British tabloid and glorified comic book The Daily Mail loves to attack videogames, probably because Grand Theft Auto IV has more journalistic integrity than the average Mail writer. The latest in its long line of attempts to make Britain fear technology is a doozy, with The Fail claiming that Britain's youth has become a race of "screenagers" -- videogame and TV addicts that pour ten hours of their daily life into electronic entertainment.
"Youngsters have turned into 'screenagers' who spend nearly ten hours a day glued to TVs, computers, phones and videogames," states The Fail, which I refuse to link on principle. "Much of the time they are texting, playing games consoles, surfing the Internet, scrolling through their iPods or staring at screens during school lessons."
I often wonder what makes a so-called "real" journalist write these things. I've read and watched roughly eight billion reports on how teenagers are TV/game addicts over the past ten years, none of them saying anything of value or substance. I'm guessing this time around, some bright-eyed journalist came up with the term "screenager" in the shower one morning, then pulled a story out of his arse just for an excuse to use it.
Either that, or the stupid hack's just been listening to too much Muse.
Jim Sterling serves as reviews editor for Destructoid.com, head of the Podtoid podcast, and produces a number of news stories, original features, one-of-a-kind videos. With his passionate argumentative style, controversial opinions, harsh delivery, and dedication to brutal honesty Sterling is a name that you can't help but recognize.
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Contest:
5:00 PM on 08.17.2009
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'Who's so phoney and always surrounded
Stop your screaming, no one can hear
All the scars on your skin, post no bills
Who you were
Was so beautiful
Remember who... who you were
Hide from the mirror, the cracks and the memories
Hide from your family, they won't know you now
For all the holes in our souls host no thrills
Who you were
Was so beautiful
Memories who... who you were'
@robotbebop, no, not really. Our TV media is not generally sensationalist. ITV news is about as bad as we have, but they're just trying to be modern and hip, with presenters standing around weirds shapes or leaning on things while a totally worthless 3D image rotates on the curved screen behind them, and to be fair, ITV are generally a fucking awful channel anyway.
Come to Britain; where journalism isn't all that rubbish if we kinda feel like it sometimes.
However, is it just me, or is the image of a wrinkled old man who can't operate a mobile phone with two buttons the image you get when you think of the person who writes those articles?
HURP DERP I DON'T UNDERSTAND WHY PEOPLE LIKE TECHNOLOGY IT'S ALL EVIL AND I'M TOTALLY CORRECT THAT PEOPLE SHOULDN'T CHANGE, etc.
All news channels have their problems but nothing in the UK is anywhere near as bad as Fox "News", hell I'd even take the BBC's children show Newsround over Fox "News” anyday.
I have no sense of time and can't fathom 10 hours but yeah I know a lot of school time in general was spent looking at a screen unless I really needed the info (like Literature *shudder*).
Keep on Truckin'!
did the article have a point or was it just a rant? can anyone link to it? id love to read it.
i wonder if people were worried about cinema rotting the youth of the 20th century when it first started. So what if were more techno savvy than the victor meldrews of the world. Its no anyone elses fault that they refuse to catch up other than their own.
Actually yeah we were very paranoid about technology invading our lives. Same goes for the invention of recorded music and even color movies.
There is a paranoia behind every technological jump in entertainment. Some are artistic paranoias, others societal, sometimes both, but there is always a party pooper.
The screen is nothing more than an extension of paper, the newspaper, the screen has become the source of information. The type of information which can be delivered on a screen can also be far more advanced. The only issue should be the quality of information which is delivered on the screen not the fact that it is on a screen.
What a ridiculous statement.
congratulations on voting for fascists
Love this comment from John Bull, Wolverhampton:
From the government's point of view, it's cheaper than dosing the water supply, so they aren't going to mind. One thing is for sure though: the A Level and GCSE grades will be up again this year, so all this screen gazing must be good for teeenagers, mustn't it?
Kind of puts you in the (narrow) mindset of the average Daily Mail reader, doesn't it?