Electronic entertainment and mental disorders.

Electronic entertainment is a huge industry in modern-times. Unfortunately, I don't believe we even come close to understanding the negative psychological affects of electronic entertainment. Many people write it off as ...

"it's just television.."
"it's just music.."
"it's just the internet.."
"it's just video games.."


All of these things, I believe, cause an over-stimulation of the brain. Our brains are simply not intended for these sorts of sensory stimulation. As far as mental health is concerned, we have seen a rise in..

-Anxiety disorders
-ADD/ADHD
-Depression
-Lack of motivation

...to name a few.

I believe the overstimulating affects of electronic entertainment can cause all of those problems. Young children's brains are especially vulnerable to the affects of electronic entertainment (their brains are still developing). Essentially, our brains wire to accommodate the things we experience (what we sense, and how we react). And the type of sensory stimulation we seek out from electronic entertainment is not necessarily conductive of good mental health, but rather for the type of feeling we desire to experience. Many people blame electronic entertainment (like those listed above) for having a bad influence, but it is them who is reacting to the consumer's desires. Fox News, for example, tries to promote the most worry-producing stories they can. Why? Because the consumers of Fox News are more interested in viewing those types of stories because they are EXCITING!!

At the end of the day, the type of electronic entertainment we consume depends on the way we want to feel. The most popular feelings that people want to experience today are the "adrenaline rush" and "sexual arousal". Both of these desired feelings, when experienced on a constant basis, are not healthy for an individual or society. Just because a food taste good doesn't mean it is good for you, and the same goes for electronic entertainment.

Source: From my Thinking Psychology blog

I put this up here because I believe that not only is electronic entertainment a psychological issue, but a major social issue as well (both go hand-in-hand). Feel free to leave any thoughts you have about this post below in the comment section, thanks for reading :) 

Electronic entertainment and mental disorders.

Electronic entertainment is a huge industry in modern-times. Unfortunately, I don't believe we even come close to understanding the negative psychological affects of electronic entertainment. Many people write it off as ...

"it's just television.."
"it's just music.." 
"it's just the internet.."
"it's just video games.."


All of these things, I believe, cause an over-stimulation of the brain. Our brains are simply not intended for these sorts of sensory stimulation. As far as mental health is concerned, we have seen a rise in..

-Anxiety disorders
-ADD/ADHD
-Depression
-Lack of motivation

...to name a few.

I believe the overstimulating affects of electronic entertainment can cause all of those problems. Young children's brains are especially vulnerable to the affects of electronic entertainment (their brains are still developing). Essentially, our brains wire to accommodate the things we experience (what we sense, and how we react).  And the type of sensory stimulation we seek out from electronic entertainment is not necessarily conductive of good mental health, but rather for the type of feeling we desire to experience. Many people blame electronic entertainment (like those listed above) for having a bad influence, but it is them who is reacting to the consumer's desires. Fox News, for example, tries to promote the most worry-producing stories they can. Why? Because the consumers of Fox News are more interested in viewing those types of stories because they are EXCITING!!

At the end of the day, the type of electronic entertainment we consume depends on the way we want to feel. The most popular feelings that people want to experience today are the "adrenaline rush" and "sexual arousal". Both of these desired feelings, when experienced on a constant basis, are not healthy for an individual or society. Just because a food taste good doesn't mean it is good for  you, and the same goes for electronic entertainment. 

Muslim Football Player can't drink water during practice!?

Ahmed Elshaer is his name, and apparently the reason he can't drink water is because of Ramadan. In other words, Ahmed doesn't want to risk losing his 72 virgins over a little dehydration—what a champ. The football team probably should have a doctor on standby. Here is the source of the story <click me>

This is why I believe more people should be atheists. Atheists don't have to torture themselves to make a "loving god" happy. Atheists can drink all the water they want. In fact, I'm going to grab a nice cold glass of water right now ☺

Are atheists going to hell?

Someone recently told me that I'm going to hell because I'm an atheist. I find this idea to be fascinating. If you don't believe in such and such a god (how do you believe in a void?), you will spend an eternity getting tortured. While this all sounds funny to most atheists, any Christian with half a brain believes it's true. And some Christians believe atheists will go to limbo...or is it purgatory? (I think I'm already at one of the two). The title is in the form of a question, the answer is "no". Atheists are going to heaven because we weren't fooled to believe in talking snakes and fossil factories...you know, devil's work (yes, I'm being facetious). 

