Culture/Social Impact of High Connectivity
South Korea is the most wired nation in the World with over 70% of the population having access to broadband internet access. Read and reflect on one of the negative consequences of high connectivity. Is this an aspect of the emerging global digital culture? I have more to comment, but I want to post this blog quickly so that I can return to the cricket pc game that I started a couple of hours ago :)
34 Comments:
I would say that this is indeed an aspect of an emerging global digital culture because in countries where such advanced technology is available the majority of the population embraces it. The internet gaming problem is not restricted to South Korea, but can also be seen respectively in the United States. Children today have become obsessed with video games and computers resulting in countless hours spent indoors and in front of a television or monitor. Corporate America and professionals alike have encouraged the use of technology in the work place to ensure speed and efficiency. Nearly every profession requires computer skills as a prerequisite to being hired. Although the advances in technology have many positive benefits on societies, I am skeptical that it could be hurting it as well. With children and adults spending hours on end in front of televisions and computers health issues arise such as weight problems and worsened eyesight. In the case study in South Korea the addiction, along with unhealthy dieting, spiraled so far out of control it resulted in more than one death. Such incidents are worth taking note of because anyone can become a victim of this technology addiction. That is not to say that everyone should go out and boycott the internet, but rather evaluate its significance and learn to balance its use, making sure not to reach a point of abuse.
Michael Donahue 10/8
I agree that the problem described in South Korea is an aspect of an emerging global digital culture. I also feel that the problem is not something brought about because of globalization. The basic problem described in the article is just addition. This has been present from many centuries. People have been addicted to everything from cigarettes to television and now online games and computers. Whenever something new is introduced there are always going to be problems and solutions are only formed when the problem is confronted. For example cigarettes have been around for a long time, but only recently has massive campaigning been started to combat the number of people who smoke. Similarly, when the problem of video games etc becomes great its own solution will come about. They will put restrictions on the number of hours allowed one is allowed to play games etc. For people who have careers as a professional gamer obviously there is going to be some negative effect of using the computer and watching the screen so intensely, but what profession doesn’t have a negative effect. I feel that companies have in fact done a good job to avoid the problems associated with long computer use. Most companies require mandatory breaks and offer classes and other techniques on how to prevent the negative effects of prolonged computer use (vision problems and carpel tunnel syndrome). In conclusion I feel that the new surge of prolonged computer use is a result of the global digital culture but the addiction aspect is nothing new. I do not see the problems of excessive video game and prolonged computer as anything new or causing massive problems.
Arvind Sabesan 10/08/2005
It's easy to understand the depth of this article because on a college campus, everyone is connected to the internet. While it may not be restricted to intense game playing, once people have access to the internet they constantly need to be connected, either through games, instant messenger or email.
This is definitely a part of the emerging global digital culture because as it becomes accessible to everyone, it will be very easy for everyone to feel the “addiction”. It does seem intense that people will devote hours to game playing and such addictions are some of the negative consequences of the internet. On the other hand though it is difficult to imagine how businesses would be run without computers and the internet. As long as people can control their use of it, the internet is a good thing that can prove to be extremely beneficial to everyone.
Jenna Douglass 10/8
I also agree that this “gaming” problem is indeed an aspect of the emerging global culture. Likewise to South Korea I think that a vast number of males in their teens living in the United States also have an addiction to computer games but to a lesser degree than what is taking place there. Although this problem is not anything new with the increase in use of the internet, it still seems bizarre to me that people are actually dying from this computer game epidemic. I believe that this problematic trend is going to continue to take place in the future as new games are released to the public and as the use of the internet spreads in other countries.
