Someone asked a question about how frequently young people have time to socialize and it made me think about what people do with their evenings. I recently asked my son to go to a concert (free ticket to see a band i know he likes) and he declined because it was an hour away on a weeknight. If we invite our kids or niece/nephew to dinner they always want to go at 6/630 which feels so early. Edit: Kids are 30ish.
I blame video games! No, seriously. During COViD, my kids leaned on video games as their only social outlet - everything is online and they’re generally chatting the whole time. We stopped limiting their gaming time because that was their socializing time.
Since COViD and work from home, I don’t go out anywhere nearly as much. It’s too much hassle
My ex moved to a new town and my younger kid (high school) is very active so spent the summer exploring the town. He’d spend entire days walking around, and never found “where the high school kids hang out”, I don’t think they do (outside the house)
My older kid spend all his money on the “occasional” Dunks. Even coffee drinks have gotten so much more expensive
Yes, let’s blame video games. they are the typical scapegoat for complex societal issues.
Or sometimes the answer is more complex than the first two sentences and you have to read the rest too
Okay, but, video games aren’t the problem here, they were a solution to the problem; so I’m not sure how they’re to blame.
They couldn’t go outside (stay at home orders), couldn’t really play around outside with friends (social distancing at least), and didn’t really have options to simply hang out with friends, at all, ever. Many schools were doing remote learning too. So they spent all day, every day, physically alone.
So they played games with their friends, so they could chat, emote and dance at eachother in the game, goof off if they wanted (within the limits of the game), and work together or against eachother to achieve goals or whatever the purpose of the game was.
It seems video games were not the problem, but rather the solution to a litany of issues during the pandemic. On top of all of that, they didn’t have to beg for money to go to the shops or movies or whatever… Which is a benefit not only to the kids, who rely on their parents approval to do those things and provide them with the required funds to participate, but also on the parents pocket book. Overall a win/win.
On top of that, they don’t need to worry about curfews, or any danger from strangers, or bullies battering them. If they don’t want to associate with someone they can simply not team up with groups that include that person. They can jump into public groups if their friends are busy and make new friends. Literally the only sacrifice they make is that they’re not going outside or getting much exercise.
