We're Not Wasting Time at TWHL Created 15 years ago2008-11-21 01:24:09 UTC by satchmo

Adolescents spending time online with MySpace, messaging service, and playing multiplayer games may not be wasting time after all. A new study showed that online experience is a crucial part of growing up, and essential social skills are learned during the time spent on the internet interacting with others.

I wonder how Jack Thompson will respond to video games being important to social development in teens.

Well whatever he thinks, it doesn't matter anymore. Him being disbarred and all.

I wonder how Jack Thompson will respond to video games being important to social development in teens.

He's going to suck his mama's nipples until blood comes out.

As cliche as it sounds, TWHL has helped me in terms of a lot. I'm basing my future off of what i've learned here.

Mapping has led me onto various trains of insight and developement. In general it helps you develope a sense of logic, it helps develope your spacial awareness, and also your artistic mind. It doesn't stop there either. It's the reason i'm as computer 'savy' as I am. It's also decided what i'm going to persue at uni when I graduate this year.

I cant imagine what kind of person I would be had TWHL not pushed me where I am.

Video games are very influential and inspiring if you've come at it like I have.

It's only the dumbass mindless assholes that scream at their televisions all night that wont go anywhere.

Satchmo: Introduce mapping to your son as early as possible ;o

As Rimrook would say - I'll drink to that.

I agree with some parts and disagree with others. Myspace and chatrooms are one thing, but anonymous forums like us do teach the youngsters a very different method of communication than standard public conversations. I guess you could say that forums have their own ways of talking just like the cultures of other countries.
Nonetheless, a great article.

It's 6:50am, and I refuse to read an article at this time, but I will say that internet communities (TWHL being one of the best) have without a doubt helped me. If you look back at my posts from 2004, 2005 - you'll notice that I type and act like... well... a complete fucking retard.
Negative responses to this from the kind, yet intolerant people of TWHL lead me to quickly change my ways.

Take skals as an example. Back in the days of him calling himself ghetto, he was completely unbearable. (No offense intended.) Within a few months of unparalleled abuse, he became a valued member of the community.

Elitist dickholes can be a good thing too. In the case of trapt on mapping, for example - He'll let you know exactly why your map is in fact shit and what you should do to fix it (before fucking your granny.)

If they are actually correct - they're a good thing.

On the other hand - elitist idiots can pollute the minds of many.

Probably not making sense what with the only thing keeping me awake being L4D-induced adrenaline, but I know what i mean, and that's the important part since none of you are even remotely ambitious enough to have read all of this. Therefor:

tl;dr:

The majority of TWHL are dickheads. This is for the best.

Mapping inspired me to study structural engineering.

I think great things come out of mapping. It taught me a huge amount of logical,spacial and design skills. It helps a lot when you are learning a 3D CAD system, and helps a lot with architecture, structural engineering, mechanical engineering and of course, programming. The logic behind event scripting in Half Life is evident in computer programming.
Mapping forces you to often create draught sketches before you make the final product, very important skill. It also teaches you the fundamentals of three dimensional design, and improves your ability to project a mental image. The list of skills you learn from mapping are endless. Design, analysis, visual, spacial, perspective, improvement, debugging, logical, creative, artistic, dimension, size, proportion, layout, planning, flexibility, innovation, advancement, etc.

And of course, although I tend to deny it, Half Life is what made me think that math and science were cool.
I actually remember my first thought when I played Half Life:
'Damn, I would dig to work at Black Mesa.'

If you look back at my posts from 2004, 2005 - you'll notice that I type and act like... well... a complete fucking retard.
Negative responses to this from the kind, yet intolerant people of TWHL lead me to quickly change my ways.

Very much so the same with my old posts. We've been lucky at TWHL because we have a lot of smarter members setting the new guys straight over time.

This might seem odd considering I'm a teenager growing up surrounded by computers and all our modern technology... but every time I read one of these articles about how social networking sites and video games are highly beneficial to growing up, I sort of cringe. After all, kids have been growing up and turning out fine without Myspace since the dawn of time. I don't see why it should be considered a necessity to social development all of sudden.

As sad as it is, the majority of kids I see on a day to day basis are the "mindless assholes that scream at their television all night." Studies like this are hardly an accurate way to gauge the effects of our new form of communication, and I think outside a controlled environment it really starts to set in that the results we're seeing are less than spectacular. For me it's hard to look around and think "oh boy, good thing we all have computers and broadband connections, or we'd all be illiterate criminals."

I don't use Myspace. And I turned out fine.*

*statement subject to change.

I completely agree with you, srry. Previously I was actually going to write something along the lines about how face-to-face is far better than social networking, until I realized it might piss some people off. I would rather go to the pub with some friends, than sit in a dark room and pretend I am socializing by chatting in a chatroom. As for the internet being important to social 'development' - there was a lot more face-to-face socializing before the internet social networking craze. I haven't played video games for over 2 years, and now I have more of a social life than before, and of course, my academic results improved dramatically.

So, to reach a conclusion, I fail to see how something that has only very recently become a craze could have an important effect on social development. Face-to-face is still far better social interaction than superficial 'online socializing' - you can sense the person's emotions, facial expression, gestures, etc.

