Yasmine Bikul

As a 25-year-old woman, there are many things that still baffle me about men. For example, why do men miss the toilet bowl after years of practice or their fascination with porn? I get that men are driven by visual stimuli, but what’s with the need to have a porn collection of more than a couple videos? The plot never changes.

But the one thing that still mystifies me about men is their fascination with video games. First off, I will admit that I like playing video games – but in moderation. What I don’t get is the need to play video games for more than a couple hours at a time.

For most women, we get that you need something to do to escape from reality. Women escape from reality by shopping, getting massages and pedicures, the same way men use playing video games. My main concern is for those who use video games to escape life.

Drew Pinsky, from LoveLine, said the average man plays 12-15 hours of video games weekly. Pinsky said that if you took those 15 hours and used them to become proficient in something that could be used as a life skill then you would be the ‘Bach’ at that skill. `

We all have heard the story of the girlfriend who is fed up of being placed on the back burner because of her boyfriend’s obsession with video games, and all of us have known someone who uses video games to escape the responsibilities of life. So why don’t men use those 15 hours and learn a life skill like listening?

Ladies, we have all been there – where you are talking to your significant other and he is watching television or playing video games and doesn’t hear one thing you have said. There is that awkward moment where you realize that you have been talking to yourself for 10 minutes.

There comes a point in life when the little boy that enjoys playing video games has to become a man and stop playing games. I hate to sound harsh, but video games are made so that fourth graders can comprehend it. I’m not saying that playing video games ruins relationships, but it can put a strain on them if you put video games over working on the relationship.

News flash, guys: Life isn’t about finding that extra star to get to the next level. Life is about relationships and friendships. Last time I checked, video games don’t cuddle, spoon, kiss or hug and they don’t make love. So take the 15 hours you spend on video games and maybe use that time to become a better man. Get off the couch and use that time as a life skill you can use to build those relationships.

Yasmine Bikul can be reached at [email protected].

Jesse Fernandez

I have a couple of points in defense of video games. My first point is that if video games are unproductive, so what? And my second point is that video games are not unproductive.

It is sometimes said that video game players don’t benefit from playing video games. But consider this: The American Time Use survey found that on a daily basis, the average man spends 5.7 hours at leisure and the average woman spends 4.9 hours at leisure. Leisure time isn’t necessarily productive time anyway – it’s just time for fun.

That being the case, I don’t see the problem with having that fun and spending that leisure time through video games. It is literally our portion of time that does not need to be productive. That is my first point and it is, of course, assuming that video games are not productive.

But video games are productive. Video games are actually beneficial in quite a few ways. At the American Psychological Association website, Alan Castel said that video games improve the player’s ability to perform visual searches. Video games train the players’ brains to better notice things in their peripheral vision, and those players in turn become better at finding what they’re looking for. It’s like gaining the ability to focus on things you’re not focusing on.

The American Time Use survey also found that average men and women spend almost half of their leisure time watching TV. Playing video games is so much more active than watching TV. Even schools often only teach students how to memorize facts so that they can later be regurgitated onto a Scantron sheet. But playing video games is a leisure activity that forces players to solve puzzles, make strategic decisions, be patient, think creatively and think quickly. Video games actually train people to think.

Playing video games is like forcing someone who just watched a TV show or just read a chapter in a textbook to apply what they learned in many different ways and at many different speeds – having them rearrange the information in the order of importance and in the order of ways necessary to reach a number of specified goals. Imagine how well you would know something if you were put through the rigors it takes to reach the next level. Video game players are forced to think hard, and they do it as their leisure.

Are video games productive? Yes. Are they the most productive thing you could do? No. You could learn another language or get really good at the guitar. But since people are spending five or six hours per day on leisure anyway, video games are a (possibly inadvertently) helpful use of that time by honing the players’ brains.

Video games have gotten a bad reputation and it’s sad that they’re still such a popular target considering all the good things about them. Oh, well. To quote Barret from my favorite video game, Final Fantasy 7, “There ain’t no gettin’ offa this train we on!!” ? There’s only hoping the ride gets smoother.

Jesse Fernandez can be reached at [email protected].