COVID Limitations Bring Teens to Among Us - Jason Baldanza

Current Event Blog - Jason Baldanza

    With the current circumstances in relation to the COVID-19 virus, many teens have been obligated to remain indoors for public safety and avoidance of any possible exposure to the virus. Many places have been experiencing random breakouts of the virus resulting in public schooling and sports to be temporarily cancelled until the corona-virus and its carriers remain contained and in control throughout the region. With the cancellation of face to face interactions with other people, many teens remain in a state of boredom and loneliness in their home in which they spend many hours during the day in. However, socially interactive games such as Among Us allows teens to have a good time with their friends in a strategic, murder mystery mobile game.

    Among Us is a video-game developed by the company InnerSloth and has brought many groups of teens together in these tough times. The game allows 4-10 users to use a spaceship in which these crew-mates attempt to complete tasks in order to escape the shuttle from the impostor(s). of the 4-10 users, there can be 1-3 impostors onboard the ship depending on the amount of players in the game and the settings of the game. No one knows how the impostors are and while the crew-mates are attempting to flee the ship by completing their tasks, the impostor(s) will work in order to kill the crew-mates inconspicuously. Dead bodies can be reported and emergency meetings can be called among the users in order to try to determine who the impostors may be. During the meetings, there is an online chat feature and if you play with friends, you may talk to them over the phone in order to work together to piece together evidence. 

    Not only is it a socially interactive game but it can be viewed as educational and strategically engaging by many teachers. According to "With Nowhere to Go, Teens Flock to Among Us" by Katherine Schulten from The New York Times, multiple teachers of the 60 teachers surveyed for this study agree that the game develops and utilizes many skills and morals that can be applied to real life circumstances. Some teachers said that, "It can be good for the brain because it's a logical puzzle", "It can strengthen a student's investigating skills and analytics", "It can also help your sportsmanship" (Schulten 1). The responses to the survey that these teachers were involved in truly demonstrate how this newly introduced game creates unity, skills, and other beneficial factors for teens. Since the beginning of the school-year, many teens have been playing this game and it is currently the most popular game in the App-store. Overall, this currently active game is a major coping factor for COVID-19 and develops positive outcomes for teenage students in this ridiculous time period. 

Article: https://www.nytimes.com/2020/10/19/learning/lesson-of-the-day-with-nowhere-to-go-teens-flock-to-among-us.html