14 DAY TRIAL // The United Kingdom based tabloid paper The Sun has claimed, without any clear scientific support, that there's a link between playing video game and something called temporary dementia, which apparently mostly affects children.
The paper quotes Baroness Greenfield, who is described as being a top scientist, saying, “Screen technologies cause high arousal which in turn activates the brain system’s underlying addiction. This results in the attraction of yet more screen-based activity.”
She then adds that brain connections “can be temporarily disabled by activities with a strong sensory content” and then says that children should be “outside, to climb trees and feel the grass under your feet and the sun on your face.”
The Sun does not manage to get any support for the claims, like scientific papers or statements from other experts.
The claim is part of a wider move to discredit video game and point out the negative effects that they could have on children who overindulge.
Lacking any real evidence that video game cause harm opponents of the new entertainment medium reach for more and more outlandish claims.
Similar attacks were launched against television and comics in previous decades before they gained mainstream acceptance, something that video games still seem to lack.
Earlier during the year The Sun also claimed without backing that the Nintendo 3DS handheld was the most returned console in the United Kingdom because it's new three dimensional technology resulted in headaches and dizziness.
The claim was also unsupported and was quickly denied by the manufacturer.
Like any sort of entertainment video games are best enjoyed in moderation and doing any sort of pleasurable activity for more than 8 hours a day can certainly lead to something that resembles physical addiction.
But the best way to limit play time is to educate gamers about the risks of prolonged engagements and not to engage in the sort of scaremongering that The Sun initiated.