Psychology Expert Claims Fortnite is \u2018Inappropriate For Children\u2019 Because the Objective is \u2018To Kill Other Humans\u2019 An American Psychologist has claimed that parents should not allow their kids to play Fortnite at all, because the objective of the game is \u201cto kill other humans\u201d This of course is not a new nor substantiated view \u2013 despite Leonard Sax MD\u2019s \u2018sources\u2019 \u2013 but is perhaps the most ridiculous version of it that we have seen. Many people, typically politicians, have asserted that video games are bad for kids because they make them more violent, less empathetic or \u2018desensitize\u2019 them, or just make them perform worse at school. And of course, it is undeniable that doing in excess is not good for one\u2019s overall wellbeing, but psychologist Leonard Sax, whose expertise lies in young people\u2019s mental health, thinks that Fortnite is particularly bad. According to Sax: \u201cplaying video games where the objective is to kill people \u2013 games such as \u2013 over time, desensitizes gamers to violence.\u201d However such a claim has been refuted numerous times by various researchers (See Kugler, 2018; Szycik, 2017; Ferguson, 2015), and others have called games only a single factor in a large number pool of influences on children\u2019s behavior (Anderson, 2017). Essentially, even if exposure to violent video games did increase risk to \u2018desensitization\u2019 (which much research says it does not), it would only be a single influence of many, including upbringing, social groups and exposure to other media. Fortnite Battle Royale pits 100 players against each other in a fight for survival Sax also goes on to say: \u201c[Parents] must have the courage to say: . Kids need to learn face-to-face social skills. They need to be physically active, preferably outdoors. They need to get a good night\u2019s sleep. A kid obsessed with is less likely to be doing any of these things.\u201d No one would argue that any of these things are not beneficial and needed for children \u2013 in fact, they are beneficial and needed for adults too \u2013 but why exactly does Fortnite prevent any of this? Well, according to Sax, \u201cno child is born wanting to be a great scientist, or composer, or teacher, or entrepreneur. They have to learn something of the scope of human possibility beyond what they see in a cartoon video game like Firstly, plenty children grow up with aspirations of being scientists, musicians, teachers or entrepreneurs (you could even say some of the most successful entrepreneurs are in fact Fortnite players \u2013 see \u2018Ninja\u2018). Secondly, there is no evidence whatsoever that playing video games would blunt a child\u2019s life ambitions, any more so than a child obsessed with basketball, music, dance, weightlifting or movies \u2013 or really any other activity which children or adults may participate in as a hobby. Sax does suggest some reasonable recommendations, such as allowing video games after homework and chores are complete. But apparently children should not be allowed to play \u2018, .\u2019 Well, Sax is correct with the latter two, given that both Call of Duty and Grand Theft Auto are rated mature, and so only people over 17 should be playing them anyway \u2013 so nothing new there. With Fortnite however, there is no blood, no dismemberment, no foul language, no dark themes, or any other \u2018violence\u2019. Apparently, shooting non-existent bullets, boogie bombs, toilet plungers or easter-egg grenade launchers towards a character with a fish-bowl for a head with no blood whatsoever is now causing children to become desensitized to violence. An example of a character in Fortnite To conclude, Sax believes that it is a parents job to: \u201cTo educate desire: to instill a longing for something better, more lasting, than video games or Kim Kardashian and Kylie Jenner on Instagram.\u201d Ignoring the rather odd and irrelevant mention of Kim Kardashian\u2019s Instagram, there is no disagreeing with this statement. But don\u2019t be fooled into thinking that children playing Fortnite for a few hours with friends after having done their homework, will in any way negatively affect their life ambitions as a human being. Oh, and it definitely will not make them more violent. They are shooting pumpkin shaped rockets at characters with fish bowls for heads.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Psychology Expert Claims Fortnite is \u2018Inappropriate For Children\u2019 Because the Objective is \u2018To Kill Other Humans\u2019 An American Psychologist has claimed that parents should not allow their kids to play Fortnite at all, because the objective of the game is \u201cto kill other humans\u201d This of course is not a new nor substantiated view \u2013 […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-76976","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/dejan.au\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/76976","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/dejan.au\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/dejan.au\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dejan.au\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dejan.au\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=76976"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/dejan.au\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/76976\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/dejan.au\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=76976"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dejan.au\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=76976"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dejan.au\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=76976"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}