This Is Your Child's Brain on Videogames | WSJ

As many parents know, turning off a child's gaming console in the middle of gameplay is a surefire way to trigger a tantrum. WSJ Family & Tech columnist Julie Jargon explains why.

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#WSJ #psychology

[Xuzon]

You completely miss the point here. What if I unplug your PC, when you are on right about to finish writing an article and didn't save. I wonder how your frontal cortex will deal with it.

[stuff]

Unplug a dad's TV whilst he watches football and see what happens

[alext]

Or you just killed their progress for the past hour and a half and they didn’t save.

[kennny]

Take away Legos? You mean like throwing the Lego, that you are STILL building it with much effort, out the window, or just taking a pile of unbuilt Lego and throwing em out? Cause it's a whole different story. Haha

[BruceMagnus]

Hack in to WSJ's computers and delete all of their half-edited footage and stories.
If they get angry, tell them their prefrontal cortex isn't developed.

[eantays]

Imagine a kid is working super hard on a sand castle and their parent who is meant to be a leader and protector NOT only destroys it but does it with a camera in their face just to watch their reaction so they can show their friends how dumb their kid is. I'd be pissed too.

[muhammad]

try pushing away chess pieces from 2 players...

[kookiepatooti]

It's like you were watching the super bowl and the game is about to finish but someone just unplugged the TV.
If you were writing an assignment and someone shredded those papers that you worked so hard on how would you feel?
If someones playing a game just let them complete it or save it, then turn off the device.

[XOPOIIIO]

I'm 31 with fully devolved prefrontal cortex, I would be angry to be interrupted when I'm focused on something and need to control it.

[deividpaulinopsi]

As a Psychologist, I really understand that some kids have a lot of problems with games, but let's be honest, anyone would be mad at someone else for turning off the game in the middle of something important.

[neohchenlun]

1 unsaved progress
2 multiplayer
instead of asking the professors, ask the kids...please

[theforbiddenfruit]

I just LOVE the clip they used at 0:58 like the kid literally explains that it was a one time only opportunity. Anyone would get mad

[cookieflavoredoreo]

How about you have a scrap book that you have invested lots of time and is almost finished, then I take it and throw it into the river.

[sshmily]

This is funny, this doesn't only apply to children, this applies to everyone who put time and effort to complete something.

[LDGRXR]

"I deleted my child's minecraft world that he spent hours working on and now he is angry"
WSJ: well, maybe their frontal cordex is not developed

[Munden]

My grandma was putting her puzzle together and I came in and smashed it while recording her reaction!
You should have seen her face; priceless! Just like these kids. Come on, It's just a prank gran, jeez. Get over it.

[ericpratt]

Parent: *Does something terrible to their kid on purpose*
Kid: *Gets angry at them for it*
Parent: "Geesh. Looks like my kid needs therapy."

[sankari]

Ok for a minute just imagine that you were in a football game. Your focusing really hard and trying to win, and then all of a sudden the game dissapears and you see a person who did it willingly (and fully aware how much it ment to you). And then a bunch of people send you to a psychiatrist for getting angry at that person.

[svencer]

me:done all my homework, eaten dinner, has atleast 8 hours of sleep

parents:I ll unplugged the power and laugh at you because you've invested so much time and you've done everthing you need to do before you go play games

[dantedmc]

What if I smash your car suddenly that you hard worked for and laugh