Media Mayhem: Obama and Video Games
By Chris Cesarano
So for the second time President Obama has mentioned video games in a negative context, and there’s bound to be a series of misunderstandings on the part of many parties. I’ve already witnessed gamers having a knee-jerk reaction to the man, trying to make it seem as if video games aren’t the problem.
Well, they are right. They are only a symptom. However, I don’t think Obama was singling out video games because he feels they in particular are the problem. It’s just that video games have a much greater draw than television does these days, and with inventions like the Nintendo DS make being lazy possible from any location.
For those not aware, Obama’s specific quote to the American Medical Association is “...to invest more in preventive care so that we can avoid illness and disease in the first place. That starts with each of us taking more responsibility for our health and the health of our children. It means quitting smoking, going in for that mammogram or colon cancer screening. It means going for a run or hitting the gym, and raising our children to step away from the video games and spend more time playing outside.”
Now, the problem here is it is such a small statement for a topic with so much going around it. Many gamers are right, it isn’t the fault of the video games. It isn’t necessarily the fault of the parents, either. In fact, have we even outlined what the problem truly is?
Statistics are frequently printed that make claim to a rather hefty percentage of America’s youth being over-weight. However, if this statistic follows the B.M.I. (Body-Mass Index), then it is no wonder the percentage is so high. It was a system that was never intended to be used for judging a person’s weight, and despite all the flaws pointed out people still use the system to this day. Whenever I hear these statistics I look around and notice, well, there’s an awful lot of people in the world that aren’t fat.
Still, that doesn’t mean that kids aren’t getting as much exercise as they ought to be. Then again, who says they don’t want to exercise? In 2007 I worked as an instructor for iD Tech Camps, and for the most part we had little trouble getting the youth to play physical activities. There certainly was a group that was less into sports, but we still found various activities for them. We created physical games that wasn’t as demanding of the body, and even introduced them to various board games. Video games was a very rare occasion, and to have a child that complained about having to leave the computers was an uncommon occurrence.
I think it is safe to say that most children have no problem getting outside and playing. While they enjoy their time playing video games, watching television or however many other indoor activities, they will find time to go outside and enjoy some fresh air.
Now begins a whole new problem, where the topic strays from video games and into society as a whole. The first assumption is that this is a fault of the parents, but that isn’t necessarily true either. While some parents leave their kids in front of a television to make life easier, there are also parents that have been so scared by all the horrible stories in the news and media that they don’t permit their children to do much of anything. There must always be adult supervision, or the area of play is restricted, or the activities are limited based on fears of injury and strangers of ill-intent.
A friend of mine from College loved activities such as video games, computers and watching film and television, but he also loved to go outside and just adventure. The thing is, the sorts of activities he took part in would have made my own mother scream her head off. Most parents these days don’t want their kids trying to climb a tree as high as they can, or to climb up a rocky wall, or travel into the woods to find a cavern to explore. These things are assumed to be dangerous, and parents don’t want their children to be harmed.
Unfortunately, by preventing children from exploring to the extent that they desire, the outdoors becomes a lot less enjoyable. They aren’t permitted to scale walls and trees in their actual environment, so sitting down and playing Mirror’s Edge or Assassin’s Creed is going to be much more appealing.
Still, as was already said, the idea that the activity of modern youth is in any danger is rather foolish. Obama does not need to be reminding people that children need to get outside and have some fun. Even when the outside is full of nothing but sidewalk and concrete, they are finding a way of being active.
In the end, I don’t think parents or gamers should be making a big deal out of Obama’s statement. Ultimately his speeches are designed to appease the minds of the common man or woman, and while his claim of children needing to step away from games certainly puts it into a negative connotation, I think ultimately people are discussing a problem that does not exist.
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