A Schnauzer Speaks His Mind: A curfew on video games?

Sunday, December 11, 2011

A curfew on video games?

       Now just because I have Autism doesn't mean I like Star Trek, Star Wars, or Video Games. For me my interest in weather, maps, and geography are my my main Autistic cliches. I was more into video games as a kid, back in the olden days when that meant playing PacMan on an Atari at the gas station. When I got a Nintendo in 6th grade I was exited. I did have a brief Mario Brothers addiction and can remember wasting a lot of my Summer vacation playing it. After a while I got bored of it and decided video games seemed like a waste of time. I do know there are some good aspects of gaming such as improving coordination, and some can even be educational. I also find some of the new ones today very realistic and awe inspiring. Some even work the whole body and can be good exercise so I really don't want to paint all gaming with a broad brushstroke, however I do feel that video game addiction is a problem for all ages.
\       While I do feel many people need to come up for air and smell the roses, I'm not sure if it is the role of government to regulate this. Interestingly the government of South Korea is taking this issue very seriously by issuing a curfew for online gaming. http://www.dmwmedia.com/news/2011/11/28/korea-slaps-curfew-on-gamers I'm not so sure the end justifies the means here but it goes to show how universal this problem is. In earlier posts I mentioned some of the more productive things we can do with all this technology. I can't say I'd be surprised if a disproportionate number of people who are addicted to gaming are also Autistic, but none of the people I know personally who seem addicted to them are not. I'm certainly not a "throw the baby out with the bathwater" person in general, it would just be nice to see more balance- not by banning it though.
       South Korea by the way has the world's second largest metropolitan area (Seoul), and yes, it is bigger than New York: