Reno couple blame Net for child neglect; bloggers blame couple
Claims of Internet and video game addiction aren't getting any sympathy from bloggers. And if the so-called Internet addicted can't get understanding from people who spend much of their day on a computer, it's doubtful anyone else will buy it.
The Associated Press this week reports on a Reno, Nev., couple accused of criminal neglect of their two young children. A neighbor phoned police to report a child's incessant wailing, and when police arrived, they found garbage piled up, the couple playing video games and plenty of food and baby formula in the fridge. The children were malnourished, dehydrated and riddled with infections, their muscles atrophied. Their parents, Michael and Iana Straw, ages 25 and 23, respectively, are claiming "Internet addiction" as their defense.
The Reno Gazette-Journal points out that child abuse and neglect cases often come out of alcohol- and substance-addicted families, but this seems to be the first time the Web has been cited as a cause.
The American Medical Association last month decided not to decide whether video game addiction was a real mental disorder. Their official statement was along the lines of "it's too new and we don't have enough information yet," but it's been proposed and will be researched. As with other addictions, the question seems to be where to draw the line. Is it a bad habit or a mental illness when someone spends dozens of hours a week playing online games? Is it an addiction when they can't stop even if they want to?
Michael recently inherited $50 grand and spent much of it on a plasma TV and state-of-the-art computer gaming system. He is an "unemployed cashier" and she a warehouse temp worker. What happened to the Straws to insulate them so thoroughly from the realities of adult life? Are they irresponsible or are they sick? Some are saying these young people suffer from a far deeper affliction than compulsive gaming.
Let us quote from the less vitriolic end of the blogging spectrum:
"In truth, I don't really care whether these people are simply bad, or sadly addicted to Dungeons and Dragons. To render two people, never mind flesh and blood, near death while you shirk adult responsibilities and play games is outrageous."
--madness, madness i say!
"Sucky people shouldn't breed."
--LiveJournal user oshiah
"Even apes take care of their young...GROW THE HELL UP. You want to screw up your own lives, fine. Give the kids to people who WANT them and go live in your fantasy realm of no responsibility and no dependencies. Go live where you CAN hit a reset button if you die. Go live where there are no emotional attachments or interactions. But your kids deserve better than that, damn it."
--LiveJournal user hayley76
Sucks for the kids though.
Nonsense. You'd get the same response from bar patrons regarding alcoholics, or gamblers regarding gambling.
I'm not saying addiction absolves responsibility in the least, nor am I at all in the anti-internet camp, but addiction is a clear and present danger, and there should be more of an awareness so people know what signs and symptoms to look for in friends and loved ones.
Addiction has two components -- the addict, and the fix. The internet, and MMORPGs in particular, are "the fix" for a great number of people. And much like drugs, they require ever-increasing participation to achieve (never quite) the same euphoria.
Or we can just continue along with our virtual heads in the silicon, pretending that stimuli have no effect on the psyche unless that stimulus has been chugged, smoked, or injected.
However, we know that gambling is a recognized form of addiction, and there's no physiological component to that outside of what happens naturally in the brain to induce the high that keeps people coming back for more.
While I agree that there isn't enough research about so-called "Internet addiction" to determine if there's something really there or not, I suppose that it's possible in the same way that becoming addicted to gambling is possible.
All that said, these people should be in jail. "I was high at the time" isn't a valid defense for someone on trial for neglect when their small child falls into the swimming pool and drowns.
"I was playing video games" as a defense for neglecting your children and allowing them to become malnourished is, to me, even worse because unlike someone who has incapacitated themselves through alcohol or drugs, at some level there has to be some reckoning that the children aren't being taken care of. And that implies that at some level, there is a choice made to keep playing video games, knowing that you should instead be feeding the kids.
Seriously, these people need a kick in the butt for even trying this incredibly lame defense. Accept some responsibility for your (in)action, instead of ******** that the video games made you do it.
Under heroes she wrote, "Um...me?"
"I've got an addiction", "my mommy didn't breast feed me", whatever. I'm old enough to remember when actions had consequences. That concept seems to be lost these days in the good old USA.
Today, everyone wants to blame someone or something else for their stupid and/or criminal activity. And all you have to do is turn over the nearest rock to find someone to represent you in court.
To steal a line from an ancient TV show:
"If you can't do the time, don't do the crime"
take responsibility for their actions. Addicted to video games so
we didn't feed our kids? I'm going to start beating my wife every
day, then I'll just say that I couldn't stop because.....let's
see.....oh I know!....I was addicted to beating my wife!!!
Blame the Democrats and anyone else who can find sympathy
for these two young parents. Throw 'em in jail, throw away the
key, make an example out of them, then put the kids in a new
home with some new parents that will nurture them. Alot of
problems exist, and are exacerbated, because we just won't
punish people who step outside the law. We want a scapegoat,
someone or something to blame. Those two are to blame, no
one and nothing else. Addicted to being heartless, self-serving,
pathetic examples of parenthood.
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by manojiitan12
July 18, 2008 9:55 PM PDT
- the Reno couple blame Net for child neglect; bloggers blame couple.Following this revelation, anyone with an opinion on first-person shooters, God or teenagers took to the keyboard and beat the devil out of it.Are churches advocating warfare? Are they training soldiers? Do they talk over the ethics of a just war with the youth? Do they talk about whether and when it's OK to kill another human being? Is God on anyone's "side" in an armed conflict?
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(14 Comments)mack
Addiction Recovery Nevada