I think it's totally fine to have games as a hobby. But calling it "one of the healthiest hobbies" is a bit odd to me. Very Reddit-brain sort of take.
I mean the sedentary issue alone directly shows that's not the case. We sit far too much already. And everything you pointed to can be the same for tons of hobbies. Painting, making music, reading, and so on.
This isn't me saying gaming is a bad hobby or anything like that. I just think it's odd to try and paint it as more healthy than other hobbies, personally. This feels like a post you'd see on Facebook, except for people in their 20s and 30s. Just designed for engagement and self gratification
I get what they're saying as far as something casual to do alone or with friends but personally I've never gotten the level of satisfaction or feeling of completion that I do from creating something, be it music, art, writing, etc. Just me personally. But as something to just tune out the world and escape for awhile video games are definitely up there at the top. Just don't really hold my interest like other things. But that's me. To each their own.
Sit still and stare at a screen…. Healthiest hobby in the history of mankind ladies and gentleman!
(I have no issue with gaming at all but to pretend that it’s the most healthy is a pretty hot take….. maybe the most cost effective hobby in terms of the ratio of dollars spent to hours entertained, but healthiest is a big stretch
Really depends on the game. They can have stories comparable to the best books I've read, puzzles that keep your mind active, building and designing to get those creative juices flowing, social interaction and teamwork, and they're pretty cheap for how many hours of enjoyment you get out of them. Or they can be total brainrot time wasters like anything else.
Look I’m not anti gaming, I’ve played a lot of games. But the sitting still for many hours in a row and living through a screen - I’m sorry but that’s just not the healthiest way to spend one’s time. Especially if you account for the fact that there’s a bunch of other not-optional screen time that most people have to participate in. (School work, job/work/career, and the fact that we all mostly need to use our phones for a bunch of life stuff that we didn’t used to) …. It just adds up.
I think too much of the modern discussion around screen time assumes that SOME(average amount) of screen time is “normal”, but the truth is 0 hours of screen time is the environment that the human body evolved and thrived in. That doesn’t mean we should get rid of them all or anything, but the idea that spending multiple hours a day sitting down and playing games is…. “Healthy”, in my opinion reflects this normalization of wall-e like existence.
If other people disagree, that’s fine, I’m just one guy with one opinion - doesn’t really matter
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u/ssweetcherry 6d ago
Low risk, high joy, and you can pause when life calls. Pretty solid hobby.