Playstation replacing pets?
Oh dear, just when you thought every possible incarnation of the "technology will replace all actual life with simulation" meme had already been trotted out. This time a "study" has revealed that Playstations, iPods, "and television" are to blame for the falling percentage of pet owners in British homes. They actually level their attack across a swath that includes anything that might possibly be electronic, citing that pet demand has fallen because "children now prefer to immerse themselves in the world of computer games and TV programmes," prefer virtual pets to real ones, and have their attention monopolized by "gadgetry" (oh, the horror!). Don't they realize this reveals how smart kids are, opting for the pets that don't poop?
Filed under: Gaming, Portable Audio
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
Bpops @ Dec 19th 2005 1:23AM
I'd take a puppy over a video game. for a little while anyways
rocafellaice @ Dec 19th 2005 1:23AM
Those british dogs are pansies, my dog FORCES me to give him more attention than anything, lol
P_S @ Dec 19th 2005 1:23AM
I don't know. I have always has a pet and an Atari/Nintendo/Sega device. Technology can't replace a real life pet. Maybe if my parents didn't get me a pet while I was very young I might think differently since I wouldn't have had that experience but I seriously doubt it.
Urbanization would be a more likely culprit than technology. Living in close quarters with other people as well as in appartments make it difficult to have pets.
John @ Dec 19th 2005 1:23AM
Blame M!!
John @ Dec 19th 2005 1:23AM
Blame Microsoft!!!
lupinstel @ Dec 19th 2005 1:23AM
Show me a dog who can play video games with me properly, and maybe I will get one.
Buck Q. Fitch @ Dec 19th 2005 1:23AM
Bullocks
Pip @ Dec 19th 2005 1:23AM
Show me a dog that doesn't shed, stink, pee, and make all your clothes dirty as heck and maybe i'll get one. Or one that doesn't slobber and bark.
Joe Schmoe @ Dec 19th 2005 1:23AM
> Show me a dog that doesn't shed, stink, pee, and make all your clothes dirty as heck and maybe i'll get one. Or one that doesn't slobber and bark.
I guess that rules out girlfriends too...
Bubba doesn't count @ Dec 19th 2005 1:23AM
Joe Schmoe, your cellmate Bubba doesn't really count as a girlfriend.
Derek @ Dec 19th 2005 1:23AM
Not to be the bleeding heart here, but more than 4 million dogs and cats are euthanized in Americas animal shelters every year -- that comes out to 460 per hour - 7 every minute. (Source: Humane Society of the U.S.)
I've got 2 computer (PC & iMac), Xbox, iPod, cellphone, and Palm -- and 4 dogs and 3 cats. There's no reason you can't have both.
Eran Hawke @ Dec 19th 2005 1:23AM
I would much rather people have gadgets instead of mistreating animals. As one who worked for a short while in an animal shelter, it truly is heartbreaking. A good number of people who have pets shouldn't. Give'em Nintendogs or an ipod to neglect instead.
Why this is good @ Dec 19th 2005 1:23AM
"more than 4 million dogs and cats are euthanized in Americas animal shelters every year".
Exactly why it would be a good thing if pets were replaced by electronics: no more pets, no more need to kill the unwanted ones. Don't forget, pet dogs and cats are a creation of the human society. They were bred to be our pets and aren't really part of the ecology. Logically, if pet dogs and cats were to become extinct, it would make little impact on Earth's ecology. So let's say goodbye to pets and all the cruelty towards them.
jc @ Dec 19th 2005 1:23AM
Let's not stop with the dogs and cats... let's replace all the trees with roads, all the fish with pollution and while we are at it... lets stop cruelty against people by killing all of them too.
Why this is good @ Dec 19th 2005 1:23AM
jc, did you miss the part about being part of the ecology? jc, are you a troll or just totally stupid?
jc @ Dec 19th 2005 1:23AM
today, much to my surpirse (and lack of effort)... I am in 'troll' mode.
These are not the comments you are looking for, please move on.
Joe @ Dec 19th 2005 1:23AM
The article hits the nail right on the head. Stupid fat emotionless zombies that sit on their asses playing video games all day. Kids used to go outside and play baseball and get some actual exercise. Now they just kill people on their tv screen while stuffing their face. Rahter than getting a dog with a real life personality they buy an AIBO and download a virtual personality. If you want to benefit the ecology then you need to wipe out the dumbest, laziest and most destructive animal in existence. The human being.
rotten_fruit_fan @ Dec 19th 2005 1:23AM
I second rocafellaice on his comment. My dog takes me for a walk (yes, I spelled that correctly) twice a day, even if I have to pause whatever I'm doing.
Tom @ Dec 19th 2005 1:23AM
I want to get rid of my cat, because he has chewed through the wires of *two* PlayStation 2 controllers, and the coax for the satellite TV, which made the PVR mysteriously stop working sometimes (until I noticed the teeth marks). So, that's why people are getting rid of pets, I reckon: they chew the wires. I have wireless controllers now, natch, but there's still a lot of spaghetti behind the TV that is vulnerable to cats. Just my $0.02.
LC @ Dec 19th 2005 1:23AM
#13 you couldn't be more wrong. Dogs were originally bred to assist owners with work, whether it be hunting herding or protection. Today they are sitll used for those things, as well as rescue and bomb sniffing to name a couple.
Pets also teach kids a little responsibility as well. Eliminating pets in favor of electronics is what is really cruel.
