A contest for the best interest of our kids- and country?

If there is one thing that makes adults valuable to minors-- we deserve some credit, right parents? --it’s their cumulative experience for interpreting the ways of the world.

Whether or not grown-ups achieve what they want in life, they generally possess plenty of first-hand perspective on the value of opportunity cost, or the doing of certain activities at the sacrifice of others. Opportunity cost can cut both ways, of course.

No parents want to come across as know-it-alls who talk down to their child, but doggone it, they work hard at discerning what is in the best interest of their kids, and the long game of life offers so much more to be discovered than the pull of a video game.

Yah, sure, no one can claim to have never spent too much time on an idle pursuit. But did ya know a video game’s short-term “pull” represents much more than the caving-in of a psyche-in-development?

In reality, the securing of a young person in perpetual gaming mode is practically an industry-wide objective, and one cultivated by gaming creators themselves.

Such creation of  ‘immersive’ experiences makes a given gamer ‘feel like he is right there,’ according to Glen Schofield, a veteran video game creator of approximately 30 years, who believes the pace of change is only quickening:

“Look at video games and the difference between where they were ten years ago and where they are today. Huge jump.  We're always working on the next technology,” Schofield said in 2022 Wired Magazine Q and A.

On top of this, the ongoing drive of the video game industry is not even shared by its cinematic media brethren:

“You know, movies, which I love, 10 years ago to today, there's not a big leap, right?” added the industry’s Schofield.  “But video games are constantly, constantly changing.”

Far from being a small potatoes matter, a family’s challenge in peeling a resident gamer from the chair often interrupts academic efforts or represents an obstacle for him or her to fill basic nutritional needs.

On that point of gaming’s short-term grip,  let’s check in with refreshingly reflective & lifelong gamer Ben Baker:

“There’s always been sort of two different parts of me, right?” revealed Baker, a true college senior who’s played video games since he can remember. “There's the instant gratification part of me that’s like, oh, this is so much fun. I want to play this forever.”

Then there’s a part of Baker that says: “I want to do productive things with my day, or I want to go juggle the soccer ball, play basketball with my brother, read this book, or do origami.” he continued.

“I always put a higher weight on those things than video games.  But in the short term, video games pulled me in a lot more.”

Hopefully, this admission can provide a small amount of solace should it seem impossible to free a household gamer from the unhealthy hold on time and energy his gaming ‘choices’ have. Your son or daughter may not ‘get it’ now, but perhaps will eventually.

In the event you are looking for some additional incentive, you might consider that popular historian Jon Meacham believes immediate gratification, on a broad scale, is what’s confounding the claim of our democratic republic:

“I can’t just take what you have just because I want it,”  Meacham said in a recent address titled: The Art of Leadership, Lessons from an American Presidency.

Violent video gaming, it could be advanced, is nothing if not an exercise in ‘take, take, take.’

So you might think of it this way the next time you attempt to enforce a consequence for exceeding a qualitative or quantitative video gaming boundary:

Not only are you looking out for your son or daughter’s long-term interest, you could well be performing a civic good for the benefit of the country.