President Obama: 'Turn off the Video games, Read a Book'

"Turn off the video games" is an easy phrase that people can use now like "Turn off the TV" was when I was growing up.

Why? Because it is very likely what a young person is doing while inside.

Gamers shouldn't assume it's an attack against games.

Here are we -- and yonder yawns the universe.

Books and video games don't have to be mutually exclusive. I grew up playing video games with my dad, and he also got me into heavy reading, such that I was reading well above my target age group from an early stage. We still regularly swap books and play video games even though I'm now 26.

Long story short - games are NOT the antithesis of books. Physical activity involved in either medium is almost certainly higher on the video game side with the advent of the Wii/MotionPlus/Kinect, so you can't argue it from a fitness/activity perspective. Books are very, very rarely a social activity, so you can't make that point either. And in many cases, games aren't even of any lower literary value than modern books, especially when you consider some of the trash that's popular among teens these days. If I had teens, I'd much rather they be playing a game than reading utter tosh like Twilight. A lot of popular video games now also come with novelizations and side-stories in book form, and while the quality of these may vary, that there is a market for them at all proves that not all video gamers hate the idea of reading a book.

Books aren't just about drilling literacy into kids' heads; they're supposed to be stimulating the imagination. Video games are quite, quite capable of doing this. It would be nice if people with such authority and responsibility thought twice before buying into the illogical sensationalism around video games.

Very well said Neeneko. Also, let us not forget that some games (namely RPG's) require more reading than certain novels (and old titles require a LOT of imagination too) and puzzle games require way more problem solving skills than most activities. You really just need to ensure you get some excercise too although with an increasing emphasis on motion controls, that may very well be turned into a video game as well. Obama seems to be using a very old perspective of video games. Namely ones that required nothing but reflexes and persistance.

 While I do not take offense, I do take exception....

I do not read his statement in terms of moderation, but in relative value.  It is a statement about how activity X is more valuable then activity Y and parents should be encouraging their children to do X instead of Y.

An interesting irony here is, setting asside the hisotiral period when books were considered a waste of time, one still encounters parents who fret that their children read to much and push them to do what they consider valuable things (like play outside, or become involved in sports, etc)...

And thus, just as I took exception at the idea that I should put down my books and go do what other people valued, I take exception at the idea that people should be told (by people with authority over them) that they should put down their activity of choice in order to do what other people value.