Back in the days before computers, before even color television, there was a time of peace and tranquility, so to speak.  Kids and adolescents played in the streets, opened fire hydrants and ran around, and many of them read books on rainy or dull days, or sometimes simply for the sake of reading a book and being entertained.  However, today’s world has begun to see the extinction of reading for pleasure, and there are many different complex answers to this, what has since become an incredibly complicated and intricate question itself, “why don’t kids read?”

Young teens and young adults read so many books so many years ago because they had no others means of entertainment or media; the entertainment and media I refer to today is computers, video games, and the never ending expansion of day-long television programs, as well as each combination as they can intercede each other.   Back when books ruled the world there was no extensive library of mind numbing waterless video games, but of esoteric substantial books, magazines, and newspapers; things which today are floating closer and closer to extinction.  If you were to ask an average adolescent today how many books they have read this year, the answer would be few to none; but ask how many different video games they have played or bought, and the number would be too many to remember.  Ask an average person, would you rather read a book or play video games and… well ask yourself that very question….

Video games and all the new technology in entertainment have not only changed the way kids and adults fight boredom, however, and this is where problems exist.  Reading, when it was a major part of society, had much more value then pure entertainment; it is also a learning tool.  With some exceptions, video games have yet to serve this purpose substantially.  Nobody is playing Grand Theft Auto and learning how to speak or write better, or hold an intelligent conversation.    Nobody is playing Call of Duty and learning where Bangladesh is on a map.  This latter comparison may be a bit extreme but if you think about it, it’s true.  Teachers and professors don’t assign video games as part of their lesson plan; although recently has been a movement into studying and learning via television.  Although video games are supposed to serve as entertainment and not a learning medium, they have become so large, so readily available, they have taken what little chance of external learning was left in society and destroyed it.  It’s unfortunate that there is no middle ground between kids who exclusively want to read and learn, and kids who want to play video games all day; the unfortunate part is the majority fills the latter definition.

As the country falls deeper and deeper into recession, and bookstores can’t survive without selling movies and video games, books are truly becoming a thing of the past.  Schooling is becoming easier in part to the government’s intervention to ensure every child is afforded the chance to succeed, and in part because the mediums for learning are becoming so spare and are continuing being unused.  I deduce further one’s consistent refusal to read today is in large fault to the fast paced world we live in today. I can say with utmost certainty that today’s days are shorter and faster than the days of out fathers and even more so of our father’s fathers.  Society has driven out of the ideals of what’s better for us and into the suburbs of what is easy.  However, you must be wary.  Bear in mind the government and it’s never ending quest to force what they believe is best onto your shoulders.

“Be bold, be bold, but not too bold.”

[Why We Game is a weekly feature from Loot Ninja discussing the various reasons we each have for playing video games. If you have a reason you want to see covered, let us know.]