Too Much Video Games And Porn Blamed For ‘Masculinity Crisis’

A new study blames addiction to porn and video games for the “masculinity crisis” experienced by men today. The new book published by renowned psychologist, Phillip Zimbardo, contains findings of how technology affects the male brain structure.

The published book written by Zimbardo and co-author Nikita Coulumbe presents why young boys of this generation do not toughen up as how the men of previous generations did. In the book, the authors stated that women are on fire when it comes to real world success.

However, young men rely more on cyberspace to validate themselves because they cannot do it elsewhere. Zimbardo recounts in a BBC interview the findings of the study, which involved 20,000 young male participants and their relationship with pornography and video games.

Tech Times reports that there is an overwhelming consumption of video games based on statistics. The report states that Call of Duty: Black Ops 2 garnered $500 million sales in the first 24 hours of its release in 2012. In 2013, the gaming industry has grown, with an increase of $3 billion from 2012.

Zimbardo, who is also a professor emeritus at Stanford University, said that the crisis among men stems from a “new form of addiction”, which is too much pornography and video games that affects men’s academic achievement and social development.

He stated in his TED talk an example of the mind-set of a man addicted to porn and video games. In his example, a man would say “when I'm in class, I'll wish I was playing World of Warcraft. When I'm with a girl, I'll wish I was watching pornography, because I'll never get rejected."

Zimbardo warns parents of young boys playing video games or watching porn excessively, and by excessive the Stanford psychologist means more than five hours per day. He said that parents should see this as a serious problem. He also encourages schools to foster sex education programs to give more focus on emotions, romantic relationships, and physical contact.

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