That article is stupid:

Dr Ito said that connecting online with friends via social networks such as MySpace and Facebook was where teens now "hang out", compared to the usual public places like shopping malls, the street and parks.

Actually, most people would still (and would rather) hang out at a park/mall/pub. Myself included.

That article also implies that somehow not being an online addict will lead to hindered social development? BULLSHIT.

Indeed, to the modern generations the internet is a crucial part of their lives(including me). Without my computer and the internet connection I would be much more stupid(really) and remain with school learned things. And those things don't really help me out in life.
And TWHL helped me develop mapping skills and being a mapping fan. Thank you.

I've had enough to drink.

but... hurrah!

The forum is a microcosm of the real world, and having early interaction with other people online makes one a better communication and the risks of offending really important people in the real world is less (i.e. your boss).

It's only the dumbass mindless assholes that scream at their televisions all night that wont go anywhere.

Reminds me of one time when TrooperDX3117 tried to show me the last level of Far Cry once. Two and a half hours of sitting next to someone screaming at the screen is not nice. Nor is having to try and calm them down:
Me - "It's alright, I don't have to see the ending. I wasn't that interested in the game."
Him - "NO IT'S NOT ALRIGHT! YOU HAVE TO SEE THIS! I HAVE TO DO THIS! I KNOW I CAN DO THIS! AAARRRGH!!! "

Kids have been growing up and turning out fine without Myspace since the dawn of time

That's the first thing I thought when I saw this, but to be honest, if there is someone who doesn't have a Bebo or Myspace page, surrounded by friends who do, they would tend to get excluded from conversations that are concerning things discussed on the internet. It used to happen to me all the time when the people in my school discovered Bebo.

I've always hated myspace, heh. It's by no means crucial.

Does it ever piss you off to find a person that's hell bent on texting you over a phone call?

I just got my phone a month ago (my first ever), and i'm already sick of it.

Myspace, Facebook, etc, etc, are all amazingly crap.

The Internet is a big training program by the government to improve our minds and create tools for them to use.

All that time spent on Facebook has paid off, now I can build nukes.

I waited to get a mobile phone for the longest time. I gave in when I had to be on-call. Instead of sitting in front of a telephone 24 hours a day, my mobile phone allowed me to actually get out of the house once in a while when I am on-call.

I have a Facebook account, a Myspace page and a YouTube Channel. I'm also a TWHL member.

Guess which one I visit more often. ^_^

In all honesty I guess TWHL and indeed many other sites on the Internet have helped me develop my social skills. I joined up when I was in college and the only people I spoke to were guys I already knew from secondary school. I was quiet, shy and a lot of people took advantage of me, especially my ex-girlfriend (keep it in context please, don't be a dick)

However over the course of 6 months after joining up I became comfortable with the community. In person I became cheeky, obnoxious and very arrogant. Eventually I ended up failing the course because of my attitude towards the work but I had more friends than I had ever had before and I can honestly say that I don't regret a thing. I've met a lot of great people on this site and despite meeting in person (except in the case of Tosse) I consider a few of you as good friends. There are a lot of good people here which is why I have kept my faith in the community when things have gone to shit in the past.

I don't see why it should be considered a necessity to social development all of sudden.

Whoa, where'd that come from? I don't remember seeing anywhere on that article that it was a necessity to social development, yet people have all of a sudden sprung up with this conception?

Personally speaking, a good social life revolves around not during just one or the other. Being constantly outdoors or indoors, in my opinion, is honestly not good. After all, there are just some days where you wanna hide indoors and forget about the outside, and what better way to do that then with some friends?

But those are just my two cents.

my mobile phone allowed me to actually get out of the house once in a while when I am on-call.

Right on Satch, heh. My aunt is the same way. She's on call a buttload, and she wouldn't have a social life at all without a cell phone.

I tend to not use my cell phone when I dont have to.

When I need to call someone, I do. When I call and noone answers, I leave a text asking or saying something directed at them. That's it really.

Ill also admit it's great for organization/coordination in terms of meeting up with people

Being constantly outdoors or indoors, in my opinion, is honestly not good.

Yeah, but I think you could live outside your whole life and be fine. Can't say the same for living inside your whole life.

This thread is now "Srry's Wasting Your Time at TWHL"

No, you'll turn into one of those white see-thru bugs that live in caves and you will then proceed to be the pun of all bad jokes. Honestly though, it is personal choice. I don't like live chat rooms and things like myspace and youtube, they just don't appeal to me because there is no direction to them, basically you make them up as you go along. here, we are focused on a general subject, even if we don't actually stay on subject. *frowns at some particular other members

One thing that I do find very positive in all this internet socialization nonsense is the increased cross-cultural interaction it provides, which results in greater awareness of the world. I'd never have had the experience of talking to a bunch of holier-than-thou Australians on IRC had it not been for TWHL. However, in that sense I find this community very unique. Most people using Myspace, Facebook, etc. never even reach outside their close social group anyway.

I find this site the main reason i continue mapping. I enjoy interacting with everyone here and seeing how their input can make my work better. It has also allowed me to handle criticism on my work. Instead of taking a comment negatively, i'll try to spin it around and heed the advice.

I bet a lot of people improved their English skills at TWHL.

Through mapping, I became a more technical gamer, and I am more savvy with hardware because of gaming.

The experience has only enriched my life.