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I suspect that there are physiological effects from computer gaming. I know that I occasionally will play a bit excessively (though not extremely so) for a few

I suspect that there are physiological effects from computer gaming. I know that I occasionally will play a bit excessively (though not extremely so) for a few days when I am having other issues, but I have learned to moderate even that because of these things. Among others I find: 1) Interference with sleep. Will continue to see video game images when I close my eyes to sleep and won't sleep well. 2) Changes in how my eyes track things. 3) A general, physical malaise. I will feel a bit of nausea.... I don;t think the deaths are caused by exhaustion. I think they are caused by brain or hormone imbalances caused by the gaming itself.

chc 14y ago
This is based on somewhat worse evidence than the antivax movement. What you describe largely sound like symptoms of eye strain, probably combined with lack of proper exercise and nutrition. These are unpleasant conditions, but not really deadly in the way you seem to mean. Without clinical or scientific evidence, I don't think we should be spreading pet medical theories Jenny McCarthy-style.
- einhverfr 14y ago
  Suspect means "I have a hypothesis." It doesn't mean I have tested it rigorously. I don't think it is as simple as eyestrain. Also no nutritional changes can be shown during these times, and being sedentary doesn't cause these for me. The point is you start with observations, you form hypotheses, and hope that someone will test them. Regarding the antivax movement though, there really are two submovements. The first ("vaccines cause autism") is pretty silly given that the hypotheses that float dont even match the demographic data they claim it does. The second movement though which I am relatively sympathetic to is a relatively generalized hostility towards vaccine proliferation. This isn't anti-vaccine really. It is rather hostility towards ever-growing lists of mandated vaccines. I know a lot of people who say "I don't care what the CDC says. I am not giving my kid a yearly flu shot!" And many of them also question many of the newer additions to state vaccine mandates as well while often supporting requirements for the older and more major vaccines (polio, MMR, DTaP for kids, not for adults). I don't think you can just lump these together.
klipt 14y ago
> Interference with sleep. Will continue to see video game images when I close my eyes to sleep and won't sleep well. This effect actually has a name: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tetris_effect http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tetris_effect Neural plasticity is an amazing thing. For example in blind people the visual parts of the brain can get rewired to process sound or other senses instead. The flipside of that is that if I spend a significant portion of my life focusing on video game scores, (or how much karma my posts get on reddit), it feels like my brain rewires itself to play those games better - potentially at the cost of other types of performance. In effect, I think that "garbage in, garbage out" applies to humans too.

chc 14y ago

This is based on somewhat worse evidence than the antivax movement. What you describe largely sound like symptoms of eye strain, probably combined with lack of proper exercise and nutrition. These are unpleasant conditions, but not really deadly in the way you seem to mean. Without clinical or scientific evidence, I don't think we should be spreading pet medical theories Jenny McCarthy-style.

einhverfr 14y ago
Suspect means "I have a hypothesis." It doesn't mean I have tested it rigorously. I don't think it is as simple as eyestrain. Also no nutritional changes can be shown during these times, and being sedentary doesn't cause these for me. The point is you start with observations, you form hypotheses, and hope that someone will test them. Regarding the antivax movement though, there really are two submovements. The first ("vaccines cause autism") is pretty silly given that the hypotheses that float dont even match the demographic data they claim it does. The second movement though which I am relatively sympathetic to is a relatively generalized hostility towards vaccine proliferation. This isn't anti-vaccine really. It is rather hostility towards ever-growing lists of mandated vaccines. I know a lot of people who say "I don't care what the CDC says. I am not giving my kid a yearly flu shot!" And many of them also question many of the newer additions to state vaccine mandates as well while often supporting requirements for the older and more major vaccines (polio, MMR, DTaP for kids, not for adults). I don't think you can just lump these together.

klipt 14y ago

> Interference with sleep. Will continue to see video game images when I close my eyes to sleep and won't sleep well. This effect actually has a name: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tetris_effect http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tetris_effect Neural plasticity is an amazing thing. For example in blind people the visual parts of the brain can get rewired to process sound or other senses instead. The flipside of that is that if I spend a significant portion of my life focusing on video game scores, (or how much karma my posts get on reddit), it feels like my brain rewires itself to play those games better - potentially at the cost of other types of performance. In effect, I think that "garbage in, garbage out" applies to humans too.