Comments on Mature Landscaping: Granny Plays Grand Theft Auto

Yeah what Marc said! And as for his driving...he s...

2010-01-16T01:37:51.041-05:00

Yeah what Marc said! And as for his driving...he scares the crap out of me. I wish that when we are together he would always let me drive so he can answer the phone, write emails, and do whatever he needs to on his phone. I fear that one day he will kill us both, but there is no reasoning with him.

Hi, I did not get your e-mail about Sensational Wo...

2010-01-15T19:47:56.108-05:00

Hi, I did not get your e-mail about Sensational Woman Saturday. Please try again at writingwithoutperiods@gmail.com
Mary

ML's Aunt Gwen sends this comment via email: &...

2010-01-15T18:21:52.346-05:00

ML's Aunt Gwen sends this comment via email: "My score is 3.87. How did you get that picture of me driving?"

Missed this quote when I was posting and it belong...

2010-01-15T07:57:33.212-05:00

Missed this quote when I was posting and it belongs here somewhere! PositScience's chief scientific officer calls his InSight program medicine. Mossman responds, "If brain training is medicine, Cognifit and InSight are penicillin--and Grand Theft Auto is crack." He points out that GTA's type of stimulation, while it may improve object-based attention, is best suited to young men with high testosterone levels.

Stanford U. completed a study in Aug, 2009, on multitasking and concluded, "People who are regularly bombarded with several streams of electronic information do not pay attention, control their memory or switch from one job to another as well as those who prefer to complete one task at a time, a group of Stanford researchers has found." Check it out at http://news.stanford.edu/news/2009/august24/multitask-research-study-082409.html

Meanwhile, Granny adores her Commenters! Thank you for sitting down and staying a spell!

Yet another post to which I totally relate. I thin...

2010-01-15T00:40:02.744-05:00

Yet another post to which I totally relate. I think that I'm a good driver. I've had only one minor accident and that was when I was in my 30s. No one was hurt and there was no damage to the other driver's vehicle and minimal damage to mine. I've never received a speeding ticket. I was stopped once but I was apologetic and let off with a warning. However, I do worry aboujt my reaction time. Am I as alert as I need to be? I love games and I'm convinced that I need to use it or lose when it comes to mental acuity. My mother and both my grandmothers suffered from alzheimers in their later years.

I have seen GTA and I was appalled by the level of violence. It has long amazed me that American culture seems far more concerned about children seeing sexual content than we are about children viewing violent content. Me, I prefer the sex.

I think that the ability to multi-task is the biggest myth that we have sold ourselves. Dividing one's attention among multiple tasks only means that nothing is really being done well. There is actually some new research that proposes this to be true but of course all the multi-taskers are busy quashing it and the roadways continue to be filled with all of these people who have deluded themselves as to their own brilliance.

Okay, now I'm off to test my attention span with the puffer fish.

So many good points..... We bought GTA for our so...

2010-01-14T16:16:47.860-05:00

So many good points.....

We bought GTA for our son one Xmas and watched in horror as he mowed people down with impunity.

Have you tried Lumosity? It's an on-line brain-training program that you download once and the games just keep getting harder. It's fun.

I understand about the game spilling over into your real life: I'm addicted to Tetris and often find myself rearranging the shapes in the world around me to fill the lines below them....

In addition to driving skills, height also needs to be assessed. Here in Arizona we have too many little old ladies and gents peering between their hands on the steering wheel. And they are too stiff with arthritis to turn their heads...... But without decent public transit or subsidized elder transport what's a person to do?
a/b

I think that after a certain age driver's shou...

2010-01-14T01:11:42.938-05:00

I think that after a certain age driver's should be tested to see if they can stay awake at the wheel and know what all the pedals and lights are for. Seriously, I think some don't! But the same could be said for younger drivers. Valley girls who clearly don't know what all the lights and pedals are for either LOL

Drivers who text, multi task, feed their kid snacks, talk on the phone, go 85 in a 50 or who go 35 in a 55, are all just as dangerous as old people, at times, too.

