I’m sorry ITR champion, but this is horribly misguided and if ivyboy plays video games at all, he already knows you’re full of shit. But to all the other parents who want to pass similar advice along to their children: VIDEO GAMES ARE NO MORE A DISTRACTION THAN TV OR GIRLS OR A CERTAIN MESSAGE BOARD.
They’re not different in any way and they’re not analogous to drugs. We play them, you just fear them. Trust what those of us who play them tell you.
This is true, but it takes a huge amount of work to figure out which classes actually fall into this paradise-like situation. Students that have taken the class may know, but some professors change their class structure so much from year to year that it’s impossible to know for sure.
The really nice professors will tell you on the first day which books are NEEDED and which are just nice to have.
Oh, and if a prof says a class REQUIRES more than 3 textbooks, they’re most likely lying. That’s the time to do the detective work and figure out which ones are actually optional.
Yes, to add to what I said earlier…of all my classes in college, I was only able to get away with ditching the book for ONE class (of course, that doesn’t count the labs, where no book was required.)
Not at all, goofball. It’s just a little odd to be doing it in the same room.
Yeah, in my Media Law class, we had no textbook: The professor emailed us the texts of court decisions, which we discussed, and that was about it aside from a few handouts. It was nice.
He has a guest membership, and we have the internet set up in such a way that more than one person can be on at the same time. My son was on via his laptop, and I’m on in between bouts of Word Whomp over at pogo.com
He posted a question, and I replied. Isn’t the modern family grand?
I’m reminded of that episode of My Name is Earl where the guy died in a Murphy Bed, and they thought he had no friends, but it turned out he had a whole bunch of online friends. There’s one scene where a bunch of guys get together to play poker, only instead of throwing money in the middle of the table and dealing cards, they all nod at each other, open their laptops, and log onto the same online poker site.
Actually, I will be the lone dissenter and suggest that you check out all your professors on ratemyprofessors.com. As long as you learn how to filter out the idiocy of people who are just looking for an easy A, it can give you a very good representation of what the class is about. If you are very good at tests, don’t try taking a class that requires a 3 page paper every single week that makes up a large percentage of your grade. If the class doesn’t use the book very often, typically the responses on there will tell you. There are certain classes that you’ll be required to take, and there’s really no point in taking them with the most difficult professor that offers the course if you can avoid it.
Also, if you find a professor that teaches exactly to your style of learning, keep them and take every course they offer. This applies doubly if they teach a course within your major. Having professors know your name and know that you’re interested in their work goes a long way when you need things like recommendation letters for grad school or scholarships. I’ve found a professor whose lectures are scattered and go off on wild explanatory tangents, and I’ve never gotten more out of any class than I have from his. Notes don’t help me and neither does reading the textbook, so I can get away with just paying attention in class and making good grades. This also means that you have to know what your learning style is.
This goes along with the whole issue of getting to know your professors, but definitely make use of office time for things that you feel need to be explained more in depth. Even if you just have a question that you don’t think is necessarily on point with the topic of the day, but is tangentially related, stay after class to ask about it.
I’ve spent all of my campus time living on my own, so I can’t say too much for the campus lifestyle, I haven’t really been exposed to it much. I suppose it’s important, but being in college isn’t just about doing stuff through or related to the school. You need to grow up and do stuff on your own too.
You will need to work harder, but if you’re smart enough it’s really not as difficult as many people make it out to be. Some people will literally be having mental breakdowns at various times during the semester, I never did so I’m not sure what the big deal was.
A lot of it will be learning through doing. Have a good time. Take it seriously, but not too seriously.
As a current college student and former avid gamer, I’m behind ITR champion 100%. It’s true that most people play games recreationally with no problems whatsoever, but there really is a surprising number of people who get themselves into serious trouble. I have more than one friend from high school who have dropped out of college due at least in part to obsessive gaming. Many of my friends in college spend more time than is healthy sequestered alone playing games, and I fell into that trap for at least a year or so too. I understand where you’re coming from in that games are demonized all too often by people who have no idea what they’re talking about, but it’s a mistake to go too far the other way and pretend no one ever has issues with them.
I think it’s the personality more than the games themselves. If it’s your personality to not be outgoing and to sit in your room and get wrapped up in things that aren’t your studies, you’ll do it whether there’s an X-box in your room or not.
I don’t think I’ve touched my PS2 in a few months, and I haven’t been out to a bar in a similar amount of time, but I’ve still at times struggled to keep up with my work this summer (damn Internet). If I’d had some new games or a Wii or something, I might have gotten lost in those, but since I didn’t I found something else to occupy my time. I don’t think I’m alone in that.
I got ahold of my roommate from my first semester of college a couple weeks before move-in to talk about what each of us was bringing and such. He asked me if I was bringing a TV. I was. He asked if I had any video games. Cool, I thought, maybe we can hang out and play Madden or something on weekends sometimes. I told him I had a PS2 and would be bringing it.
He asked if I could either come later in the day, or if I came early, to hide them until his parents left. :rolleyes:
It’s college. You’re going to learn what you can handle and what you can’t, and you’re going to screw up along the way. That’s kinda what it’s for.
I understand some people “over do it” when it comes to video games, but I just want people to stop making them out to be some bogeyman ready to warp the fragile minds of our children.
Video games are not addictive. Some people have addictive personalities and one of the things they get addicted to is video games.
I repeat, look at the amount of time some people spend on this board. Is the SDMB addictive or would these people be just as addicted over some other website if it didn’t exist?
