What do sex, drugs and video games have in common? All three activities are highly addictive. In modern societies, people do not have to devote most of their time for survival. We have become lazy, bored and obsessed with these activities more than ever. Pornography is an 8 billion USD industry in the U.S. in 2012 according to Time Magazine. The UN estimates global illicit drug industry to be 400 billion USD per year in 1998. The U.S. gaming industry is roughly 20.5 billion USD in 2014 according to Wikipedia. Unfortunately, I could not locate figures for Canada.
On December 12th, 2016, the federal government passed Bill C37 which emphasized a strategy of harm reduction for the hard-core drug addicts. It is now legally easier to set up more safe, supervised injection sites (a.k.a. consumption sites). There is also a great push to decriminalize and even legalize marijuana at all three levels of government in Canada. Increasing amounts of resources are deployed to rescue the Opioid overdosed addicts, so much so that the City of Vancouver proposed to raise property tax to fund more consumption sites and wider distribution of Naloxone kits. Fentanyl overdose deaths are at a crisis level in Vancouver.
The pornography issue is just as worrisome in Canada. I was brought up to think that men and women could be platonic friends; men and women could connect at intellectual or emotional level. Not any more. Back in the pre-internet age, when men had sexual urges, they would read dirty magazines or find themselves prostitutes to satisfy their need. Today sex addicts prey on children, place obscene pictures/videos on social media or have cyber sex with other online users. I was informed by a long-time male friend that Canadian men usually do not want to marry their sex partners. They are also too cheap to pay for sex and/or are worried about getting sexually transmitted diseases from hookers. Women are treated as no more than sex objects.
Children are not the only ones that would spend all their waking moments playing video games. Pokemon Go was a big hit for a short time in the city, and managed to get some people to go outside. Otherwise, video games normally render the players inactive and anti-social. The most obvious side- effect of continuous video game playing is neck strain. The other effects include accidents caused by lack of attention, absenteeism, lack of reality perception, overloading of senses resulting in psychological problems, etc. A more far reaching effect is the production of "Zombie" generation who is deficient in human characteristics.
A few decades ago, we were taught to pursue material things, and work hard to forget the hurt and pain inherent in a competitive society. Many of us cannot find purpose in our lives, and use these vices to fill our empty lives. I think if we can figure out what we like to do, we can substitute these three addictive activities with less harmful hobbies. For example, women can knit sweaters, and men can make furniture for the poor in lieu of sex, drugs and video games. Better still, we should maintain a balance of body, mind & spirit by getting to know ourselves really well.
On December 12th, 2016, the federal government passed Bill C37 which emphasized a strategy of harm reduction for the hard-core drug addicts. It is now legally easier to set up more safe, supervised injection sites (a.k.a. consumption sites). There is also a great push to decriminalize and even legalize marijuana at all three levels of government in Canada. Increasing amounts of resources are deployed to rescue the Opioid overdosed addicts, so much so that the City of Vancouver proposed to raise property tax to fund more consumption sites and wider distribution of Naloxone kits. Fentanyl overdose deaths are at a crisis level in Vancouver.
The pornography issue is just as worrisome in Canada. I was brought up to think that men and women could be platonic friends; men and women could connect at intellectual or emotional level. Not any more. Back in the pre-internet age, when men had sexual urges, they would read dirty magazines or find themselves prostitutes to satisfy their need. Today sex addicts prey on children, place obscene pictures/videos on social media or have cyber sex with other online users. I was informed by a long-time male friend that Canadian men usually do not want to marry their sex partners. They are also too cheap to pay for sex and/or are worried about getting sexually transmitted diseases from hookers. Women are treated as no more than sex objects.
Children are not the only ones that would spend all their waking moments playing video games. Pokemon Go was a big hit for a short time in the city, and managed to get some people to go outside. Otherwise, video games normally render the players inactive and anti-social. The most obvious side- effect of continuous video game playing is neck strain. The other effects include accidents caused by lack of attention, absenteeism, lack of reality perception, overloading of senses resulting in psychological problems, etc. A more far reaching effect is the production of "Zombie" generation who is deficient in human characteristics.
A few decades ago, we were taught to pursue material things, and work hard to forget the hurt and pain inherent in a competitive society. Many of us cannot find purpose in our lives, and use these vices to fill our empty lives. I think if we can figure out what we like to do, we can substitute these three addictive activities with less harmful hobbies. For example, women can knit sweaters, and men can make furniture for the poor in lieu of sex, drugs and video games. Better still, we should maintain a balance of body, mind & spirit by getting to know ourselves really well.
That is exactly what I am doing,lol. I hope that more people can share this idea and make this world better
ReplyDeleteThank you for your comments. Sometimes we have to step back and uncover the real cause of these social problems before supplying any more ineffective, at times costly, Bandaid solutions.
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