Hillary Clinton vs. Video Games

I stumbled on this via Justin's Del.icio.us feed. It's an LA Times article in the form of an open letter to Hillary Clinton by Steven Johnson.

Read it here.

I completely agree with Mr. Johnson here. I'm all for having a study on how games affect youth. But let's take the good with the bad.

I played high school football in Alabama. While I will not insult the intelligence of those who played the game better than me, it isn't exactly a mental game (don't flame me as an ignorant sap - I know it requires a lot of mental toughness and focus - but the physical far outweighs the mental, in my opinion, which is the one that counts for the purposes of this post). It doesn't flex those brain muscles the same way as it does the others. Sports are like that. Great for physical activity, not for brain activity.

Video games work an entirely different section of the brain. They focus on hand-eye coordination and reaction time. You don't have to go to the gym to be successful...you just have to play. They allow you to experience things that you wouldn't (and probably shouldn't at times) normally experience.

Which is better? My opinion is you don't have to decide. Get the kids out of the house and immerse them into sports. However, when they're home (and the homework's done), let them play video games. But don't be a fool. Censor what they play. Once they are (by your parental determination) old enough to play, let's say, Halo 2, talk to them about it.

Letting your children play anything they want just because they want to is bad. Don't be an absentee with your child's entertainment. However, do let them play something.

To the powers-that-be: The best way to ensure that kids don't get games they shouldn't (according to the parent) is to not sell it to them. So, let's hold the businesses that sell the games to a higher standard.

If it's not being sold to the children and parents are regulating what their kids are seeing, this "problem" becomes much more moot. As a country, we shouldn't regulate creativity. We do, however, need to provide parents the proper tools and safeguards to ensure kids' activities meet their approval - not the government's.

My $0.02.