VIdeo Games and Their Effects

When looking into video games and what happened when you are spending so much time on them, my group found very common but also interesting things. As a group we researched benefits and also negative effects on people who play video games and here are the two that stood out to us the most.

Everyone knows that playing video games has its bad sides. The negative effect that we found on people who play video games is that it can lead to addictive behavior. By addicted behavior we mean that the people playing video games get a very addictive connection to video games. According to Livestrong, addictive behavior due to video games causes lose of interest in previous hobbies and/or activities. People who show additive behavior from video games also are constantly thinking of their next video game session and when they can get back to the video games themselves.

One benefit to playing video games was found by buisnessinsider.com. People who play video games make accurate decisions 25% faster than people who don't play video games. They make faster decisions because the video games require thinking and fast reactions.

Highschool Football and Concussions

When looking at the video "Football High", it is beyond obvious what the major problem in football is; concussions. When looking into football, it is well aware how easy it is for a player to get a concussion. Concussions are usually just looked away from in this video. The coaches don't even really tend to care unless told to by someone like an athletic trainer. Coaches and players themselves don't realize how dangerous a concussion is, especially if it isn't your first one.

On solution you could use to help the concussion out is to provide an athletic trainer to every football team. I think this would be a great solution because then you would have a second opinion on injuries, also a medical opinion and someone who is looking out for the health of people and not just looking to win. The negative to this solution is that not every school has the money to throw away into getting an athletic trainer. Athletic trainers would be the best bet, but they also cost money that some schools might not have.

The second solution that might help with the problems of concussions is the helmets that are used in high school football. They should develop new helmets that would not only give your skull more adding but also slow your brain down from hitting the side of your head so there isn't as many concussions being developed. The pro to this solution would be less concussions and also it would prevent other injuries. The negative side to this is there might not be a way to develop a helmet to slow your brain down, it would take a lot of time to come up with something like this, and the research and whole process would also take a lot of money to proceed.

Soccer in America

The main point that is discussed between Chuck Klosterman and Frank Deford is soccer and it's issue and interest in America. Both Klosterman and Deford have some ideas that are related, but also have a few things to say that contrast each other's opinions. Deford and Klosterman both pretty much agree on one big picture; soccer is not popular in America. They both talk about how the majority of Americans would prefer a different sport over soccer; but some of their views are completely different.

Klosterman's main support of the reasoning behind American's not liking soccer is because of soccer itself. He says that soccer is a cover up sport for the people who don't fit in anywhere else. He also bases this support on his own experience, such as not fitting in as a kid, and children playing soccer themselves. Deford says that the reason that soccer is not popular in America isn't because of soccer itself, but the Americans. Deford says that the Americans won't give soccer a chance while Klosterman says soccer doesn't deserve a chance.

Sexy Men

While our class was surveyed about what made a man "sexy", the results came back different than the readings opinions. In the reading, sports and war were the two main things that were compared to how men should be brought up, act, or be resembled. Then we talked about the "dirty dozen" metaphors and compared the two from the sports side and also the war side. The results in these metaphors also did not compare to the results from our class based opinion survey.

The main results from our survey said that the things that made a "sexy" man weren't the same qualities that were discussed in the "dirty dozen" or the article. The main things that were found in the survey were things like hair, smile, and height; as to in the dirty dozen, things like personality, independence, and basic skills knowledge were very high up in the rankings. When you look at the survey, the things that were high in the article were the lowest in the survey and vise versa. I think that the two results were far from the same. I realized that if you put the results together the perfect man would be someone who has nice hair and teeth, is very kid friendly and also independent.

Masculinity in Rap Music

In today's society, you often see a lot of people who listen to rap music; but if I had to put a bet on it, more men listen to rap music than women. I think that this is a connection to masculinity as well. As we read in the article of Marlboro Country, it really discussed true masculinity in men, such as hard working cowboys who don't talk, don't rely on anyone and smoke Marlboros. As that article was written, it described true masculinity.

I think that when you look more deeply into rap music, who is usually the rappers; men. Who are more likely to listen to rap music; men. I think there is a connection here because the thing that men rappers rap about, are easy to relate to when you are a man. I am not saying that women don't listen to rap music or they shouldn't, it's just more common in men. When we watched the top rap/hip-hop songs in America in class, you could see that the rappers/singers were all men, they talked about women and their lives. It is easier for men to make the connection to today's rap music and it really shows their own masculinity.