did, but still...

[sqishy]

The public attention is definitely being put in the wrong place...
Yes it's a problem, but 'real' world problems are more urgent than being addicted to virtual worlds.

[Gamma Male]

I hate it when parents try to blame violent video games for their own faults. People don't play violent video games and then suddenly become angry and deppressed. People who're angry and depressed in the first place play violent videogames. They're confusing causastion with correlation. If anything, violent videogames help people with pent up anger because they act as a release. Like boxing or contact sports. It's the same with Metal and "violent" music. These wannabe psychologist dogooder soccermoms need to get out of the 80's.

[backjruton]

I don't think they should be putting the blame on the Aspergers or the violence in video games. "Normal" people can get so depressed they lose sense, and although I've seen (as I've experienced it) this does happen more with people with autism/aspergers they shouldn't be able to blame everything on these 2 things just because the person has a connection with both of them. I've had these sudden rages a lot in the past but they've happened less recently because I've generally been happier; and it must take more than I've been diagnosed with to make someone shoot out at a school, or maybe what I have isn't as severe as other people no matter how bad the doctors said I would be when I was born apparently not ever being able to walk or talk.

I personally wouldn't consider this news, and as other people have said... We are only hearing about it because of where it is, like we only hear about someone being diagnosed with cancer or that they died if they're famous. And it's funny how most of them just seem to fade away more dramatically than those who aren't in the limelight. No one should be blaming video games for anything, I personally know that I've caught some of my anger problems off my mum and the others from being on the autistic spectrum - both of which aren't at all connected to the games I play. Admittedly one of the only things I do on games is kill people, which is the reason I can't play Skyrim or any other big RPG, but this should be put down to my lack of empathy and love of violence rather than the games I play and what I do on them.

Other than this, I don't really know what to say... :whoops::whoops::whoops:

[Stronk Serb]

Pin it on the video games. Before it was music and violent movies. What's going to be next?