Sucking You In

When my grandson was two, he could play Jimmy Neutron faster than I would have thought imaginable. He could barely use the mouse, but he could use keystrokes to do anything he wanted. He would get up in the morning and after cuddling with his mama, he would jump down and start his game. Then about half an hour later, he was ready to visit and get on with his day. He seemed to have an automatic shut off, where he just stopped. I know games and gaming will be a big part of his life, so I am glad that he still wants to go outside and watch the blueberries get ripe in the afternoon sun.

For myself, gaming is something I avoid (usually); I just don't feel the need (most of the time)and certainly don't have the time. My new goal is to get my house cleaned up before Thanksgiving, so spending an hour playing some game on the Internet is counter productive to that. I guess it goes back to the 'getting a life' aspect of this process. I think games can allow a depressed person to ignore the things in their life that are troublesome and contribute to their depression. I'm sure it is a good way to fill the void for some people.

Sometimes it seems like a value thing; cleaning up the house has become less important for most people, just like cleaning up their desk at work. Why take thirty minutes to clean up when you could use that same thirty minutes to play a killer game of something? I am sure it has an impact on the workforce; in any situation you will have a range of abilities. If it takes one person two hours to do their job when it takes everyone else five hours to do the same work at the same level of accuracy, what do they do with that other three hours? They can play on the computer! They say some of the games are really good for your brain, so I'll use that as the explanation for why one might want to. But for me, I'll just keep on trying to manage what little free time I have without Spider Solitaire calling to me every time I turn the computer on.