I absolutely love the xbox 360. As I have said before I think it is a superior machine mostly because of what it CAN do. I have made it a mission to explore more options of the 360 as I have been able to get the money and afford it. Granted the usefulness of the 360 depends more on who actually has a 360.
My latest venture was xbox live vision. Essentially it is an accessory for the xbox (and can be used on the computer) that allows you to see others while video chatting and while you are playing some games. Its not a feature that a lot of games use, yet, but it seems to be a growing fad. Of course I only use it with people I know and not for others, I am a pretty private person.
I bought mine new but opened on ebay and it came with two games one being Uno. I like Uno, don't love it but like it. Its a fun game and one that I really enjoy through the 360. I tested the vision for the first time throughout that game. It was kind of neat to see people as they play. I can really see this being more useful for Poker games. I happened to tell a youth pastor friend of mine that I had gotten it, he asked me for my opinion on it. He happened to have some buddies who were thinking of purchasing the same product so he eventually bought it as well.
One day we were on together and played Uno to "test" out xbox vision again. This session had us two and two other boys who had to be in the Middle/High School range. My camera was unplugged so I was having trouble getting the camera plugged in as I was trying to play the game but that didn't stop the conversation happening on the screen. One particular boy was chatting to another and talking to us on occasion. Then out of the blue, seriously, I did not expect this at all, he asked the other boy if he wanted to see his girlfriends [explicit]. That is when I turned on my mic and said "NO" very aggressively (I was still trying to battle getting the camera plugged, I am sure I looked like a real idiot). His response was why not and still asked the question again to the other boy, the other boys response was sure and that is when I and my buddy left the table. We started our own game in which my first response was, "well that is the negative side of xbox vision".
This situation got me thinking about how life has changed so much. I would never dream of saying anything of this sort, and definitely not act it out. I am sure xbox vision was more for connecting people and not to be used in perverse ways. In some ways its a tragedy that these kinds of things happen. That this type of door has opened up in the world of teenagers. As a youth worker I find my mind surrounded by, "how do we approach this with the youth and with the parents of youth?"
My question is how do we approach technology? How do we teach students/parents the dangers and temptations of the advancing world through the internet? Is this an issue we (the Church) should even address? I am interested in your thoughts!!!
1 comment:
Yes!!! Parents and youth should be educated on its dangers. I think parents should be educated on how to block (or censor) it using current software or in some way that can be incripted so that the kids can't hack it. Our school sponsored a function that taught parents that very thing. Parents should be more internet savvy than the kids, if possible. Since both of my kids are still infants, I'll have the added concerns of more advanced technology in the future, but will need to make the time to learn about it. Being proactive is best!!!
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