Video Games

Growing up as a kid, I enjoyed playing video games. Sonic, James Bond: Golden Eye, Super Smash Bros., etc. Then in middle school and high school I started to play Madden, NBA Live or 2k, Halo, and Call of Duty. My parents always told me that these video games made you more dumb and that I needed to read a book. Well, I wasn't going to do that. In my junior year of high school, my brothers XBOX 360 broke and my parents couldn't have been happier. So, I pretty much quit playing video games until this current school year. In my apartment today, we do nothing but play Mario Golf and Super Smash Brothers.

After watching that TED talk in class on Tuesday, I still don't agree with what she has to say. Video games do help your problem solving. But this doesn't apply to your actual life. I could sit around and play the full campaign of Halo and I still would not apply any of that time doing something productive. When playing video games, you sit there and press buttons. In real life, you have to wake up early, get work done, feed yourself, etc. I still believe that reading a book is more beneficial for problem solving than playing video games. Unless the video game is figuring out things like Finance, Econ or Accounting, I don't see how killing people or having objectives can help you. Maybe some games could make you smarter? But none of the ones that I have played have even come close.