Video games are NOT the root of all evil

I never grew up playing hours upon hours of video games, which is probably a good thing because I usually spent much of my time reading or playing with my Star Wars toys.

My parents only had one TV in the house (something almost unheard of nowadays, except when I look around our house right now, we only have one TV hooked up and two others sitting in the basement because we've been doing a little "remodeling").  We did have a Atari game console, with a few dozen games, but my time playing it was very limited.

I will admit that, a few years ago, when I bought our laptop, I bought a few Star Wars computer games to go along with it.  And although I've spent a few hours here and there playing them, I usually use the time as a reward for myself in accomplishing some task (finishing a chapter, etc.).

Video games (and even TV in general) are NOT the root of all evil, like some people will have you believe.  A recent TED Talk by Gabe Zichermann said how games help kids solve problems, and I agree with much of it.  However . . . when kids (and adults) spend hours upon hours playing games and accomplishing nothing, then we have a problem.

One of the results of my meager video game playing has resulted in a book--see, it did do some good--which I have only about 60 pages written right now.  In the next year or so, I'll finish the first draft and start sharing some of it.  But until then, my lips are sealed.