Why today's youth value playing video games more than practicing sports?
Practice makes perfect sounds so cliché but it is true. The more you practice something the better you will become at it. Practicing a particular sport requires a huge time and energy commitment. The greatest athletes in the world such as Michael Jordan and Muhammad Ali had to practice and train extremely hard to be the best at their individual crafts. When it came to training and preparing for fights Muhammad Ali had this to say “I hated every minute of training, but I said, Don’t quit. Suffer now and live the rest of your life as a champion.” Ali said. Kids in today’s generation don’t value practicing sports as much as they like playing videogames.
Twenty years ago videogames existed but they didn’t have the impact they have now on today’s youth. The main reason for the increase of videogame play is technology. Technology in 1990’s was not nearly as good as it is now. Kids are able to play online games from on their cell phones is something that couldn’t be done twenty years ago. Twenty years ago cell phones were not equipped to allow youth to play videogames online and talk to friends at the same time.
During the 1990’s kids who practiced sports rarely had time to play videogames because whatever sport they were playing consumed a large part of their free time. Kids raised in the later portion of the 2000’s are able to access videogames very easily via tablet or cell phone. Malcolm Scott who is the head football coach for the Berkeley Junior Jackets was raised in the 1990’s. Scott recalls how growing up as a kid playing sports was far more exciting than play videogames.
Scott was recently interviewed on why kids value playing videogames more than practicing sports. “Times have changed”, Scott said. With enhancements to the videogame graphics and gameplay makes playing addictive to today’s youth. Scott was then asked whether or not playing videogames is a good way for youth to mentally practice? Madden is a football videogame which allows a person to upload a playbook and use it while playing in franchise mode. Scott responded by saying “if there are trying to kill some time and its football related I don’t see anything wrong with it”, Scott said. Playing videogames such as Madden can be beneficial for youth who play football. However, Scott would go on to say “there’s nothing like running and sweating”, Scott said. Wining makes the sweating and running worth it. If no running, sweating, or practicing takes place how can a team know what it feels like to win?
In conclusion, youth twenty years ago did not have the technology that is at today’s youth’s disposal. Videogames such as Fortnite were not available and cell phones were not prevalent. Practicing sports was ideal during the 1990’s. Kids in today’s generation find playing videogames far more entertaining than practicing sports. Maybe one day in the near future today’s generation will see there is no correlation to playing videogames and practicing sports. In order to be good at playing a sport you have to practice relentlessly.
