[...] [Via Game Politics] [...]

The title of this entry is completely misleading.

1) The prof blames "mp3 players and video games in PART" for something he considers to be contributing (in part :P) to the decreasing vocabularies of teens.

2) It makes perfect sense that teens would have a more limited vocabulary than adults.

3) This isn't an issue of technology making people stupid, it's an issue of the school curriculum not focusing on an important area during elementary and high school.

Technology doesn't take away your vocabulary. If anything, it makes you learn more wonderful words and phrases like "porn", "torrent", "piracy" and "the RIAA is suing your ass". :P

@ dorkmaster

you forgot L33t, PWNAGE, and n00b

@Fojar

I call poppycock, balderdash, stuff and nonsense, bollocks, bunkum, humbug...

What utter nonsense. Does the man has no insight on the workings of our post-modern society?

Yet another example of research data being twisted to further a controversial conclusion. Maybe if he compared the teens vocabulary to that of teens 20-30 years ago, he'd have a valid conclusion.

But to compare teens to 30 year-olds, and declare their vocabulary "inadequate" is deplorable at best.

Interestingly enough, a similar study looked at the prevalence of "l33t speak", and found that it had zero impact on students' ability to spell regular english words.

Perhaps they should look at children's cartoons. The ones dumbed down for US markets...

Neh. With all the 1337-speek floating around, gamers learn at least one or two new words everyday.

Well, I have a larger vocabulary than about 99% of the people I know and I've been an avid gamer ever since I can remember. One of my English teachers was always so pleased with my vocabulary that she told me I must read a lot, but she was shocked to find out that I never ever ever read recreationally. :P I used to read a lot when I was young, but I haven't really done it just for fun since about age 9.

Others have praised me for my adept use of the English language, but maybe I'm an exception. Maybe all the reading I did as a child developed my vocabulary and English skills early. Who knows?

They should just let me write the T.V shows. I'd teach things such as intolerance, hatred and xenophobia, using the delightfull Warmhammer 4000 setting as a backdrop for children tales.

But I don't think many parents would get the joke...

And living on an isolated, working farm limits your social interaction and vocab as well. Lets ban farming and force everybody to move into city high rises so they sound like pretentious Mac users when they talk.

And G-Dog:

I resemble that remark.

Kids develop their own bloody vocabulary. Whether they're playing football, attending Sunday school, whatever, they'll create or integrate with their own speech communities. Someone needs to learn some sociolinguistics.

Yet again, another study that ignores context. The gamers ~I~ know personally are utter nerds who roleplay and immerse themselves reading reams of script from RPGs or Tolkien. The gamers my "chav" sister knows play nothing but sport or "gangster" games and are exposed entirely to limited vocabulary domains. My sister and I can barely hold a conversation because her vocabulary is limited to "yeah but no but", and mine is stupidly big. I have a BRUMMY ACCENT, but she calls me POSH because I use "big words".

My point? Generalising for the lose. Teens are not all the same. Gamers are not all the same. Games are not all the same. And speech communities certainly form all on their own; check out any community, and each will have idiosyncracies and language features unique to that community.

Mobile phone companies and such are certainly quick enough to jump on the latest teen slang trend and encourage it as "cool", deviant language.

Wow, I find this absolutely hilarious. Ever since I started playing RPGs and other text-heavy games, I'd estimate my vocabulary has prolly increased by half. Hell, I've seen words in some games that my father (who went to grad school for four years and has a phd) says he's only heard once or twice.

Given, MMOs can make you stupid from the constant steams of poorly-typed, unintelligable sentences riddled with grammatical and spelling errors you sometimes run into (0mg, cn u halp me? how i mine 4 fish?), but I've been exposed to that stuff for going on six years now and I can still talk/type properly.

@xzero87

I find that such typers are like the high pitched shrill of steam eminating from a kettle, so I didn't read it as a typo. ;)

Hey, the BBC report is not that sensationalistic. And we can't deduce from this report that prof. McEnery thinks video games make stupid.

Quote :

"He put this down to A LACK OF TRAINING and the OVERUSE of technologies such as computer games and MP3 players.

'This trend, known as technology isolation syndrome, could lead to problems in the classroom and then later in life.'"

I don't see anything shocking in that. This prof doesn't blame mp3 players and video games THEMSELVES, but the OVERUSE of such technologies. He may be wrong, but there is a huge nuance between blaming excessive use of technology (like McEnery) and blaming the technology and its users (like Bill O'Reilly).

Actually...

I've noticed a slight delcine in how the English language is being used in America, but it's not in the gamer world. I find the hip-hop subculture or "urban youth" have much worse language skills than anyone else. I work in sales of music gear and trust me... these people are the bane of my existance.

