Playing video games and being engrossed in social media impacts us negatively

Maharshi Adhyatma Vishwavidyalay conducts novel spiritual research to Spiritualise daily life !

Maharshi Adhyatma Vishwavidyalay conferred the ‘Best Overall Presentation Award’ in International Scientific Conference in Sri Lanka

Video games and social media like Facebook have become a favourite pastime in today’s world with people spending a lot of time on it. Apart from the impact of video games and social media on the physical and mental state, Maharshi Adhyatma Vishwavidyalay (MAV) has studied their effect on our spiritual state. Mr Sean Clarke of the MAV elaborated on this aspect in his presentation of the Research Paper titled ‘Subtle-effects of playing video games and being engrossed in social media’.

This Research Paper, authored by Paratpar Guru (Dr) Jayant Athavale and co-authored by Mr Sean Clarke was presented at the 8th International Conference on Arts and Humanities (ICOAH) 2021, Sri Lanka. This Conference was organised by The International Institute of Knowledge Management (TIIKM), Sri Lanka and held on the 21^st & 22^nd of September in Sri Lanka.

The Conference saw the participation of more than 20 countries with more than 60 presentations. The Best Overall Presentation Award was conferred on five of the presenters with Mr Sean Clarke being one of them.

This was the 79^th presentation of the Maharshi Adhyatma Vishwavidyalay. MAV has so far presented Research Papers in 15 National and 63 International Scientific Conferences and received ‘Best Paper’ awards in 6 International Conferences.

Mr Sean Clarke explained the pilot study conducted about the subtle-effects of video games and social media (Please read article alongside) using Universal aura scanner (UAS) and the advanced sixth sense of seekers in the research team.

Checking one’s social feed has become a daily ritual for most. Due to technological advances, video games have become more immersive. There are many studies analysing the short and long-term effects of such media, but there is minimal understanding of their subtle-effects on people.
Using aura and subtle-energy scanners along with the advanced sixth sense of its research team, the Maharshi Adhyatma Vishwavidyalay (MAV) has investigated the spiritual impact of these media. It was found that while these technologies, when used appropriately are useful to society, the likelihood of them having a negative spiritual effect is far greater. This is primarily due to the apathy of people towards preserving / cultivating spiritual positivity.
The chakra and aura readings of users watching their usual social media feeds were found to be negatively impacted after just 30 minutes of use. The same results were observed after playing video games for the same time. It is likely that further technological advances will tend to only increase the negative impact of these media. Regular spiritual practice not only helps protect against the harmful subtle-effects of such media, but also helps discernment in what to avoid and how to engage with it.
Our time on Earth is precious, and from a spiritual perspective, it is given to us as an opportunity to grow spiritually !

1. Introduction

On 9^th November 2010, a first-person shooter video game – ‘Call of Duty: Black Ops’ was released. One month later, by Christmas Eve, it had been collectively played for more than 600 million hours, which is the equivalent of more than 68,000 years of human time.

Video games have grown massively in popularity over the past few decades, and they have definitively moved into mainstream culture. As parents, you may have come home and seen your children playing a violent video game, for example shooting zombies in Zombie Hunter.

At that time, you may have thought – “Is shooting zombies the best use of my child’s time – why can’t they go out and play like how we used to as children ?” There are many of us who have heard about the dangers of video games and we worry about our children.

So, two things are clear – these new forms of media are here to stay and they consume our time and a lot of it. It is common knowledge that they also have a massive impact on our lives. But are they worth it ? Is mankind gaining, from spending so much of time on it ?

The question on most parents’ minds is – Should I allow my children to continue playing video games ?

Now it’s true that some studies have shown certain video games can improve hand–eye coordination, problem-solving skills, and the mind’s ability to process information. But as with anything, too much of it, turns into an addiction and then has physical and mental health ramifications.

Some studies have shown that playing video games increases eye-hand coordination, problem-solving skills and the brain’s ability to process information. But as with anything, too much of it turns into an addiction and then has physical and mental health ramifications. The World Health Organization (WHO) even recently classified video game addiction as a mental health disorder. However, there is hardly any discussion about the spiritual effect of video games at the spiritual level.

2. Spiritual impact of video game addiction

When studying the side effects, we usually consider only the physical and psychological aspects and are oblivious to the spiritual impact. However, spiritual research has shown that the spiritual impact of any activity has a much deeper implication and its effect is eventually seen at the physical and psychological levels.

Spiritual research has been conducted on various aspects of life by Spiritual Science Research Foundation (SSRF) in association with Maharshi Adhyatma Vishwavidyalay.

