Video Game Takeover

I really enjoyed today's class discussion about video games, and I believe video games have ended up becoming a bigger issue than what most people think. The obesity rates among today's children is the highest that it has ever been, and I believe that video games have a lot to do with it. Kids are just sitting inside all day long playing video games when they could be doing something way more productive. I do commend the video game industry for coming out with game systems such as the Wii, which allow for the user to be more active while playing video games and not just sitting in one stationary position. However, this hasn't stopped kids from playing the more popular game systems that do not have the feature of active game play. I have many little cousins that use to be interested in playing sports, and being active, that have actually given up that lifestyle because they became infatuated with video games. Now, all they do is sit inside all day long playing video games. This has caused them to become overweight, and has actually made their grades drop because they never want to do their homework or just rush through it so they can play more video games.
    This isn't just a problem among children either. I have known college students that have actually dropped out of school because all they want to do is play video games. They just ended up ignoring their school work one too many times to play video games, and it ended up effecting their grades to the point of dropping out. The sad thing is that nothing has changed with these people. they are still doing the same things that caused them to be unsuccessful, and that is playing video games 24/7. There are people out there that do manage their time well, and are able to play video games without it taking over their world. However, there are people that can't do it. People can actually become addicted to video games, just has than can to drugs and alcohol. They have made an attempt to make games that sharpen the mind and involve strategy, but the games that don't do this are still out there and seem to be the most popular. Kids these days wonder how their fathers and grandfathers have all these unique skills that they don't have, and that is because they didn't spend all hours of the day sitting around with a controller in their hand. I really hope that the parents of these children playing video games all day long will soon wake up and realize that nothing positive will come out of having a lazy kid that sits inside all day long playing video games.