Noggin Thought

I used to spend a lot of time playing video games. Then I tapered off from that and watched more television. Now I think I’m going to go back to playing video games. Television isn’t like it was. Before, we would have to schedule our lives around the shows that we looked to for entertainment. If we watched many shows, we wouldn’t get much done because every night was TV night. DVRs allow us to break from that habit. We can watch shows anytime we want. Better than that, network shows are available online shortly after the episode airs. One nice side effect is that DVRs invite us to examine if we actually want to watch the shows we recorded. One thing Ooh said to me somewhat recently was that she didn’t want to record a show and watch it later because she was into it now. Later, she probably wouldn’t be interested in seeing it. At first I thought that was weird, if you want to see it now, why wouldn’t you want to see it later? But then I realized that this may be a good, unintended effect of not having to succomb to the network TV schedule. By allowing us to control our own scheduling, we are also allowed more time to decide if an episode, or even an entire series, is worth our time. We don’t have to be caught up in the right now mentality of traditional television. Maybe networks will start making better shows again. Maybe we will realize that there is enough time in the day to do what we need and what we want.

Back to my original decision: video games. They have always been fun and engaging. I think I just got lazy when it came to investing my time in them. Also, I somehow got hooked on too many TV shows. But now I’m back! I enjoy the interaction; the need for focused brain activity. It’s rewarding to finally solve a puzzle, or complete a quest. It’s fun to work with a friend and clear out a level and work together to beat a boss. I need more of that. I’ve been too lazy with my brain lately, and that’s going to end.