Father Souza: Videogames Crack of Electronic World

Canada’s National post, a very conservative publication has an article in which one of its columnists declares videogames “the crack cocaine of the electronic world.” That’s one of the kinder comments on the subject.

Father Raymond J. De Souza of Queen’s University admits to having fallen into the temptation and submitting to the dark addiction that is Tetris during his college days.

Since [deleting Tetris] I have never played another video game. It’s too dangerous. Video games take what is most precious — time and thought. And they are making kids fat.

Video games are like a black hole into which time disappears. Students today often confess to wasting a couple of hours a day on them. Corporate Canada likely loses whole weeks of productive work to those who are playing games at work. Video games have some kind of addictive allure that means any number of hours is not enough. It is always possible to play again — to rise to that “next level” which somehow acquires near-mystical importance. They are the crack cocaine of the electronic world.

Did I mention that far too many video games celebrate graphic violence, multifarious delinquency and borderline pornography? I don’t have to. Tetris had none of that, and it was deadly enough.

Souza has condemned all videogames based on his personal experience with only one of them. It seems that he must have an addictive personality and poor time management skills to succumb to the evils of Tetris. He also references videogames as passive by nature encouraging inactivity. Has Souza become addicted to television and sworn off it as well, because it’s a stretch to believe he’s never seen a Wii commercial or even Guitar Hero advertised.

Until this man actual takes a first hand look at what’s actually out on the market today and how videogames are being used in educational, medical, sports and military applications; I’m afraid he really has no position of authority to speak from.

via National Post