Are the amount of intelligent students declining? Yes

Are video games and music to blame? No

Because schools and parents refuse to take a stand and teach their kids responsibility and moral values, there has been a rise in drug use, underage drinking, ciggerrete smoking and of course decline intelligent thinking among today's youth

Kids nowadays are either too wrapped up in social "activities" or too busy going out and creating ridiculous political conspiricy theories (Ex: Quick Change), because they don't think about what they are doing

They need to start realizing that they aren't any different then their parents, they aren't proggressing in terms of values or in terms of intelligence. They are going to follow the same path their parents did, and their kids will do the same thing in a never ending cycle because the majoirty of parents refuse to take a stand and lead their kids to the future

As the old saying goes..
"Those who do not know history are doomed to repeat it."

I'd say that there's a lot of activities that might benefit one's vocabulary and that deficiencies occur when people don't take part in ANY of them. Some games might help one's vocab; I would wager that Rainbow 6 does not. Reading can help, though that also depends on what you read. Me, I've done crossword puzzles since around the 5th grade and while I'm no pro at them it's certainly helped.
The bottom, utterly obvious line - to expand your vocabulary you need to be exposed to new words. If I did nothing but listen to my iPod all day, I'd have a pretty slim vocab because I'm only ever exposed to a small set of words.
As it is, I could argue that a diet of plot-driven games (anything with a coherent story line) will expose you to new words, and that playing lots of different games could expand your vocabulary. I learned 'sagacious' from Resident Evil 4 (along with a smattering of rude Spanish phrases.) The key is diversity in one's media consumption - someone who only watches certain TV shows and plays online shooter with his/her friends won't be exposed to new words, so their vocabulary won't grow.

Though I do agree that vocabs develop over time and that him saying that adults have a larger vocabulary than teenagers. If you want more vocabulary, or more knowledge of anything in general, there's not really any substitute for 15 extra years of experience.

I can present solid proof refuting this claim: Tycho from Penny Arcade.

Just read a few of his posts...they mostly deal with games and related technology, and yet his linguistic skills could likely put this codger to shame.

Of course, i see many claims of superior vocabulary in the comments myself, and i'm afraid i must join my own to the mess. My vocabulary has never fallen short (at the age of 5 i surprised family at a dinner when i told my sister that it was "my perogative" to mix my peas into my mashed potatoes), and with simple words, i've broken hearts and turned sworn enemies to friends.

Communication skills go so much deeper than simple vocabulary, however. The man with the largest vocabulary could speak, and nobody would understand him or, quite honestly, care, if he is unable to form them into coherent ideas.
However, a man of lesser lexical knowledge can drive home a point using monosyllabic words, if those are all he knows, so long as he can convey a complete thought.

It's not necessary to utilize extravagant language for the purpose of communication.
Small words can get the point across just as well.

[...] While sifting through a weeks of RSS feeds, I came across a gem on GamePolitics.  This Study is yet another one that makes me laugh.  It is just another opportunity for the “Moral Society” (if there is one) to shed any personal responsibility and blame something external for the faults of society. [...]

Talking will never improve ones lexicon. Reading and other activities where one is exposed to more complex language than what is used in conversation will.





Disclaimer: My grammar is shitty.

@Soldatlouis

I hate to say this but I was speaking from the perspective of someone who has overused technology. When I was a young teen, I used to go on gaming marathons of 4 to 6 hours each school day if I was able to get the time and even so high as 12 to 14 hours or more during weekends and the summertime. I still occassionally do a long run of gaming every now and then. I would technically call that overuse.

Despite that, I was still learning things like timing, coordination, logic, pacing myself, vocabulary and many things that to tell you the truth school wasn't able to fully teach me on it's own. In fact I learned quite a bit of what I know from school, but even more from the games I played. In highschool I was on the honor roll across at least seven different school quarters and the high honor roll across at least three quarters, and my teachers were sometimes vastly impressed at the numerous skills and abilities I have.

But the point of what I am saying is that even if you overuse technology, that doesn't automatically mean that your verbal skills go down and you become unable to communicate formally or properly on a job or to someone else.

So for this professor to assume that someone who overuses technology can lack verbal skills would only be partially right, and that would only be because of certain people amongst a larger population who overuse it and the whole time either don't have their focus set in the right place or perhaps don't want to actually think and enrich their knowledge, in whatever aspect it may be, because it's either too hard or they think it's uncool and nerdy to do so. It could also be due to specific brain chemistry and environmental factors such as public education, parental guidance, and peer influence or lack thereof.

