Books vs. Video games

We all have the grandparents and parents who remember, "In MY day...." and remind us how much better off they were and how the youth today are going astray. "Because of calculators, kids these days can't even count change!" "Kids can't hand write anything anymore because they are only expected to type on the computer." "Kids can't use their imaginations anymore because they no longer listen to the radio...they only watch TV." I must admit, I am guilty of the same thoughts when it comes to video games. We've all heard the argument that video games are ruining our kids' minds.  Our society has blamed video games for everything from violence and lack of socialization to poor test scores and ADHD.  As an English teacher, I want to believe that if kids spent HALF the time they spend immersed in their video games reading a good book, they would be far better off.  I thought I could make a fairly strong case against video games and an even stronger case FOR books.  However, what if I looked at both of them from a different lens? Stephen Johnson, author of Everything That's Bad is Good For You, hypothesizes what we would say about reading had gaming been invented long before reading:

"Reading books chronically understimulates the senses. Unlike the longstanding tradition of gameplaying—which engages the child in a vivid, three-dimensional world filled with moving images and musical sound-scapes, navigated and controlled with complex muscular movements—books are simply a barren string of words on the page. . . .

Books are also tragically isolating. While games have for many years engaged the young in complex social relationships with their peers, building and exploring worlds together, books force the child to sequester him or herself in a quiet space, shut off from interaction with other children. . . .

But perhaps the most dangerous property of these books is the fact that they follow a fixed linear path. You can’t control their narratives in any fashion—you simply sit back and have the story dictated to you. . . . This risks instilling a general passivity in our children, making them feel as though they’re powerless to change their circumstances. Reading is not an active, participatory process; it’s a submissive one."

It seems people of every generation think that the younger generation is worse off than they were. Progress, however, is inevitable. We need to look for the benefits of the changes that occur from one generation to another. Just because it is different...doesn't make it bad.