Nicole Appleman 10/9/05
It is difficult to interpret what the article attempts to convey as an aspect, albeit negative, of the emerging digital culture. Even before the Internet was allowing the current quantity of gamers to compete internationally, young people have been addicted for years to video games. Internet gaming is the most current aspect of the technological progression of entertainment that began with the radio. However, video games allow for active participation and competition, two aspects of life that are appealing to human beings of all ages. There are several positive and negative aspects of gaming. First, people who are addicted to these games often ignore their health and hygiene, sometimes for days on end in order to maximize their amount of playing time. Staring at a computer screen for an extended period of time is extremely unhealthy both physically and mentally. It is this precisely that leads to cases such as the one described in the article where the young man died. However, using advanced technology to compete online teaches people from a young age how to work efficiently with many of tools that will be necessary for their careers later in life. Coming back to global digital culture, it is possible to argue that this is an ideal case. These gamers are competing internationally, which makes it global. They participate from all around the world - sitting down to similar computers, competing against one another in the exact same game and are experiencing the same painful consequences of these actions. The only non-physical difference between the gamers is their location. They all share a very specific culture - part of the emerging digital culture.
10/9
Jason Tarasco 10/9
I strongly feel that the issues and negative consequences of high connectivity portrayed in the article are aspects of the emerging global digital culture.
Some of the facts and stories that were told in this article were absolutely astonishing to me. I never knew that high connectivity was bringing about such extreme negative consequences. However, I do not feel that the emerging global digital culture or globalization are to blame, I feel that the people who are suffering from these negative consequences are to blame. It is the peoples' own faults that they let the addiction get so out of hand. Most people are fine and normal with using the internet and use it in moderation and to their benefit, it is the people who do not have self control that are to blame. There are many different things that people who do not have self control turn to, such as drugs...this stuff is always available to you, but it is your choice to do it or not. It should also be a known fundamental human quality to put things such as eating, sleeping, exercising, and cleaning yourself before anything else. I mean to be on the internet for the amount of hours/days that these people are is crazy...these people would have to know that their bodies were telling them to stop. However, as much as I think that it is the people who are addicted that are to blame, there is still that other side of me that feels for young kids who do not have guidance from their parents and are left with nothing else to do. There are many kids that have little or no parental guidance, so something as cheap as a dollar an hour may be very appealing to them as something to kill time and occupy themselves with. Kids whose parents do not sign them up for extracurricular activies will replace exercising their bodies with playing on the internet. This could ultimately be a bad thing for people because instead of studying to ultimately get jobs that will further themselves and the world, they are throwing their lives away on the internet, but hopefully the population of these type of people will remain small enough that it does not largely affect the world.
Sorry, I forgot...
Kandis Kovalsky
October 9, 2005
Not only is this gaming addiction an aspect of the emerging global culture, but it is also a consequence. Video games have been around now for a couple decades and never before have we seen such results. From the outside looking in, it is difficult to understand how one can become so dependent on an electronic device. It is no longer an enjoyable past time that teenagers and adults alike can partake in. Rather it has become an all-consuming phenomenon that envelopes people, taking over their lives. To think that there have actually been deaths due to gaming addiction is outrageous and alarming. Since this problem is fairly new, though, there is lack of research and answers to overcoming this addiction. However, with the technological revolution under way we can be sure to see these effects multiply and possibly even the emergence of ones we cannot foresee.
Christine Madurski
10/9
Yes, I think that video game addiction is a part of emerging global digital culture. There are many people on campus who are obsessed with video games. I know people who have missed days and days of classes because they have been trying to win a video game. I do think that video game addition is part of the emerging global digital culture, but I do not think that globalization is to blame for people’s addition. The people who are addicted are reasonable for their addiction. For example alcoholics are addicted to alcohol and we do not blame the alcohol producers we blame the people. Video game addiction is turning into a disease and people need help. There should be counseling for these people to help them stop with there addiction to video games. Yes, video game addiction emerged as part of the global digital culture, but it is the person who is reasonable for their addiction.
