Each generation seems to come with its own cultural craving. For boomers, it was television. The next generation became absorbed with video everything — movies and games, the addictive powers of which couldn’t have been imagined based on early iterations. Pac-Man (remember him?), created in Japan in 1980, was designed as an antidote to violent arcade games.
I wrote then about watching my little boy playing a game, wild with nervous energy and jerking spasmodically. I worried about what was happening to his brain. This is a kid who, when he was 10 and I suggested he run outside and play, said, “Mom, there’s something you need to know about me. My idea of being outside is standing outside Blockbuster Video.”
Kathleen Parker’s email address is [email protected].
Read the full opinion at The Washington Post.