Grand Theft Auto...thankfully I have no use/need/clue about video games at this stage in life. I am bloggieaddicted!

xoxo

Thanks, almost! I've still got it.

2010-01-13T17:40:55.433-05:00

Thanks, almost! I've still got it.

I admire any driver-of-age who will even WONDER if...

2010-01-13T13:41:19.840-05:00

I admire any driver-of-age who will even WONDER if their driving skills are still "up to par," let alone take some steps (e.g., tests) to find out one way or 'tother. Same with hearing skills, vision, and all the other abilities that can decline without our realizing! Yeah, you.

My son. Dear Reader, I never stood a chance ;)

2010-01-13T12:25:55.708-05:00

My son. Dear Reader, I never stood a chance ;)

I guess everyone has an opinion on this one, but d...

2010-01-13T12:12:54.791-05:00

I guess everyone has an opinion on this one, but driving record has to be a better indicator than self-opinion... barring the fact that it only takes one bad driver to cause two or more to get in a wreck. I've yet to hear anyone admit that they were a bad driver. I'm a good driver when I'm not answering multiple phone calls from recording studios and creating calendar events behind the wheel. Terrible idea, I know. In the scenarios where traffic is dense or you're anywhere near a highway interchange I won't do it, the risk factor goes up too much... I'll bet over 35 percent of drivers text and drive. That isn't really any worse than eating and driving, and probably only slightly worse than talking and driving. Nontheless, I've averted a handful of accidents caused by people on their mobile phone lane drifting while I was on mine. It's unsafe in any scenario, but the ability to multi-task while properly prioritizing is key. Anyhow, it's tricky when you spend anywhere from 1-3 hours per day driving and that's your opportunity to return missed calls to clients. I'm a mobile office and the iPhone (and before the blackberry) is my conduit to the world.

I've played through several of the Grand Theft Auto games, and enjoyed them thoroughly. I can relate to the writer you mentioned that said he's more aware of extra vehicles, obstacles, pedestrians and such..and yes-when driving right after playing it does cross your mind to run them over... and I usually get a good laugh out of how silly the thought is. I see no concrete connection between video game violence and real life violence. I defy anyone to find an individual who had no intent to harm anyone that went and played a video game and then went out and caused someone harm. It just does not happen. At the worst you might give criminals some new creative ideas, but I seriously doubt they've influenced anyone to suddenly become violent. It's about an absurd of an idea to think that someone could watch Silence of the Lambs and then decide it was a great idea to go out and eat someone. I know these video games are shocking to those who aren't desensitized, but it doesn't take long for the initial shock to wear off. Being and avid gamer and based on my recent experiences, I can attest that in my case there is no connection between being desensitized to virtual violence having any impact on being desensitized to actual violence.

And I've always thought you were a good driver, with the one exception I pointed out many years ago. I made a connection between Einstein's theory of relativity and driving when I was about 16, and I thought I was hot shit. The theory still stands. Simply put, if you're going 45 in the left lane and everyone is zooming by you going 60, you are at higher risk because your relative speed is vastly different than those around you, thereby becoming more of an obstacle and increasing your risk. That being said, multiple lane changes to be in the left lane at the opportune time to turn is a risk increase too...so who knows.

As for the Jewel Diver game, I scored a 3.59. The higher the score, the more moving objects you can accurately track at a time. Playing Grand Theft Auto clearly has prepared me for Jewel Diver.

Well, I've got to go.... I've got a sudden urge to cut some fish open in hopes of sparkly treasure. (If this puzzles any of the readers, try Jewel Diver).

-Marc

I've noticed my driving skills aren't what...

2010-01-13T11:43:21.373-05:00

I've noticed my driving skills aren't what they used to be. Husband and I took a defensive driving class to get the insurance discount. Class was for two nights and so boring I offered to cook for 10 days in a row if I didn't have to go back! However I did learn a few things.
Mary

Jewel Driver was fun and the price was right. It t...

2010-01-13T11:42:39.988-05:00

Jewel Driver was fun and the price was right. It troubles me, slightly, to believe that most computer equipped 14 year olds could better my 2.87 score. Just keep 'em on the key boards.

DH