Saturday, March 10, 2007

A Sign of the Times: Video Game Injuries

I can still recall having small callouses on my thumbs from playing Sega too extensively for a couple of hours at a time back in the early 90s. No big deal, I could still function and move on with my life.

Now, reports are coming out that injuries and accidents are occurring due to the aggressive actions used to play Nintendo Wii games. Indeed, doctors are even making the news by providing warm-up tips in preparation of playing an intense game of bowling on your home TV. So what does all this mean? It means our health insurance rates will be going up again! Duh!

Kidding (or maybe I'm not!), but seriously, I think if kids are going to play video games, playing active games like the ones Wii provides is probably better than the sedentary games that I played in the days of yore. However, I still think this hurts the outdoor playing that kids miss these days. For instance, I frequently see kids of all ages roaming about the neighborhood. It's great that they're outside... but these kids just do not know how to play! They just wander around, occasionally wrestle, or bang a Wiffle Ball bat against a pole, or engage in something equally non-productive. I have not seen any kids
playing catch, organizing a game, or being creative in any way. And
this is similar behavior in kids all over.

Unfortunately, parents will look at the Wii as an exercise event for their children and be content with it. Until the Wii games are incorporated in a lifestyle of playing in a variety of different ways, indoors and outdoors, this should not be considered acceptable!

Put in another way, I'd rather my children skin their knee in a game of capture the flag than by straining their arm in Wii tennis.

Well, soon enough kids will be playing capture the flag on a Wii set, no doubt!

Sigh.

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