WOW! That is the online activity that I believe has taken over and ruined a many lives. I feel that the World of Warcraft can possibly lead to problematic internet use. I personally have never played WOW, but know several friends that are obsessed with this game. A couple of incidences that come to mind about WOW that leads me to believe it could lead to PIU are partly funny and partly worrisome. One such incident is when a friend wanted to finally beat a level of WOW he had been working on for several weeks, but the problem was that the next day he had his SATs. He stayed up all night to beat the level, fell asleep, overslept and missed the test. Another friend that played WOW on a regular basis was in college at the time and slowly started to miss more and more classes and stayed in his dorm room playing WOW. He finally got a wake up call about how WOW was consuming his life when he failed several of his classes.
Generally speaking, gamers who play WOW are stereotypically seen as pale nerdy guys who never leave their rooms and have no social skills because all they do all day is play WOW on the computer with their friends. Though I know some friends that play WOW in moderation and would not lead to problematic internet use, there are numerous incidences where it does lead to PIU.
As Caplan (2004) stated, PIU is “maladaptive cognitions and behaviors involving Internet use that result in negative academic, professional, and social consequences.” In the case of WOW, I believe that being on the computer playing for hours and hours definitely leads to negative academic consequences as the example of my friend failing classes above. Also, depending on the person’s age, I believe it can interfere with their professional career as well as strain social relationships. Many people that play WOW are guilty of excessive use. Some people are so dedicated to the game that they develop teams of people that do not even know each other and set “practice times” online to better their skills and abilities in the game.
One way that WOW could lead to PIU also deals with the personality type of the person playing WOW. If they feel loneliness in their lives, they are going to be more susceptible to the game because they will find comfort and a sense of belonging from his/her fellow WOW players. As we discussed in earlier lectures, the idea of being identified as part of a group is very strong. Being part of the in-group boosts an individual’s self confidence and therefore is a dangerous characteristic of WOW for at least the reason that being part of a group requires the individual to put in heavy time constraints and commitment.
Therefore, in general the game WOW can be a fun and enjoyable past time for individuals as long as it played in moderation and do not start to effect the academic, professional and social lives of the individuals.
COMMENTS:
http://comm245red.blogspot.com/2007/11/assignment-9-away-messages.html
1 comment:
Grace,
Your description of your friend playing WOW and missing his SATs was very interesting. This can definitely classify as diminished impulse control that leads to online addiction, according to Davis (2002). With diminished impulse control, the problematic internet use led your friend to miss his SATs. However, even though you example was nice, I feel like it is not consistent with the Caplan (2003) model. Caplan states that the psychological illness of being depressed and lonely can lead to internet addiction, but you didn’t mention if you saw those qualities in your friend. Another point you could have mentioned to make a stronger point about WOW would be its unique features that cause it to be so addicive and cause PIU. I have never played WOW so I do not know what unique features it has to lead to PIU and that would have been nice to read in your blog. Other than that, your blog and examples were good in expressing concern on how WOW can lead to PIU.
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