Missed some doco that was on last night talking about computer games. My kids aren’t allowed much time playing them so I know I have some battles to come.
An argument has been mooted that computer games will be the new sport. Which is quite interesting. Sports were devised to train warriers and hunters how to fight and hunt.
Then they replaced the fighting and hunting for those who could shop, or had people to shop for them. Sport replaced the real thing, but it kept you fit and healthy, kept the body and soul functioning.
Now we have games replacing sport. That’s fine I guess except that games are, essentially, sedentary. We hear about middle aged businessmen who get an adrenalin rush as they do deals but because the adrenalin isn’t spent by the muscles it damages the body. They’re dead at 45 of a heart attack.
What of the adrenalin rush from playing a game? You haven’t got your muscles working as your roar around the field or yard – so what is it damaging?
It’s nice to think of sport as something you “choose” to do, but increasingly we have to view it as something we “must” do. There is no choice. Far better to be playing sport that just working out in the gym. Sport is social, builds on team skills while going to the gym tends to be more impersonal.
If we, collectively, don’t “get” this then collectively our populations are going to be far less healthy in the future.
Most continued computing for long periods is damaging both to mind and body. Agree you need to get offline to establish a genuine balance, and obtain real exercise.