Impartial Game Journalism Fail #2
GAMES FIRMS MUST SAVE CHILDREN THEY’VE MADE INTO HEALTH TIMEBOMBS.
At least that’s what the CAPLOCK OBSESSED Sunday Express is crying for this fine Sunday morning.
In a bid to combat what they deem to be the “spiral[ling] out of control” problem of childhood obesity, the Express are calling on UK government to invest the millions of pounds of tax money generated by video game sales into sport facilities for British children. Citing (ahem) expert opinions that blame gaming for everything from the “antisocial behaviour [...] blighting Broken Britain” to the “sky high NHS bill” to the “alarming” Vitamin D deficiency disease Rickets that affects a minuscule 100 British children a year, this obviously fine, impartial, non-sensationalist example of British journalism wants to see “drastic” intervention.
Joining the self-proclaimed crusade, Liberal Democrat’s Health spokeperson Norman Lamb, stated that: “Computer games generate a lot of tax which should be invested into preventing problems like child obesity and rickets. Funding new sports facilities through VAT raised from computer games should be looked at. Children have to be encouraged to keep active.”
Fueling the fire, a researcher at the University of Essex added that most afflicted were males aged 14-16. “They come straight home from school and play a games console until they go to bed. That includes playing while they eat,” said Dr Sandercock. “There has also been a boom in fitness software like Nintendo Wii Fit but the simple fact is that it’s never going to replace playing sport for real or going to the gym.”
But of the “worrying” 730 hours a year the average child spends “slouched in front of a TV screen” (which actually only works out as 2 hours day, btw), I wonder how this figure disaggregates down into time spent on sedentary games and energetic, motion-controlled sports games? And what about TV? Shouldn’t the Express be be baying for the blood of TV industry as sensationally as its berating gaming?
Whilst there’s little denying that children today are less active than previous generations, our nation’s ills cannot be pressed firmly nor ultimately at the door of the gaming industry. It took many ingredients to cook up the mess we’re in now. Maybe our tabloid journalists and politicians should take a long, hard look at themselves before casting stones?
Via express.co.uk
1. 
2. 
4. 
8. 
Silliness and wastefulness. They just want to waste money that could be used for better things, because they don’t like the idea of video games! So dumb. Luckily most anti-video game people here are rather quiet. I guess they took too many beat downs to keep trying, because nobody here cares what they have to say! Ah well, it doesn’t matter, because video games are undoubtedly here to stay! No government in there right mind would turn down the amount of taxes they can get out of video game purchases, and any gamer with a free will of their own would fight any movement to ban video games with a vengeance.
Well, obviously, video games are solely to blame for the inactivity of children today.
TV and Internet? Pfft! That’s so last century!
Y’know, I don’t think I’ve ever met anyone that limits the time their children spend playing videogames. Most kids have a short attention span to spend ‘hunched over a console, especially for 5+ hrs or something excessive’. And according to this study, most of these threatened teenage boys will probably acquire a girlfriend or job so that’ll eliminate any worry to becoming a potato. My god!
Inactive children has to do with poor parenting, imo. And gaming is anything but “antisocial behavior.” It teaches you to interact (for better or worse) with total strangers, and work with them to achieve shared goals.
One of my friends that I don’t see any more used to only be allowed 40 minutes of Playstation a night (why 40 minutes I dont know) and i’ve always played games for hours at a time almost every day. He is doing about the same as me though, we are both students in university doing well and are yet to be 500 pounds overweight or murderers so what’s the big deal?
The Governmenty chaps don’t want us to have anything anymore I suppose.
What a bunch of crock. I’ve been playing games for over 20 years and it’s really only recently that I’ve been overweight (which has more to do with me not being motivated to work out as opposed to the appeal of video games).
It’s just a case of pointing fingers, really. It’s all nonsense. I haven’t killed anyone and I’m perfectly capable of being social.
The fault lies with only one group: The Parents.
Games? Internet? TV? Newspaper? Any form of media?
Try parents…
Good Post! I’m gonna spread the word so you get more readers! Gaming Nuts unite!