Locked in their bedrooms, playing video games into the small hours, children as young as 10 years old are now addicted to their consoles. Tim Lewis hears how the compulsive games can be impossible to resist – and meets the experts tackling the issue
“And now our next story. Despite record heat waves, funneling money from public programs, ipad kids, crowed and underfunded schools, book bans, increasing everything so parents can afford less, increasing political unrest and an ever present threat of violence due to lacking gun control, kids seem to only want to play video games!”
Outside: record heat waves; strip malls; endless, soulless commodification of human experience; hostile adults; constant, overprotective ties to the rest of the world via invasive tech; hostile capitalism…
Those things are absolutely contributing factors. But don’t be so dismissive of the allure of video games. I grew up in paradise compared to what you describe, and we did play outside pretty much all the time. Then the NES came out. Our parents had to pry our asses from the TVs and throw us outside after that and threaten us with punishment if we didn’t go outside to play. All we ever wanted to do was play Nintendo from there on out. Then some friends got computers… Yeah not much time was spent outside in paradise after that. And these days many games are designed to be addictive, to make you spend more time in them. We didn’t have that and we were still hooked.
I’m not saying that to bash games or anything, I still love games and have been a computer nerd since back then, I’m just saying.
I was a child with an NES and virtually every Nintendo machine thereafter. Parents said my first language was Nintendo.
I still played outside all the time. I regularly rode my bike all over town. I didn’t have to be threatened to play outside. I dunno, people and situations are different, I guess.
That said, it’s certainly harder for kids now. I have a hard time imagining letting my kid ride a bike all over town, mostly because of traffic and stupid drivers. The free public places I used to hang out with my friends are largely gone now. Plus, like you say, the games are now designed to be addicting specifically in the ways that regularly extract more money from players. It’s just kinda bad if you’re not versed enough in the gaming ecosystem to know what’s a worthwhile experience and what’s a cash grab.
Yes the decline of “third spaces” which are not work or home is a huge factor. Even in adults who in theory could meet at their local pub (assuming they can afford a £7 pint and it hasn’t shut down).
“And now our next story. Despite record heat waves, funneling money from public programs, ipad kids, crowed and underfunded schools, book bans, increasing everything so parents can afford less, increasing political unrest and an ever present threat of violence due to lacking gun control, kids seem to only want to play video games!”
“Kids no longer desire to go play outside.”
Outside: record heat waves; strip malls; endless, soulless commodification of human experience; hostile adults; constant, overprotective ties to the rest of the world via invasive tech; hostile capitalism…
Oh, and all this is depressing everyone.
Those things are absolutely contributing factors. But don’t be so dismissive of the allure of video games. I grew up in paradise compared to what you describe, and we did play outside pretty much all the time. Then the NES came out. Our parents had to pry our asses from the TVs and throw us outside after that and threaten us with punishment if we didn’t go outside to play. All we ever wanted to do was play Nintendo from there on out. Then some friends got computers… Yeah not much time was spent outside in paradise after that. And these days many games are designed to be addictive, to make you spend more time in them. We didn’t have that and we were still hooked.
I’m not saying that to bash games or anything, I still love games and have been a computer nerd since back then, I’m just saying.
I was a child with an NES and virtually every Nintendo machine thereafter. Parents said my first language was Nintendo.
I still played outside all the time. I regularly rode my bike all over town. I didn’t have to be threatened to play outside. I dunno, people and situations are different, I guess.
That said, it’s certainly harder for kids now. I have a hard time imagining letting my kid ride a bike all over town, mostly because of traffic and stupid drivers. The free public places I used to hang out with my friends are largely gone now. Plus, like you say, the games are now designed to be addicting specifically in the ways that regularly extract more money from players. It’s just kinda bad if you’re not versed enough in the gaming ecosystem to know what’s a worthwhile experience and what’s a cash grab.
Yes the decline of “third spaces” which are not work or home is a huge factor. Even in adults who in theory could meet at their local pub (assuming they can afford a £7 pint and it hasn’t shut down).