Stacey Closterman 10/10/05
I’m not as certain that the video gaming addiction is as much directly tied to globalization as everyone thinks it is. Certainly, the games are manufactured somewhere and then purchased in a lot of countries, but each will still have it’s variations to it. The games do not tie people together so much as the regular internet does (or, they do, but only with the help of the internet with forums and websites). Most MMORPGs, as Starcraft is, have specific regions, so people play with people from the same country or a little further out but to keep with the same time zone. Sure, there may be international competitions, but in normal game play, you’re more likely to run into someone from New York than South Korea. And, as stated above, game addictions have been around long before online game play emerged, so I don’t think it’s right to say that the online gaming addiction is an aspect of the emerging digital globalization. I see the emerging digital globalization as encouraging already addicted gamers, but not as creating a new globalized breed.
Adria Andersen 10/10
Like the above comments, the statistic of 70% of South Koreans being connected is in itself an indicator of an emerging global digital culture. But although this indicates a growing digital culture, it does not necessary make it global. It is well known that Asia countries since the 1980s, especially China and Japan, have been at the forefront of technology and an active part in its growth; so reading this article about South Korean’s obsessed gamers does not surprise me. But the article does not mention a global digital culture, so I would be reluctant to completely agree that this article indicates a growing global digital culture. I know little of the world’s digital progress, but I’m sure impoverished areas of Africa, the Middle East and Latin America all have little technology and even lower percentages for internet connection. In concerning the negative aspects of gaming, it is clear the physical and psychological effects at present in South Korea. It is also easy to see by looking at the trend of an increasingly digital culture that the problem is going to get worse. I also believe that instead of the government wasting time and money supporting this unhealthy lifestyle by building the world’s first e-sports stadium, it should embrace more healthy educational alternatives for this growing digital culture since it is here to stay.
I believe the negative effects of gaming are an aspect of the emerging global digital culture, because gaming itself has become part of the emerging global digital culture.
Online “gamers” are connected to a virtual community where they share a common interest: a passion for video games. Though I think online video games are yet another great new way to connect with other people (in addition to IM, email,
“blogging”), I also think that too much gaming leads to isolation and disconnection with the rest of the world around you. This disconnection can be so great that some gamers, as demonstrated in the article, may even neglect their own basic human needs. But as many people have already pointed out, this is only the case when the video games are played in excess and when people become addicted to them. I think moderation is the key.
Steph Scholl 10/10/05
Like what many of the previous bloggers stated, it seems as though the technological advances stated in this article are certainly part of globalization. I had seen that there had been addictions within the U.S, but I was unaware of the problem outside the country. I was amazed that people are actually dying due to their patricipation and addiction. Clearly this is a problem in the globalization aspect of the world.
10/11/05
I understand the South Korea has a very different culture from that of the U.S., but I still found this article somewhat ridiculous. Digital Culture is not something new; it began years ago when the computer was introduced. I can't believe that people have actually DIED as a result of gaming. A powerful digital culture can't be blamed for these deaths, but the people who are too addicted to the games to eat and take care of themselves are. I'm glad that counseling is offered for gaming sessions, and hopefully it becomes more widespread. This is a serious negative consequence of digitalization, but the positive consequences balance out the negative ones. Digital culture (such as the spread of the internet) is positive because it connects people all over the globe. I'm not surprised that a negative effect of digitalization has emerged. I was aware of game addicts in the U.S., but was unaware of the severity of the problem in South Korea. Hopefully the problem is controlled, the deaths become eliminated, and people start playing the games as hobbies (as they were meant to be played) and not as addictions.
Marissa Brescia 10.11.05
Just walking into my neighbor’s room to see him playing the game mentioned in the article, Starcraft, shows me how online gaming is an aspect of emerging global culture. If a college student in Delaware can play a game against someone in South Korea, that is truly a notion of globalization. While it may be true that certain underdeveloped countries are not yet effected by high connectivity, many developing countries are not affected by many parts of emerging global culture. That’s why it is still considered “emerging”. In general, I feel that the concept of two people from very different countries being able to compete in a video game is a good representation of global culture and its positive and negative repercussions.
