Faith. Life. Gaming.
In our culture of “unfriending” and “muting” others, I found this piece by Tim Challies titled “The Cost of Surrounding Yourself with Negative People” refreshing.
It turns out that there is something far more costly than being with negative people: The cost of avoiding negative people, and thus, avoiding the kind of life that Jesus calls us to.
You can read more here.
I wasn’t allowed to say the word butthole growing up.
Butthole
Butthole
Butthole
Slinging that word at a sibling was considered a no-no and led, at least for awhile, to getting my mouth washed out with soap.
The Internet is full of buttholes. Those people we normally wouldn’t allow within 5 feet of us who are now snuggled up to our screens. Writing comments on our blogs and saying things on our social media pages that they would never say to our faces… or maybe they would say those things?
I’m tired of the buttholes ruining the Internet. I’m tired of:
Today I declare war on the buttholes. Go away! Your words are like poison to the soul.
My shields are up. I’m not going to let some random internet person ruin my day NOR be the cause of me getting my mouth washed out with soap for calling them…
A butthole.
(Not that that would happen. I’m an adult now. I can say adult things. I think.)
This made me smile. There is something humorous about a big boy hockey team being told video games are a no-no.
As reported by The Province, Canucks’ center and alternate captain Bo Horvat explains that video games are presenting a distraction from players interacting with each other, as they’re just playing a lot of Fortnite instead.
“Yeah, that’s definitely a no-go on the road,” Horvat said. “No more Fortnite. No more bringing video games on the road. It’s strictly team meals, team dinners and hanging out with the guys. So we put an end to that.”
I enjoyed this piece, “School-Year Screen-Time Rules from a Teacher“, by Rebecca Young over at Common Sense Media.
Last year Fortnite invaded my middle school classroom — as I believe it did to middle school classrooms across the country. Students who were usually on task and high-performing were nodding off and “forgetting” to do their homework. The morning conversations about how late they stayed up or who was the last man standing became part of our early morning check-ins. Then the phone calls with parents started: Over several months, I had numerous telephone and after-school meetings with parents concerned about their kids’ performance. When I brought up screen time, there were a range of reactions. Some parents seemed oblivious as to what their children were doing after hours, some didn’t know how to rein in screen time, and some thought they had it all under control — but clearly did not.
You can read more here.
The recent extended stay of Fortnite, in my house, has me questioning video game violence once more. Specifically the language we use when playing violent games. The so-called Power Rangers Effect where kids start to do ninja moves after watching the show. But instead of ninja moves, using game specific weapons when talking/playing: “I’m going to kill you with my SMG.” Dr. Schut does a great job diving into the topic of video game violence.
I wish I could give you a simple formula: do this and don’t do that. But life doesn’t usually work out so neatly. I think the lines vary from person to person, from situation to situation, from mood to mood.
You can read more of Dr. Schut’s article titled “Should You Play Violent Video Games?” over at Love Thy Nerd.
JohnnyBGamer