Video Games: Instructions for Use
How are video games changing – and how are we changing with them – during the era of smartphones and Facebook? What can be done at the psychological level to limit their risks and increase their potentials? On these questions we have interviewed Maria Beatrice Toro, psychologist and expert psychotherapist on children, adolescents and new media. She has published various works on these topics. A review of Toro’s most recent work, Adolescents and Adultescents, can also be accessed on our site.
If you think that they are just a hobby for antisocial, loner children, you need to be updated. More and more, video games are becoming a form of entertainment for all age groups, without limits of time and space, but also a powerful tool for acquiring and developing skills. These instruments are the pillars of an approach toward reality defined gamification. Attitudes and daily behavioral patterns are shaped in the game that can make life easier and make us happier. If these instruments, however, are misused, they can trigger aggression and addictions.
Family relationships, how they are presented in the media, and virtual relationshipsNorberto González Gaitano (Pontifical University of the Holy Cross).Giovanni Spadolini’s Hall. Senate of the Italian Republic.International Day of the Family, May 13, 2011.
Message of John Paul II for the 38th World Communications Day (2004)
Message of Benedict XVI for the 43rd World Communications Day (2009)