Analysis Of Plato's The Cave

What is reality? An enduring question, philosophers have struggled to identify its definition and basic concept since the beginning of time. Plato, in his provocative essay, The Cave, used symbols and images to ridicule and explain how humanity easily justifies their current reality while showing us that true wisdom and enlightenment lies outside this fabricated version of reality. If he were alive in modern times, he would find society unchanged; still uneducated and silently trapped in our own hallucination of reality with only the glimmer of educational paths available. While this may be a bleak comparison, it is an accurate one as the media influences of today present a contrasting picture of education and ignorance that keeps us trapped

Strictly entertainment in its finest sense, Plato would be appalled to find the number of ‘reality’ TV shows that draw millions of viewers and experience almost cult-like followings. Watching a show that depicts a glamorous lifestyle with little or no regard for rules is identical to those prisoners who were chained to observe the shadows upon the wall believing them to be real. Even the name, ‘reality’ television, is indistinguishable from the shadows viewed by the cave dwellers. “Then in every way such prisoners would deem reality to be nothing else than the shadows of the artificial objects.” (paragraph 13)
There are many more offerings on television that Plato would find amusing, but nothing more laughable than a video game. Comparable to the prisoners of the cave, while engaged in a gaming activity, gamers do not move from their forward-facing view nor do their bodies turn away from the screen. Video games require a great deal of concentration, a vast amount of time and any outside interference is largely ignored. The focus of the game, like the prisoner in the cave, is strictly on the shadows of images passing in front of them. Gamers also have their own language based upon the images that pass in front of

Some even actively engage using speech as well. Video games are now so completely realistic, that it is hard to tell whether you are witnessing live actions or actually participating in them - the fine line between reality and fantasy has become completely indistinguishable. Countless studies have shown that participating and witnessing this behavior in games corresponds to more aggressive behavior in life and a lack of empathy for the actual suffering of humanity. Participating in video game play may seem real, but like the cave prisoners, this interaction is nothing but an illusion. Video game play is precisely graphic trickery and as Plato writes it “was all a cheat and an illusion.” (paragraph 15)
Researchers, however, have found that gaming may not be completely bad for adolescents. A recent study by Paul J.C. Adachi and Teena Willoughby points out that video gaming may satisfy the same criteria for positive youth development as traditional organized activities such as sports, music or clubs. In direct contrast to this analogy, they demonstrate that there may be significant social benefits of gaming, that adolescents are motivated to play video games and that this type of play requires concentration and mental effort (Adachi and