Katie Ruiz 10/11
I see how you could see video games as a merging of global culture, but what I see much more is how video games arent bringing people together, but splitting them apart. Who do you talk to and interact with while playing a video game? No one really. There are the other "gamers" but the only interaction is to win. 17 million South Koreans, mostly young, playing games all day is going to create a major gap in social development in South Korea. If the only interaction you have is through a mouse, keyboard and monitor, how will you ever be able to become part of civil society? How will these "gamers" ever be knowledgable about elections and current events if all they do is play video games? On the other hand though, if this is what a large proportion of the upcoming voters aer doing, is that going to move politics to help create a civil society based on "gamers" and their desires? Will the South Korean government start to play to "gamers" to get their vote? Will "gamers" care enough to unglue their eyes from the screen to vote? Gaming in South Korea isnt just a social problem, it is a massive political problem waiting to happen.
The problem of the addictive nature of online gaming is disturbing especially when one takes into account that the global digital culture is still in its infancy. South Korea which is the most connected nation in the world is just a model that every industrialized and industrializing nature is striving to become. Although the article focuses on the dependence of Korean gamers who use their computers for gaming some even use gaming as a means of income. This dependence on digital technology can be seen in every aspect of life, from entertainment, medicine, business, etc. This dependence on digital technology specifically the gaming aspect of it has shown that when overused can cause mental, physical, and social problems. A well documented problem in America which is one of the worlds most connected nations is obesity. This has been linked at least partially to the American dependence on computers and the increasing number of ours that we spend sitting at one.
Arturo Castro
10/11/05
I see this new aspect of culture as a big problem for our society. After reading the article about that man who plays to win, I thought about the reason I played computer games. Over the summer I started playing a game called World of Warcraft, obsessively. In this game, there is no winning or losing, it is a long life exploration game. This is a fairly recent game and it shows how this new global culture is no longer just about winning, its about escaping reality.
I stopped playing this game when I began to see plants on the sidewalk (in the real world) that looked similar to the herbs I needed to collect in the game. These games really can take over one's life and blur our sense of reality.
I don't see it exactly as a culture, I see it as an addiction just like alcoholism...no one calls alcoholism a culture, they call it a problem.
One thing you have to consider is that most developing countries that are just now getting 'wired' have a lot of catching up to do. In the United States, we experienced the internet boom first-hand in the '90s. Globalization has now allowed these countries to experience that same technological as well as economic boom. The available market to a country without great internet connection compared to one that is 'wired' is an economic difference that is realized ten-fold. Again, due to globalization, boundaries are being broken down and people all across the world can experience the same thing. That's globalization at its best.
jacque dimattia 10/14
I definitely agree that the gaming phenomenon in South Korea, and to a lesser extent in many other countries, represents the appeal and attractiveness of the emerging global digital culture. The situation in South Korea is shocking, at first. In the US, we all know many people that spend hours on end playing video games, and many times in unproductive and addictive ways. However, I think addiction to these digital games can reveal a lot about the effects of the development and/or spread of technology to modernizing countries. Gaming is a very profitable aspect of digital culture in many countries. The fact that it has been able to come to support the addictions of an overwhelming amount of young people in South Korea is unfortunate and also may hint at a widespread craving for technology by modernizing countries, especially in younger generations growing up in an ever increasing globalized world. High connectivity is attractive and, through culture, has become extremely popularized. I also think it is important to note that addictions can occur with a huge variety of things…traditionally we think of drugs, alcohol, etc. But to look at South Korea and say, “wow, that’s ridiculous” is missing part of the picture. Humans, by nature, are addictive. And, there is much more to addiction than a simple lack of self-control or craziness in people, as Kandis claims (above). It is very obvious that other influences exist here, as gaming has grown to pose such a threat to the health of so many people in South Korea alone. I think many of those influences have their source in the emerging global digital culture. Getting connected to the internet (and many people are actually addicted to the internet and to surfing the web!) or engaging in the new technological culture becomes more and more appealing to new generations as it becomes a standard for doing business, communication, and entertainment.
