Wasting time is a specialty for many college students. It is an art we spend four (sometimes five) years perfecting; a skill we lovingly hone through countless hours of procrastination and doing silly things that take up significant amounts of time: chatting on AIM with a buddy that lives two steps away, watching American Idol or plopping yourself on the couch and engaging in a video game. Ah, yes, the video game. I dislike video games quite a bit. “But, they’re fun!” you say.
Well, sure they are. Guess what, I don’t like fun, either. I’m far too busy criticizing everything around me to enjoy one iota of fun. So, I’m planning to rain on everyone’s parade and inform you of why I find video games to be stressful, unnecessary and downright detrimental to the youth of the nation.
That is what they are —- a detriment. A means of preventing a person from accomplishing anything —- that is, if you allow them to.
I’ve seen papers go unwritten, significant others neglected and personal hygiene abandoned, all for the sake of a Tony Hawk fix. Frankly, I think it is quite scary. In fact, it is an epidemic.
I’d like to say that the current obsession with Playstation, X-Box and other game systems stems from a more innocent place —- like the Nintendos and Segas of our childhood. But are those pesky Mario brothers really to blame?
Sure, they were just a couple of Italian plumbers trying to save a princess (which my feminist side wants to object to, but I’ll refrain for the purposes of staying relevant,) but were they just a gateway drug to the more hardcore gaming?
Why are we logging hours in front of a screen, only to end up with blistered fingers and carpal tunnel? Why are games filled with more violent and sexually-degrading content? (I unleash the feminist Megan for a mere second, only to quip, “what woman really looks like Laura Croft anyway?”)
I didn’t play many video games as a kid. Nintendo was absent from my childhood, or at least in my home, with the exception of playing (more often watching) the occasional video game at a friend’s house. Even when I did play, I didn’t gain much satisfaction from it. I felt kind of stressed when I had the controller in my sweaty hands. Maybe because my friends were so much better at video games than I was and I became anxious with the knowledge that I was a goner.
In retrospect, I’m glad I grew up virtually without video games. In fact, I’d strongly consider raising my kids precisely the same way. Kids don’t need to be deprived of these games, but some serious regulation could definitely be in order in many cases.
I believe my lack of access to video games made me a more creative person. I had to find other ways to entertain myself, such as having actual social interaction with other children. If my memory serves me correctly, I do believe (sometimes) I even read books!
People need to learn that they don’t need a million things flashing, beeping and exploding in their faces to be entertained. They would be much better off if they learned this. Maybe then we wouldn’t have to sit around and think, “hmm, why are our children obese and lazy and why on earth do they have such poor literacy scores?”
Why don’t you unplug the game system occasionally, go outside and breath some real-life fresh air? Climb a tree, skin a knee or something —- anything. Read a book. I’ve got some old Goosebumps books in my basement. Do you want some of those? People still read those right?
I don’t think playing an occasional video game is horrible. It does serve a recreational purpose for some. But when it interferes with a child/college student/mysteriously unemployed person’s ability to function or accomplish things away from the television set, then we have a problem.
So the next time you’re thinking of skipping class (again) because you’re playing “Grand Theft Auto,” think twice about what you’re doing. God knows we’re an apathetic, disaffected bunch as it is, without that extra push from the good people at Sony.
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