This is a great post, Tom and reminds me a lot of my school experience. After a long school day, I’d go home, finish my homework as fast as possible, and start playing video games. Video games, I later realized, were my only form of thinking and making choices on my own.
In retrospect, I realize that many of the worst habits I’ve had to break stem from being conditioned to do what everyone else is doing. I think video games—and social isolation—helped me retain more of my independence than others.
Yeah, I used games that way too, especially "open world" games like Grand Theft Auto, in which I could freely explore around and go completely crazy in my own world away from the pressures of everyday life. That kind of escapism is also why the movie The Neverending Story appealed to me, and its enduring popularity is testament to the way many children suffer with school life.
This is a great post, Tom and reminds me a lot of my school experience. After a long school day, I’d go home, finish my homework as fast as possible, and start playing video games. Video games, I later realized, were my only form of thinking and making choices on my own.
In retrospect, I realize that many of the worst habits I’ve had to break stem from being conditioned to do what everyone else is doing. I think video games—and social isolation—helped me retain more of my independence than others.
Yeah, I used games that way too, especially "open world" games like Grand Theft Auto, in which I could freely explore around and go completely crazy in my own world away from the pressures of everyday life. That kind of escapism is also why the movie The Neverending Story appealed to me, and its enduring popularity is testament to the way many children suffer with school life.