Basically I think this professor has a bullcrap idea. It's not so much what you do, even if it is excessive, it's how well you are able to control that overuse (that includes the amoung of time), how well you absorb things during that time, and especially how you utilize it. That is what I think is the problem, not the overuse or addiction itself as it seems that article in question indicates. He did say it "could" lead to problems in the classroom and later in life and not that it definitively would ruin you, but being as the article focuses on lack of good verbal communication and partially blames the overuse of technology as a factor I don't think it was balanced enough for my tastes.

As for the lack of training perhaps being a big factor in how well someone performs on the job, I fully well agree.

@Phrogg

Heh. I know what you mean. My mother was amazed when I used the word "irritable" at age four or five.

@OldschoolVgamer
Same case, here. I bought a Nintendo when I was 10, and I was truly addicted to video games for a while. I've overcome that now, although I'm still a gamer. My vocabulary, grammar, etc. are all fine, though. Then again, I learned to read at 3. I'm probably not the best base, since I'm trying to become a published writer, plus I've got a few mild disabilities going on in my brain.

Addendum: Obviously the txt thing is mainly related to your vocabulary and writing abilities, but excessive use of short statements with zero regard for grammar is going to affect your ability to form complex (or even, I dread, simple) sentences via the gift of mouth-words.

Also does anyone find it unusual that he analysed blogs and came to a conclusion about vocal speech?

Phrogg. "Communication skills go so much deeper than simple vocabulary, however. The man with the largest vocabulary could speak, and nobody would understand him or, quite honestly, care, if he is unable to form them into coherent ideas."

See also: management consultants.

/b

All of the sudden they figure out why teens are dumb and tis MP3s and video games......cant be the fck up school system that dose not perpar kids for life much less academics.....

"LolzoXrs Games are teh stoopid incriment!"

That's the message I feel like this guy is saying. Rather than testing and comparing TEENAGERS and ADULTS, shouldn't it be adults who do or don't play video games or teens who do or don't as well? It's like saying a 5 year old doesn't know as much vocabulary as a 17 year old because the 5 year old colors pictures or plays with toys. You get similar results since the 17 year old knows more than the 5 year old. Same case; do you really expect teenagers to know the same amount of vocabulary as an adult?

Well, his words hardly come as a big suprise because:

1: Spending too much time on ANY leisure activity (including socially accepted pastimes like football) will cut into your study time. This guy is implying that MP3s and video games are the ONLY things that would apply to this rule. One only needs to know any jock who spends more time at Whatever practice instead of studying fo semester exams to know that that theory is bunk.

2: As others have pointed out, it's not fair to lump teens and adults in the same category in terms of knowledge. If teens already knew as much as people who just got out of college, why would we need to send them to school? This study also ignores the fact that teens usually prefer slang terms than proper English, as this cuts down time during conversations.

3: I have one of the largest vocabularies in my entire town, and I'm also one of the biggest gamers in town. Do I see a connection? NO! They are not connected in any significant way. If someone is interested in learning, he or she will not fail simply for listiening to Linkin Park on their MP3 or playing Gears of War when he or she has finished studying. It's what you do DURING class time that really matters.

Aren't people in their 20's the largest group of gamers?
And obviously people will have a better vocabulary when they are in a higher level of education.
Is this guy supposed to be some kind of expert?

How is talking to people in their own peer group going to help teens develop a better vocabulary? They'll just be talking to people with the same stunted command of English.

Most of my vocabulary comes from spending lots of time reading as a kid. If I had relied exclusively on public schools to teach me language skills, I probably wouldn't be anywhere near as articulate in writing as I am now. If anything, all that media consumption this guy complains about just needs to be tempered with cracking a decent book a little more often.

God I sound old.

SHENANIGANS!

heh...

Also consider the following:

"Indignation is the soul's response to the wounding of it's own. It reorders the cosmos to support the justice of it's cause. It justifies putting Socrates to death." - Allan Bloom

[...] [Via Game Politics] [...]

Games don't make us stupid, acutally games makes us smarter, assholes.

Sheesh, the society is just like a pile of dung, why don't you blame cars, because there are car accidents, brainless critics, this is 21st Century! Not middle ages, duh...

That's nonsense... why, without video games we wouldn't have the made up Al Bhed and Dinosaur Planet languages. And we certainly wouldn't have the terms 'circle-strafe', 'dungeon crawler' and 'Halo killer'

[...] by Dan Zuccarelli, December 16th, 2006 Posted in weekend reading | Help Make Us Famous! Use the trackback link. These icons link to social bookmarking sites where readers can share and discover new webpages. [...]