Video Game addiction

Our colleague Jenny Léger asked on e-teach where she could find a picture to start a new teaching unit in Terminale STi, based around the Bac paper from June 2007. I’m sure lots of you will be interested in such a unit, so here are some useful documents.

A cartoon and the bac paper

I found this picture, showing a boy taking roots and turning into a tree, with his fingers becoming roots that look like spaghettis…
http://www.caglecartoons.com/images/preview/%7BF4A58228-DA12-49[…]
Here is the paper, for Bac STG-STI-SMS-STL 2007. The text was about a new clinic opening for video game addicts. Here is the original presentation:
http://pedagogie.ac-montpellier.fr/disciplines/anglais/ressources/suj[…]
and there you can find it in Word and .rtf formats, plus a correction and a grid
http://anglais.free.fr/sujets/index_sujets.html

Other cartoons

« you spend too much time on your computer, we’d like you to watch more tv! »
http://www.caglecartoons.com/images/thumbnail/%7B2EB8099A-85A3-4276[…]
mechanical workaholic
http://www.caglecartoons.com/images/thumbnail/%7B18FB14F7-2275-[…]
chat room addict
http://www.caglecartoons.com/images/preview/%7B2037AD3A-1AC2-42[…]
caught reading (with lots of computer vocabulary)
http://www.caglecartoons.com/images/preview/%7B0884C37F-FB3F-[…]

Pictures

video game addict who can’t even stop to drink his coffee
http://www.extremefunnyhumor.com/pics/video_game_addict.jpg
beaucoup plus hard, look drug addict
http://www.kodykoala.com/uploads/wow2030_062207.jpg

The site of an anti-addiction machine

excellent for STI and BTSI : play limit is a machine that you can (or could?) buy! it look a bit old, but the description of the product is very interesting.
http://www.playlimit.com/
there is also an excellent user guide, with pictures and diagrams, but it seems to date back from the 70s or 80s, so remember to present it as an historical documents….;)
http://www.playlimit.com/forms/PlayLimitUserGuide.pdf

Videos

a teacher who was an addict explains his case and gives advices
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F2zyQoM36Fg
 » Documentary, does video game addiction exist? » a bit long (12mn), with interviews of people : how much and often do they play? What games? Why?
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_aCmWoVrHDc
a video, with an article close to the text of the exam  » (but I couldn’t get it…)
http://www.wsbt.com/news/8483782.html
from YouTube, a student’s project for a college class. Interesting video without words, showing roommates having a discussion through computers instead of just talking to each other.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pBKv8CcfJZk

News Articles about computer games addiction

short : « are video games addictive? »
http://www.parenthood.com/articles.html?article_id=6108
long but comprehensive, with a photo of Tim « Detox for video game addiction? »
http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2006/07/03/health/webmd/main1773956.shtml
the same article, shorter « treatement for video game addicts : it’s no joke, clinic director compares problem to drug »
http://www.showbuzz.cbsnews.com/stories/2006/06/09/games_reviews/[…]
from the BBC : video games, cause for concern? »
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/1036088.stm
about a clinic in the US
http://www.computeraddiction.com/
an article about this doctor, written in 1999
http://www.news.harvard.edu/gazette/1999/01.21/computer.html

To widen the scope, other addictions like gambling, alcohol and mobile phones
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/1036088.stm