Stephen Stolte
10/14/05
I have to disagree that internet gaming is an aspect of an emerging global digital culture. It is an aspect of the emerging digital culture. The digital culture and the global culture may be playing off each other and may be using each other to grow but they are not the same. If you take away one, the other will still exist. For example, most gaming cafes have games between people in the cafe not between people on the internet. This is because the connection is more secure and faster. People play games against people across the internet, in different countries, because they can. It is no more difficult than playing against someone down the street. If South Korea suddenly cut off all intrenational lines, the gaming would persist. This would seem to suggest that internet gaming is not a product of globalization. If anything globalization and a global culture are aspects or side effects of internet gaming. internet gaming provides a common ground and culture that people from around the world can all relate to.
The article also suggests that internet gaming is an addiction. Now, I am not going to say that internet gaming isn't an addiction for some people. But just because someone plays for 5 hours a day doesn't mean that they are addicted, especially if they are making money off it. No one is surprised at the amount of time pro atheletes spend training. But if a gamer spends that amount of time playing, they must be addicted. This attitude comes from the generation gap between traditional parents and computer wired children.
Sorry... Paul Thompson 10/14
I agree with several of the comments that have been made in favor of the situation in South Korea reflecting and emerging global digital culture. I also agree that this widely expanding culture has both its positive and negative points. The article clearly highlights the negative aspects, such as addiction, self-inflicted malnutrition and sleep deprivation and in rare cases, death. There are also, as at least one other fellow student commented on, some positive aspects that a global digital culture can provide. I think the key to the whole situation is balance, with anything in today’s globalized world of technology, there has to be a balance. Human beings cannot survive doing one thing 90% of their time (as proven by the gamer deaths in the CNN article) or eating just one thing. I think the effects of the emerging digital culture show an underlying weakness in society, both a lack of self control and a reliance on escapist video games to distract us from the chaos of the world. As for some of the more positive aspects of a digital culture, it allows for people on two different continents to interact and communicate in ways they never would have been able to do before. This interaction can build bridges of understand between people, which the world so desperately needs. It also further promotes the sharing of ideas, especially in the field of technology which can be used for things beside pleasure and human interaction, such as military training and more effective tools for classrooms of all kinds.
The effects of the high levels of technological integration come with both a positive and negative correlation. The positive side to this argument is that they are preview to whatever information there is to attain on the internet, and currently this information could range from nuclear energy sights to how to order Sponge bob tee-shirts. The people of South Korea are seeing their children utilize one aspect of this technology with the video game phenomenon, but the same can be said about Americans with the invention of the television. The negative side of this argument is that what is being sacrificed to create this assembly of connectivity. The infrastructure of South Korea could use the finances put into the massive technological front, but instead, staying advanced and poor is better than being fed and developing. I just look at a place like South Korea and think they should build more homes and living centers than more computers.
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This is definitely part of a digital culture, but this digital culture seperating people from their realities and the culture they actually live in. Gaming is not a bad thing but when people are dropping dead from sitting in front of computer screens for too long, it is not a good thing. And when South Koreans would rather spend more time in the digital world than the real one, as in the man who lost his job, the South Korean Government should reconsider spending money on a digital stadium before their population becomes more enthralled by a digital culture.
Sean Guidera, Posted 10/17
"You can play games like that because others are involved," Han said of serious game addiction. "It's not a game problem, it's people who had difficulty communicating with others resolving that difficulty through online games." I found this quote interesting because I believe that is this idea that has stifled our communication and has allowed key socialization skills to diminish. Although it is compelling that American children can interact with others on the other side of the world, there is still the inevitable consequence that they are missing out on social interactions with their peers. This is not limited to American children, but people of all ages and industrial nations. Gluing your eyes to a computer screen and fighting virtual bloody battles to the death is not the answer to integrating different cultures. In essence, the depersonalization that is learned at an early age is later on reflected in the business world which is already a cold arena with limited personal interaction.
