I understand the sentiment, but as far as I'm concerned, sitting around and playing video games is no different than sitting around doing any other activity. It's entertainment and escape from your worries. As a pretty severe introvert, I don't count that as time wasted. It's time spent preserving my sanity.
I don't consider it a waste of time at all, I don't see it as being any different than reading books or watching movies. It's entertainment that is a great escapism. Clearly if you play so many video games it negatively influences your life than you have a problem and then you should stop playing. But for me it's an enjoyable experience that I make friends through, play through, deep and engaging stories, and compete on occasion.
And unlike television, you are interacting. Your brain is alert and processing decisions. You aren't just receiving what the TV sends you. (although there is nothing wrong with reading as an alternative.)
True. And I attribute a great deal of the spatial memory I was able to get to come back after my head injuries to a combination of Quake and half-Life (with the add-on packs for each). In those two, you can't get very far if you can't remember how you got there in the first place. Had to 'wander' a lot more closer to the head injuries, gradually getting to where I knew what route I had to go in order to get back to somewhere I needed to return to.
Problem for me was, once 'into' the game I would - every single time - play longer than what I had the capacity for, so ended up perpetually further past my limits than simply trying to do day-to-day life would take me. So I ended up having to force myself to quit playing completely (before finishing the 2nd add-on to half-Life 2), so I could function enough to remember little things like 'eating on time'.
Now, for me, it is often a balancing act between 'doing what I have to' during the day, and passively attending to TV or a film at night (to compensate for the drain of daytime drains). [Even there I'm not infrequently too far gone to follow new plots or new characters, so have to watch something I've already seen before (or, if bad enough off, watch things without plots altogether, like the series 'Aerial America', or, closer to the head injury, my fall-back channel was HGTV.]
But I can understand if there are things you feel you need to do in order to feel your life is progressing toward where you'd like to be, then using brainpower you need (head injury or no) on playing video games for hours can as easily drain that 'useful time' from you as drinking or being stoned can for people.
Topic: Completely Random Thoughts (Read 2039081 times)