Video games caused my anxiety?

I believe that video games caused my anxiety disorder. In my household as a child, there was a lot of yelling, and perhaps that fueled it, but I believe when push comes to shove, it was the video games. How can this be? Well, it doesn't have to do so much with the video games themselves, but the adrenaline's domino effect on my psychology (and I believe the psychology of many other people). Adrenaline (and other fight-or-flight hormones) makes people fearful by nature, and with constant exposure (all I did was play video games, and I got very intense with them), this can seriously alter perceptions would ultimately affect cognitive behaviors in a huge way. For me it seems that my constant anxious state is both caused by cognition and causes cognition (thus creating a cycle to perpetuate the 'disorder'). The vast majority of video games are addictive because people love the feeling of an adrenaline rush, but the long-term affects of constant fight-or-flight mode isn't healthy. In our society I believe we need to take adrenaline-producing stimuli much more seriously (TV, internet, music, video games and so on). From what I've observed, a lot of anxious people have an adrenaline fix of some sort. It's important to identify your adrenaline fix if you have one, and find a way to get rid of it. If you need that adrenaline, exercise is much more productive (increased metabolism of stress hormones plus the adrenaline fix is satisfied...plus exercise is good for the brain).

Well I'm rambling now, if you have any questions or concerns feel free to leave a comment☺ 

Irrational Past/Future thinking underlies anxiety and depression.

The title of this post says it all. Essentially, especially for anxiety, the sensations come about when worrying about the past or future. Our imaginations are so damn powerful that when we imagine either (past or future), they seem real, and our body reacts accordingly. All that exists is the present moment, and typically the present moment isn't very threatening. But for someone with anxiety (like myself), it takes thinking about the past or future to generate the response. Now this is all well and good, and perhaps obvious in hindsight—but it can make for a useful technique to disable anxiety/depression-provoking cognition. All you must do is be aware of the thoughts that are flowing in the mind at the present moment, and for each you notice, make sure to tell yourself that "it is just a thought, and nothing more". The reality is that a thought is just a thought. People with anxiety and depression (and probably 99% of all people) are affected by stressful thoughts because they believe those thoughts to be MORE than thoughts. If I was to imagine an serial killer was trying to kill me now, it may cause a small stressful reaction if I was aware that it was my imagination (i.e. that I correctly label the experience as 'imaginary'). But if I believe such an occurrence (me getting attacked) is really about to happen, I would have a panic attack. We have panic attacks (and anxiety/depression) because we believe that our thoughts are true. I know this seems obvious, but the devil is in the details. A person that struggles with these problems needs to slow things down, and look closely at the thoughts (i.e. cognition) that is causes their symptoms.

This is all just food for thought, and is not a substitute for proffesional treatment. If you have any questions or concerns, feel free to leave a comment☺

Awareness is key for overcoming anxiety and depression.

Many people are anxious and/or depressed, yet they don't understand why. I am a person that is currently working towards overcoming anxiety (and occasional mild-depression). I've found that with awareness (i.e. mindfulness of thought) a lot of cognition was going on "behind the scenes" that I was unaware of. Not only did I notice a lot of worrying going on, but the worrying is just plain irrational. This is the key, I believe, to overcoming problematic thinking (which is the typical cause of anxiety and depression). In other words, the problem is the habitual fear-based thinking that is typically irrational. Irrational thoughts based on reality can be indistinguishable from reality without awareness and logical breaking-down of the thoughts. The key is to just listen to your thoughts. When a worrying thought passes by your awareness, proverbially grab onto it and observe it through the lens of logical thinking. I've also found it helpful to write down my thoughts to organize them, and then take those thoughts and break down why those thoughts are fictitious. Reality doesn't cause anxiety disorders and depression, thoughts do. It's as simple as getting your thoughts together, but just because something is simple, doesn't make it easy. I know very well that overcoming irrational thinking isn't easy, but it's certainly a worthy endeavour. 

This is all food for thought, it's not intended to substitute professional help. But when it comes to overcoming anxiety and depression, knowing is half the battle.