Joe has it right. WHat kids need today are pets to get their fat asses off the couch and into some fresh air. Let them care for something that will care for them back instead of being attatched to some benign piece of plastic and circuits getting fat and diabetic by 13 and leaching of of society by increasing medical costs.
hunters and herders aren't pets @ Dec 19th 2005 1:23AM
LC, *pet* dogs and cats were never bred for assisting with hunting, herding or whatever. Hunter/herder dogs are also being replaced by technology, but that's a different story.
On the other topic, what kind of fucked-up society do you folks live in? My nieces, nephews, and most kids I know play video games and watch TV all the time, but they also attend camps and participate in team sports: soccer, basketball, baseball, etc. Few of them have pets, yet they're all active and in good shape, and participating in team sports teaches them all the socialization and responsibility they need. You're barking up the wrong causes (pun intended). If your society provides only one way (pets) for kids to be active, the problem is your society not PlayStation.
LC @ Dec 19th 2005 1:23AM
Actually #21 Hunter herder dogs are both working dogs and pets. Same as the dogs that assist the handicapped. They do their job, but they are also a part of the families they stay with.
Maybe you haven't seen the news lately, but kids today are fatter than ever. Obese children are becoming the norm at an alarming rate and it is a result of inactivity ie: too much time in front of the television or playing video games and eating too much fatty and sugary food and drink.
Gadgets and video games are fine in moderation, but if it comes to the point where pet ownership is noticeably going down as a result, you can be sure that other activities, particularly physical sports are as well. This doesn't apply to those that wouldn't have had a pet even if they hated electronics, but for those that decided against pets specifically because of them.
My earlier point was to show that a correlation between pet ownership and animal cruelty is asinine.
look beyond @ Dec 19th 2005 1:23AM
LC, I get the feeling you're one of those who can't look beyond their own society. "News lately" where? all countries? All societies? I call BS on that. Do you just look at your own society and assume it's the entire world?
"but if it comes to the point where pet ownership is noticeably going down as a result, you can be sure that other activities, particularly physical sports are as well."
Maybe in your screwed-up society, although I severely doubt that too (do you even have any data to back this up?). But in most societies, parents still care enough to make their kids get off their asses once in a while.
griego @ Dec 19th 2005 1:23AM
Instead of spending money on a pet, why not spend it on a person? Donate to medical research, where animals are put to good use.
Pete @ Dec 19th 2005 1:23AM
I think the thing is this. First of all, I am not for animal nor technology cruelty. I believe they can both co-exist in the same world. Yes kids are fatter, lazzier, and all that jazz, but technology is not the only reason that is. Seriously, it's a six sided die, not a one sided die. I don't have a pet because i can't have pets in my apartment, but i would like to have a dog. There is a compromise
devostructor @ Dec 19th 2005 1:23AM
Why not just COMBINE pets and Playstation?
Demens @ Dec 19th 2005 1:23AM
#25: - What, thats like Sony Aibo then?
LC @ Dec 19th 2005 1:23AM
Look beyond, nice name btw, you can call BS all you want, but the trend in the UK is the same one we have had in the states over the last decade or so. The more kids stay inside infront of a screen either playing games or watching programs, instead of going out and playing, start gaining weight. It's real simple if you can follow. Less calories burned equals more weight gained.
Don't play the society game either, because the trend crosses borders. You can do a simple google search on the obesity statistics in the states and see how it applies to other nations once they start picking up the same habits.
LC @ Dec 19th 2005 1:23AM
In case you can't find a link I will provide one:
http://www.pbs.org/now/science/fit.html
"But the problem is not just ours alone. A recent summit of health officials in Europe was held to address the increasing numbers of overweight children and adults in Europe. In addition, the World Health Organization has started reporting numbers of overweight children along with numbers of wasted (undernourished) children for developing countries."
"The experts appear to agree the phenomenon is a combination of poor diet and lack of exercise."
Apparantly the problem isn't only in "my society". I wonder what the children are doing instead of excercising? Of course it is the parents responsibility to get them off their fat asses. They can do this by keeping them away from their Gadgets which was my point from the first post. Having a pet is one way, among many, of doing that.
console skeptic @ Dec 19th 2005 1:23AM
one of ABCs (i think ) newsmagazines did a little story on a dude who invested emotianlly into his AIBO..to the point where he became like "an old cat lady". this guy had TOMES of photo albums dedicated to his AIBO...and then it "died", poor dude even cried while he was being interviewed.
also, anyone familiar with THE KIDS IN THE HALL
knows that troupe member Scott T. bought an AIBO while filming a reunion documentary DVD
and started treating the thing like a real animal (much to the chagrin of fellow KITH alums). he even made it the focus of one of Scott's "buddy" monolouges.
my point? dont have one really, i just think it's interesting how tech companies are actively encouraging us to be emotianlly attached to thier products, and im glad its being documented.
im going to go watch CHERRY 2000 now.
John Gilman @ Dec 19th 2005 1:23AM
Who needs puppies when I have a Dreamcast and I have Seaman?
Yes, that last vowel's an "A."
andrew @ Dec 19th 2005 1:23AM
"Why not just COMBINE pets and Playstation?"
They already did this. Last time I was in Japan everyone was playing this really cool dog walking sim.
http://www.penguinpalace.com/gallery/album47/DSC00516
it's called in Osanpo
http://sega.jp/arcade/osanpo/
kinda old actually.
might add the real genuine article i.e. dogs are pretty big in Asia these days. Albio is kinda the toy you get if you can't afford a real dog or don't wanna take care of one.
Sega also makes a bug game
http://mushiking.com/
that's also a card game etc.etc.
saw this one but didn't fuck with it.
peace,
a