I agree with the vast majority of the previous blogs that believe the video game addiction as seen in South Korea is part of emerging global digital culture. However, I disagree with many of the blogs that claim South Korea's obsession with video games constitutes a “problem”. To me, a country with "problems" is facing issues such as poverty, terrorism, disease, racism, etc.
"In this country of 48 million people with the world's highest per-capita rate of broadband connectivity at 70 percent, the rise in addiction to multiplayer online gaming is alarming psychologists." Instead of stressing the fact that 70% of South Koreans have access to broadband connections, the article focuses on two deaths in the past couple years. Although tragic, these deaths are isolated incidents. South Korea agrees. The fact that their government plans to build the world's first E-stadium sounds like they're embracing video games, rather than trying to combat this “problem”. Obviously, for a number of reasons I do not suggest that playing video games for hours (or days) online is a good thing. Nor do I mean to minimize the seriousness people’s addiction to video games. Rather, I mean emphasize that this issue is only possible in a very prosperous state; South Korea’s success can be measured by its nearly one-trillion dollar GDP, one of the world’s highest literacy rates, a life expectancy of 75, and a poverty level less than a third of the United States. Video game addiction doesn’t sound like such a bad problem for countries to have.
10/17
I think that this issue is an aspect of an emerging global digital culture because the video gaming problem is becoming more prevelent today. It might just be more acceptable in South Korea to play internet games all day, but it could affect our citizens in the US,and others. In the US, kids play video games on average 2-6hrs/per day. It is just a matter of time until they will be able to play new games on the internet,and spend more time playing. I think one negative aspect of the article is the internet cafe. If the people of South Korea know what the internet cafe is doing to there citizens, why keep them open? The article doesn't mention the times they are open. However, it seems that they are open 24/7. These internet cafes are creating a unhealthy situation for there citizens. Game players are suffering from physical pain, insomnia, fammine and leading to death. I am proud of how technology has helped society, but this is an example of why I don't like technology. People just go over board with things like this. It seems as if there living there lives through the internet, as shown with the teacher that teaches her students virtually. To me, thats just too uncanny for me.
I believe that the situation discussed in this article is an extreme version of one of the negative consequences of globalization. Unfortunately as internet access and connection spreads and becomes faster, it is causing a new culture to emerge that is centered solely on these internet games. The emerging global digital culture does seem to be having an effect in that it causes a deep rift between the different generations. A new generation has developed that is centered on the internet, high speed connection, and all of the possibilites that may come with it. The older generations can not relate, and can not keep up with the increasing speed that technology is moving. This article seems to show the possibilites for a new digital culture. A world consumed by virtual reality and dominated by technology.
I can see the correlation with a gaming addiction to the most wired nation in the world. But I can't fathom dying due to hunger and lack of sleep when it is both readily available. I don't know much about South Korea, but what I am sure is tht it is part of a culture that needs an outlet for expression.
Asians, primarily Japanese, stastically are the hardest working culture in the world, measured by the amount (or lack of) vacation days a year; generally 9 to 11. While most nations are obsessed with sports for down time, mostly soccer, this too often results in violence and injury after games. But you will never hear of an Italian dying after staring too long at the T.V. I feel that this passion and intensity is representative of a larger issue. Asian youth, primarily male, need to remove themselves from their seats, date more, listen to music, read, whatever. Harry Potter saved America's youth, maybe it's time for a new Korean import.
Concerns with the enroumous growth in and obsession with technology particularly, internet, video games, and other electronic devices that provide entertainment are not new and are certainly not limited to SOuth Korea. WHile the cases presented in the article are extreme,, the concerns are not unfounded. While the growth and advances in technology should be celebrated for thier sheer genious and sophisitication. However, such devices have proven dangerous to health as well as personal connections to real people and situtuations. The lesson that shoul dbe learned from this article is one that has always been stressed. The lesson should be that all things should be done in moderation. Technology is a wonderful thing, but as with all other things must be used and enjoyed in balance to avoid th dangerous side of the spectrum.
tarilyn little
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