Video Games Good/Bad?

When the xbox 360 first came out I played it for hours on end,then when I went over my friends house he accidently left it on the carpet sideways which made it overheat and break.After that the next day I was so bored and I finally realized how much I was so into it and relied on it.I started doing way better things like playing paintball and reading books.Finally my friend managed to buy me a new xbox and I dont even play it much anymore.I think as long as you recognize how much you play and dont let it take over your life video games arnt to bad.
 
This is a mom speaking here. Personally, I don't play many video games because they suck time, but so does the computer, books and television. I would have to agree with your brother that your screen time and his are equal time wasters. While you might be doing something creative, he is also using problem solving skills and the same fine motor skills you are using; and if he is playing on line is interacting with others while using those skills.

As a parent, I could all screen time as basically the same. That means your two hours on the computer drawing, and chatting is the same as his two hours of gaming. I can practically hear the "but, MOM" that would be heard if your parents were to say this. You're doing your relaxing your way, let him do his his way. If we all liked the same things, the world would be a boring place.

It sounds to me like you are an 18 year old with an obnoxious younger brother that you want to control. I'm the mother of a thirteen year old son...and I'm sure hoping the obnoxious part is temporary, but I can't see that the video games make it worse. Lack of sleep on the otherhand.....
 
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My 15 year old DS plays video games for hours everyday. In fact, tonight his student council has a video game lock in. Im taking him at 9, picking him up tomorrow morning at 7. Pizza, games, contests, all night. That said though, he is an A/B student taking honors classes, runs track and cross country, bikes and voluteers in the summer at a local nature camp. He is for the most part, polite and respectful. I would much rather him be home playing his stupid games than driving around partying which is so typical of many kids his age.
 
Whether the habit is good or bad, in my opinion, depends on what game -the age of the user - and how much time they spend doing it.

For example - some wii games have gotton normally sedentiary children moving and exersizing.

Also my cousin has a very autistic child that responds well and uses some video games with a degree of success.

They aren't necessarily a bad thing.
 
People get all freaked out over everything. They get all bent out of shape if they hear of someone spending more than 30 minutes a week on video games sometimes. We used to call consuming interests "passions." Now they are "illnesses." Then they'll smell tobacco smoke and think they're dying when it takes a smoker 15 years or more to develop symptoms of anything serious. Next, you'll see them swilling super overpriced water (Water? For more than a soda? What the Hell?) from bottles that contain a ton of harmful chemicals and think they're being "healthy." I swear, the last two generations
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contain too many wimps and not enough critical thinkers. Most of the news is opinion that's not even well camouflaged as such.

I don't watch TV and never did care for it that much but I'm an 'oddball.' I play something like World of Warcraft and I'm 'at risk.' I applaud your creative efforts but I refuse to get really worked up over video games. Or smoke. Or a bunch of other things.
 
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They do acctually, I think its for Wii or nintendo ds... I'll go look
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I like video games when I'm at home, bored, and have no cleaning or chores to do. And I'm 23... and a woman!
 
Moderation in all things. IMO, nothing wrong with playing a video game every once in a while for entertainment. It is easy to overdo it.

My son had a friend,(about 6 years old) who played video games all day(after school until dinner and after dinner), and so did his brothers and dad. When we would trade play dates his friend would mope around and say there was nothing to do, yet we had plenty of fun things. So I asked him what he'd like to do and all he wanted to do was play video games. We don't own any and the play dates didn't last long. He didn't want to be at our house because we didn't have video games. I thought it was sad.


One other thing....I have a two cousins, brothers, who played video games constantly as kids. They had computers when they first came out. I remember visiting their house when I was young and never seeing them because they would be in their rooms playing games all day and only come out to eat or watch TV. The oldest is now in his 30's and they are extremely socially awkward. They don't know how to interact with people, they haven't been able to get jobs and still live at home. It is sad to see what extreme use of computer/video games and lack of discipline can do.
 

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