The long summer break for girls and even the short break for
boys are a sure recipe for "Ima, I'm bored," endless quarrels
and frayed nerve ends. What is the solution for those who
don't think beyond just-give-me-some-peace-and-quiet-before-I-
lose-my-marbles? Some irresponsible parents sit their
children in front of the computer and breathe a sigh of
relief. Now there's time to sleep, relax or chat on the phone
in peace. As long as the house stays neat and clean without a
big concoction of Legos, Duplos, cars and trucks, board games
and Bamba all over the floor.
Ahhh, what a pleasure! The house is spotless, lunch is served
at the computer, the afternoon hours are whiled away in front
of the screen, dinner in front of the captivating device and
at bedtime -- wouldn't it be nice if you could just fold up
the kids right there next to the computer (which would also
save the mess of taking out the beds)?
"Oh, they're just jealous of my new computer," say parents
who buy "educational" computer (CD) movies and entertaining
computer games. Adopting an air of righteousness they say,
"Which is better, sending the kids outside to spend their
time in bad company, riding their bikes around endlessly and
romping around on the playground (clearly inviting rowdiness)
or spending their time in a quiet and refined home? (That's
how we like them--clean, no crumpled clothes, presentable and
undemanding.)
Computer games (not to speak of movies) are a sure path to
everything evil and destructive. We will address the
spiritual side later, but it should be noted that the
tremendous harm rendered by computer games is a proven and
known phenomenon, and not just among talmud Torah
principals.
According to Dr. Daniel Mamen, a world-renowned expert on
Attention Deficit Disorder, "Many children suffering from ADD
are capable of playing for hours at the expense of their
other tasks. They fall into outbursts of rage and behaviors
akin to withdrawal symptoms when it is withheld from them . .
. Occupation with computer games does not engage the brain.
Everything arrives ready-made (sound effects, visual effects,
outcomes, etc.) and the brain does not have to learn and
create connections. Like a muscle, the more the brain is
used, the stronger it grows and more capable of performing
additional activities. The less it is used the weaker it
becomes. Repeated occupation with activities that do not
involve the brain reduce the person's ability to focus and
his capacity for activity declines dramatically."
Impaired concentration is a phenomenon described by all the
melamdim at all of the talmudei Torah. "Let me
go into a classroom I'm not familiar with," said one
melamed at a Jerusalem talmud Torah, "and
within five minutes I can fish out the `computer kids.'
Computer kids are unable to concentrate, they are distracted
and unfocused, they get bored to death in every lesson and
are not challenged by any question or by a sugiyoh
that is the height of interest for the rest of the class."
Says another melamed: "I couldn't believe my eyes. I
was teaching a boy in mechinoh (pre-first grade). He
was creative, full of interest and inquisitiveness, energetic
and fond of challenges. After a few years I went into a 4th
grade classroom and I encountered a totally different child.
The name and face were the same, but that was where the
similarities ended. He gazed at me as if looking at a dim
screen, with a bored and empty look. Before me was the empty
shell of a fabulous boy." An inquiry quickly revealed the
child was addicted to computer games.
Why does this happen? Computer games expose the child to
innumerable stimuli and flood his brain with sounds, sights
and effects. The onslaught of information causes shallowness,
since there is no need to delve, no need for thought,
creative association and drawing conclusions. A child who is
inundated by activity for a few days suddenly finds every
other activity to be bland and uninteresting and develops a
chronic case of mental laziness. The damage can be long-term,
and in some cases irreversible.
Many parents reject these claims outright. "Computer games
make my child think quickly, they teach him how to react
quickly, and these are proven advantages," they say.
Pure nonsense says Rav B. of One Step Ahead, an organization
that deals with the victims of computers. "On the surface the
computer kid appears to react swiftly, but this is actually
routine activity that requires no effort whatsoever. The only
learning is tapping keys on the keyboard quickly and
attentiveness to very strong stimuli. Weaker stimuli will not
get past the child's reaction threshold. What will happen to
the child in life? Often the child will become helpless and
incapable of reacting."
Furthermore, the computer habituates the child to immediate
reward. Answer the question right, make the right move and
you receive a bonus. Pleasant sound effects and a virtual ice-
cream cone. Since the child grows accustomed to receiving
everything here-and-now, all his patience vanishes. And many
children become chronically testy.
Yet the list of damage goes on. Computer games transform the
child into a serial addict. "The researchers wanted to see
what part of the brain computer games affect," says Dr.
Mamen. "They discovered the parts of the brain that produce
dopamine showed greater activity during computer games than
other parts. This is the same part of the brain cocaine works
on."
According to Rav B., "Computer games are not like regular
games. A child who plays at the computer remains there while
he is riding the bus and even while sitting in front of the
melamed telling him about the parshoh. You
won't find this kind of phenomenon among children playing tag
or playing a board game. The game is thrilling while it
lasts, but it ends and it has clear time and space
boundaries. Computer games invade everything positive during
every hour of every day. They stay with the child day and
night, during the week and on Shabbos, during class and even
during tefilloh."
The researchers (not necessarily religious) complain that
virtual play interferes with human relations. The child
playing at the computer does not learn how to share, to
acquiesce, to speak with and have consideration for others.
Computer kids are children lacking in basic social skills.
Here we arrive at the issue of contents. "I have to speak
about the boy to his parents again and again," says the
melamed. "He stands during recess roaring and shouting
words from other realms and behaves with frightful violence."
Violence is woven into even the most innocuous computer
games. Studies show simple computer games expose the child to
a fearsome number of violent scenes, all perfectly elegant,
clean and even pleasant in appearance.
Donald Duck gets angry with his friend. He consults the head
of the flock, who comes up with a death sentence for the
unruly duck. At this point the child takes an active role,
becoming the flock executioner who beheads the troublesome
duck. Quack, quack, quack. After the execution is carried out
the ducks continue to quack and the pastoral setting remains
unchanged. Time for the next game.
The child continues to be the one who carries out violence in
one form or another, all easy and painless. The virtual blood
flows and with one keystroke it simply vanishes. One game and
another and the young child internalizes the message that
violence can be amiable, life goes on and can be lovely. The
blurring between the worlds sometimes brings him to the point
of violence in the real world as well.
Then there are problems such as dirty contents. One game
leads to another. The child gets a disk from a friend and
saves the program onto the computer. Let no one be deluded:
parents are not in control. Children are much more adept with
computers than their parents. They know how to create
partitions and to import material into folders and sub-
folders.
The bottom line is that parents must face the painful truth:
if you have computer games they are not to occupy the child,
not to keep him away from bad company and not even to enrich
his world. You bought the computer games out of pure
selfishness -- to get some quiet from the kids, to keep the
house tidy and to keep them from pestering you. All of the
philosophizing, mudslinging on the neighbors' rambunctious
children and the I-watch-over-my-kids-via-the-computer are
merely worn out pretexts.
