The Myths of Media Interactivity: Youth and Cyberspace

Abstract

What then is to be concerned about interactive video games if we have not accepted the media violence hypothesis, and have raised some skepticism regarding the New Tough Women characters in cyberspace? By dismissing the authority of these scientific studies, are we not ourselves undermining our own thesis of the continued “loss” of faith in the Symbolic Order? Are stances such as Gerard Jones (2002) who is almost entirely supportive of violent video games to be applauded? There are a number of serious concerns that need to be addressed with interactive video games and youth interaction with the Internet (www), designated as cyberspace or VR (virtual reality) in this chapter. These issues directly deal with questions concerning youth identity, designer capitalism’s dominance of Internet sites, and the dangers of video game “addiction” that have emerged with the failure of trust in the Symbolic Order. Globally and nationally speaking, it is only a small, mostly white minority of privileged youth today who “enjoy” being “wired” into the “new media.” These are the so-called teleWebbers or viewsers who multitask, simultaneously e-mailing, instant messaging, surfing the Web, talking on cell phone, watching TV while doing their homework and even at times playing a video game.