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Farsala on 21 June 2018
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SuperNova said:
Farsala said:

Not a chance you can convince me hour for hour that TV is better than gaming. You see TV has commercials/advertisements that can literally brainwash people. As for the non advertisement kind like Netflix, I have definitely seen much worse tv marathons than video games.

Books and movies might have been hyperbole on my part, but they also often have marathons much like video games.

I wasn't making a value statement, just explaining the science behind it. Video games are more effective at tapping into your rewards center because they require more active engagement.

On a personal note, while I've definitely had some pretty atrocious movie marathons and it cost me sleep that I would have bitterly needed, I've never neglected base needs like hunger, thirst or the need for the loo because of it. Mostly because there are scheduled breaks (between episodes, between movies, commercial breaks, pause button, whatever) and there's much less active engagement. The movie will keep playing even if you walk away, it does not require your input or change dynamically based on your input, both major factors for creating an endorphine response. On the other Hand I have definitely ignored my bladder while gaming and that is a telltale sign of an effective endophine response trigger cicle.

Now commercials and manipulation in that regard are an entirely diffrent topic.

Well as a former hardcore WoW player, I have never had any problems with eating, drinking, bathroom etc. There is a lot more downtime with video games than tv, movies imo. For a movie with friends it can be 80 minutes to 180 minutes of straight movie without a break, for a video game you can take a break anytime.

All of course anecdotal, but some people have more problems with TV, movies, social media etc. than Video gaming. Because as you say, Video games take quite the active effort. Most people can't play video games for long stretches of time before getting tired, while a lot of people can sit there addicted to their TVs playing episode after episode and forgetting to do anything productive.

The reason I point to TV, movies, social media as more dangerous is of course is because more people like to mindlessly do those things.