Cyber Junkie by Kevin Roberts

Author:Kevin Roberts
Language: eng
Format: azw3, epub
ISBN: 9781592859481
Publisher: Hazelden Publishing
Published: 2010-08-24T04:00:00+00:00

GAMING AND THE INTERNET OVERTAKE HEALTHIER ACTIVITIES

Zach’s story not only illustrates the potential for video game play to damage performance at school, but reveals a cultural shift. When I was a kid, we certainly did play video games, but many parents were more vigilant about regulating game play. Our game systems were primitive compared to today’s offerings, and we simply got bored after a while—even the most ardent gaming enthusiasts among us.

Parents would shoo us out of the house too. My friend Dean’s mom would often scold us, saying, “You kids need to get outside.” We played baseball in driveways. We walked to the park and played pickup basketball. In the fall, groups of boys and even some girls got together for games of touch football and hockey in the street. We rode our bikes everywhere.

All these activities were opportunities for socialization in addition to giving us much-needed exercise. We were forced to interact with other real, live human beings, and we had to deal with conflict. When we could not resolve our differences over whether or not someone had stepped out of bounds in a touch football game, we had a re-do. There was a shortage of kids in our neighborhood, so even if two kids didn’t like each other, they were strongly encouraged to set aside their differences so that we would have enough players for a game. If one kid, like my friend Craig, stubbornly refused to come out and play, the whole gang of kids would go over to his house and beg him to come out. His mother would often step in and make him go outside because all he was doing was watching TV. Activity and adventure characterized youth culture. For a large segment of our youth population, those elements have gone missing nowadays, replaced by sitting in front of a computer screen or game console.

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