3. Experiment to study the effect of video games on one’s aura

This experiment was conducted at the Spiritual Research Centre and Ashram in Goa, India. The Universal Aura Scanner (UAS) was used to study the change in aura of a person after playing video games.

Instrument used for the experiment

Using aura and energy scanners and the advanced sixth sense of seekers in the research team, we conducted a pilot study about the subtle-effects of video games and social media. We used an instrument known as the Universal Aura Scanner which is an instrument developed by Dr Mannem Murthy (a former nuclear scientist). It measures the type of subtle-energy (whether positive or negative) and extent of the aura around any object (living or non-living). (Please refer to https://www.sanatan.org/en/universal-scanner to learn more about how UAS readings are taken and what they mean.

The actual experiment

In the first experiment, we asked five subjects (who were seekers at the Research Centre) to play a first-person-shooter video (FPS) game for just an hour and measured them using the UAS before and after playing. In all 5 cases, either the negativity in the subjects increased significantly or their positivity was eroded completely. 2 of the players who did not have any negativity in their aura actually developed a negative aura. One of the subjects who was suffering from negative energy distress – the negative subtle-energy in his aura increased by 72%.

We also conducted an experiment on two boys aged 10-12. One played a game called ‘Super Mario Run’ and ‘Mini-militia’ – these are games typically played by children. What we found is – it had the same negative effect as the FPS on their subtle-energy and aura. After the experiment, participants felt the following :

Stress and tension
Aggression increasing
Impatience increasing
Feeling dazed after the game, foggy, lazy; took time to get back to the normal world
Felt disconnect from thoughts of God or any form of spiritual practice

So, this is important – basically, feelings like these reduce our positivity and have the tendency to increase the negative subtle vibrations around us.

4. Effects of social media

In a separate experiment, we asked 5 different seekers who were residing at the Research Centre to view their normal social media feed for an hour and we measured them before and after with a UAS. Here too, we observed a negative subtle-effect just from viewing their Facebook and Instagram feeds which was in the range of 15-30% increase in negativity of their auras. After the experiment, participants felt the following :

Worldly thoughts increased
Are people liking my posts
FOMO – Fear Of Missing Out
Bored but could not leave it
Feeling of emptiness
Feeling depressed
But more importantly they either – Forgot about spiritual practice Or wanted to stop spiritual practice

But the true measure and analysis of subtle vibrations can only be through the medium of the sixth sense.

We have seekers in our spiritual research team who can actually perceive the vibrations emitted by people. By drawing these subtle vibrations, they serve as spiritual X-rays and provide clarity about the true nature of such media.

A picture of a person playing an average video game was shown first in the Conference Presentation. What was happening in the subtle dimension while a person engaged in a video game and all the subtle vibrations involved with it was also depicted. This picture was drawn by a seeker who used to play video games, but now due to spiritual practice he was able to get insight into what was happening in the subtle dimension.

After this, a picture was shown in the Conference depicting the subtle effect of social media when watching an average social media feed for an hour.

Attention was drawn to the pink vibrations (also known as illusion creating energy or Mayavi energy) seen in both the subtle pictures. This type of negative vibration is actually quite dangerous because it gives us a false sense that some thing is good when it is actually not. More importantly it comes with a lot of distressing vibrations which an average person is not able to perceive. However, the user as a result feels aspects such as depression, lethargy, and many other effects mentioned earlier in this article.

People may wonder if all social media is bad. Now, interestingly the research team also asked two seekers to view the social media feed of the Spiritual Science Research Foundation for just half an hour, and in contrast this had just the opposite effect wherein negativity reduced and positivity increased. It also showed that the type of content that a person watches on their social media feed is an important criterion in assessing the impact of social media.

5. Conclusion

Social media and video games are like any other form of entertainment – but how we use them and what we view on them will define whether they have a positive or negative impact. Unfortunately, the vast majority of usual video games and social media feeds emit negative vibrations.

So now, linking these negative vibrations with the time we spend on these media, we will understand that these media and how people are currently using them are adversely affecting humanity at large.

One of the statements on the Conference Page was – ‘We are in it together’, ‘Health is everyone’s business’ – with globalisation this is so true as we are all more adversely affected by this global trend of new media. We need to be mindful of this fact.

Our time on Earth is precious, and from a spiritual perspective, it is given to us as an opportunity to grow spiritually.

If we were to be more mindful of the content we watch and what we let our children watch, instead of it being detrimental, it could in fact help us grow spiritually, and the world would be a better place.