(CNN) -- Is the overuse of video games and
pervasiveness of online porn causing the demise
of guys?
Increasingly, researchers say yes, as young men
become hooked on arousal, sacrificing their
schoolwork and relationships in the pursuit of
getting a tech-based buzz.
Every compulsive gambler, alcoholic or drug
addict will tell you that they want increasingly
more of a game or drink or drug in order to get
the same quality of buzz.
Video game and porn addictions are different.
They are "arousal addictions," where the
attraction is in the novelty, the variety or the
surprise factor of the content. Sameness is soon
habituated; newness heightens excitement. In
traditional drug arousal, conversely, addicts want
more of the same cocaine or heroin or favorite
food.
The consequences could be dramatic: The
excessive use of video games and online porn in
pursuit of the next thing is creating a generation
of risk-averse guys who are unable (and
unwilling) to navigate the complexities and risks
inherent to real-life relationships, school and
employment.
Stories about this degeneration are rampant: In
2005, Seungseob Lee, a South Korean man,
went into cardiac arrest after playing "StarCraft"
for nearly 50 continuous hours. In 2009, MTV's
"True Life" highlighted the story of a man
named Adam whose wife kicked him out of
their home -- they have four kids together --
because he couldn't stop watching porn.
Norwegian mass murder suspect Anders
Behring Breivik reported during his trial that he
prepared his mind and body for his marksman-
focused shooting of 77 people by playing "World
of Warcraft" for a year and then "Call of Duty"
for 16 hours a day.
Research into this area goes back a half-
century.
In 1954, researchers Peter Milner
and James Olds discovered the
pleasure center of the brain. In their
experiments, an electrical current
was sent to the limbic system of a
rat's brain whenever it moved to a
certain area of its cage. The limbic
sytem is a portion of the brain that
controls things like emotion, behavior and
memory. The researchers hypothesized that if
the stimulation to the limbic system were
unpleasant, the rats would stay away from that
part of the cage.
Surprisingly, the rats returned to that portion of
the cage again and again, despite the sensation.
In later experiments, when they were allowed to
push a stimulation lever on their own accord,
they self-stimulated hundreds of times per hour.
Even when given the option to eat when hungry
or to stimulate the pleasure center, the rats
chose the stimulation until they were physically
exhausted and on the brink of death.
This new kind of human addictive arousal traps
users into an expanded present hedonistic time
zone. Past and future are distant and remote as
the present moment expands to dominate
everything. That present scene is totally
dynamic, with images changing constantly.
A recent study from the Centers for Disease
Control and Prevention found that "regular porn
users are more likely to report depression and
poor physical health than nonusers are. ... The
reason is that porn may start a cycle of
isolation. ... Porn may become a substitute for
healthy face-to-face interactions, social or
sexual."
Similarly, video games also go wrong when the
person playing them is desensitized to reality
and real-life interactions with others.
Violence in video games is often synonymous
with success. Children with more of a propensity
for aggression are more attracted to violent
video media, but violent media, in turn, can also
make them more aggressive. This could be
related to the fact that most video games
reward players for violent acts, often permitting
them to move to the next level in a game.
Yet research reported in the Annual Review of
Public Health suggests a link between violent
video games and real-life aggression: Given the
opportunity, both adults and children were
more aggressive after playing violent games.
And people who identify themselves with violent
perpetrators in video games are able to take
aggressive action while playing that role,
reinforcing aggressive behavior.
Young men -- who play video games and use
porn the most -- are being digitally rewired in a
totally new way that demands constant
stimulation. And those delicate, developing
brains are being catered to by video games and
porn-on-demand, with a click of the mouse, in
endless variety.
Such new brains are also totally out of sync in
traditional school classes, which are analog,
static and interactively passive. Academics are
based on applying past lessons to future
problems, on planning, on delaying
gratifications, on work coming before play and
on long-term goal-setting.
Guys are also totally out of sync in romantic
relationships, which tend to build gradually and
subtly, and require interaction, sharing,
developing trust and suppression of lust at least
until "the time is right."
Less extreme cases of arousal addiction may go
unnoticed or be diagnosed as an attention or
mood disorder. But we are in a national, and
perhaps global, Guy Disaster Mode that needs to
be noticed and solutions advanced to fix a
totally novel phenomenon, which will only
increase in intensity and breadth without the
concerted efforts of educators, gamemakers,
parents, guys and gals.
It's time to press play and get started reversing
these trends.
