10 Biggest Mainstream Misconceptions About Video Games

By Michael Downie /

10. It's A Downright Unhealthy Pastime

Since the dawn of home gaming, parents, teachers and the media have been consistently convinced at how unhealthy it can be for kids. To a degree, the industry doesn't help this, with companies like Microsoft partnering with Doritos and Mountain Dew to advertise games or energy drink companies like Monster and Red Bull being major sponsors behind professional eSports teams, but the long held belief that playing games results in obesity is a tenuous one at best. Gaming is, by it's nature, sedentary, but so is reading a book, so is working in an office, and so is most of modern life. The vast majority of people these days work in offices or call centres and spend a good 8 to 10 hours a day sat in the same position. By comparison, most gamers tend to play for a few hours straight but still manage to move around, as well as sit up straighter and pay much more attention than anyone working in an office. While gaming should be interspersed with periods of activity (especially for children), the concept that it is bad for your health is just plain wrong. That's before we've even talked about the Wii or the Xbox Kinect...