Video Games and Violence - Shaykh Hamza Yusuf

Surah Al-Kahf (The CAVE: unplugging and keeping righteous company, albeit few) is the Surah for this Ummah: The day that we turn all this rubbish off is the day we've had VICTORY!

Hadith on Fitnah: Trials will immerse hearts of people in desires
Hudhayfah reported: The Messenger of Allah, peace and blessings be upon him, said, “Tribulation will be exposed to the hearts of people like a reed mat woven, stick by stick [MATRIX OF T.V.]. Any heart afflicted by them will have a black mark put into it, but any heart that rejects them will have a white mark put into it. Thus, there will be two kinds of hearts: one is pure like a white gemstone; it will not be harmed by any trial as long as the heavens and earth endure. The other is black and dusty like a worn-out vessel, neither acknowledging good nor rejecting evil, rather ABSORBED IN ITS DESIRES.”

Source: Ṣaḥīḥ Muslim 144 | Grade: Sahih (authentic) according to Muslim

Our new technologies are carefully engineered to foster behavioral addictions via:
-Intermittent positive reinforcement; and
-The drive for social approval

The machine benefits from the “network effect”: the more people write to it, the more benefits it can offer, until it becomes a disadvantage not to be part of it. Part of what? The world’s first ever public, live, collective, open-ended writing project. A VIRTUAL LABORATORY. An addiction machine, which deploys crude techniques of manipulation redolent of the Skinner Box created by behaviourist BF Skinner to control the behaviour of pigeons and rats with rewards and punishments. We are users, much as cocaine addicts are users.

Tristan Harris, Google’s former design ethicist, calls your smartphone “THE SLOT MACHINE IN YOUR POCKET”. Most smartphone apps use “intermittent variable rewards” to keep users hooked. Because rewards are variable, they are uncertain: you have to pull the lever to see what you are going to get. Adam Alter adds that, with the invention of the like button, users are gambling every time they post. The anthropologist Natasha Dow Schüll, based on her work on machine gambling, agrees.

www.theguardian.com/technology/2019/aug/23/social-…

What Screen Addictions and Drug Addictions Have in Common:
New research shows that age-old concerns about the detrimental effects of screen time hold true.

"It’s clear that screen-addicted brains look a lot like drug-addicted brains in mice. And it’s likely that the former leads to the latter."
www.pbs.org/wgbh/nova/article/screen-time-addictio…

40 percent of 3-month-old infants are regularly watching TV, DVDs or videos
"A large number of parents are ignoring warnings from the American Academy of Pediatrics and are allowing their very young children to watch television, DVDs or videos so that by 3 months of age 40 percent of infants are regular viewers.

That number jumps to 90 percent of 2-year-olds, according to a new study by researchers at the University of Washington and Seattle Children’s Hospital Research Institute. The findings are being published today in the Archives of Pediatrics and Adolescent Medicine."

“...Excessive viewing before age 3 has been shown to be associated with problems of attention control, AGGRESSIVE BEHAVIOR and poor cognitive development. Early television viewing has exploded in recent years, and is one of the major public health issues facing American children.”

www.washington.edu/news/2007/05/07/40-percent-of-3…

Sex and Violence in the Media Influence Teen Behavior: Three studies show a correlation.

journals.lww.com/ajnonline/Fulltext/2009/02000/Sex…

STEVE JOBS NEVER LET HIS KIDS USE AN IPAD: "Two years later when he was asked “Your kids must love the iPad?” He said “Actually we don’t allow the iPad in the home. We think it’s TOO DANGEROUS for them in effect.” The reason why he said that was because he recognized just how addictive the iPad was as a vehicle for delivering things to people. That once you had the iPad in front of you, or when you took it away from the home with you, you’d always have access to these platforms that were very addictive. That were hard to resist."

www.businessinsider.com/heres-why-steve-jobs-never…

The scans showed a negative effect on the brains of the teens who played “Medal of Honor” for 30 minutes. That same effect was not present in the kids who played “Need for Speed.”

The only difference? Violent content.
www.nbcnews.com/id/16099971/ns/technology_and_scie…
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SHAYKH HAMZA YUSUF: WAKE UP    • SHAYKH HAMZA YUSUF: WAKE UP