[larrydallas]

Not only iPod but things like liesure time activties which are more and more becoming electronic. Decades ago young men went hunting or fishing more often and in greater numbers. The young these days are experts at MP3s but could not even bait a fish look or scale a fish.

I kind of have this feeling that when modern convieniences like electricity become very expensive or not available at all for any price there will be this really hard knockout punch kind of effect because of this trend. People that just headbang to an iPod will be helpless when they need to do their own home repair or own whatever that requires manual labor and some knowledge about being resourceful with limited supplies.

The reason I suppose I am writting this is because I fell guilty after having blown over $300 on that iPod to gift to someone for X-mas. I should have gievn them a crossbow or knife; would have been more pragmatic in the long term. To top that I recently got as a gift the smaller iPod shuffle thing and I used it for the first time today. It was kind of fun to have a new toy but it being a few hours later I feel very stupid being impressed with this thing that hold hundreds of songs and is so small. Unless someone make MP3s about peak oil and survial available on the net I'll continue to feel this way.

This thing may be regifted to dad cause he's still facinated by the fact that you can make Cds at home. He won't get the memory or speed part of it at all but just be facinated by the small size yet large capacity of the thing. However, I think his generation was much more real world smart. In the mid 1950s to mid 1960s young men were tinkering with cars, learning trades, etc....more hands on stuff.

Add your 2 cents.

[Falconoffury]

Lately, my gifts have been everlight flashlights, hunting knives, swiss army knives, ninja stars/throwing knives, martial arts books, farming books, and survival in the wild type books.

[Leanan]

I think it would probably do kids good to be given sports equipment or some other gift that encourages activity, instead of electronic toys. Though I confess, I love electronic toys as much as the next person.

I gave gifts like solar-powered battery chargers and wind-up flashlights this Christmas. I used to discourage my jewelry-crazy mother from giving me jewelry, because I rarely if ever wear it. But now I welcome it. Hey, it's gold.

[PenultimateManStanding]

For many people, the videogames are more engrossing if you play while stoned on chronic. I think it's a kind of retreat to the womb of oblivion. A route chosen by millions. John Lennon sang in Workingclass Hero

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('', 't')hey keep doped with religion, sex and TV
and you think you're so clever, classless and free

[AmericanEmpire]

I've wasted a good portion of my life playing video games. If I had known what was comming way back when, maybe I'd taken more of an interest in outdoor and survival activities instead.

[Schweinshaxe]

I think that's already proven.

When you have children not even in their teens getting type 2 diabetes (the type you get when you eat nothing but fat and sit in front of the TV, iPod, computer game, and so on) there's something very, very wrong.

I know that it has been discussed in a few countries that morbidly obese children should be taken away from their parents because it's a form of child abuse to let their children become so fat and disgusting.

On top of that we're becoming more and more stupid for every generation. That's also proven.

In a couple of decades the Chinese, the Indians and the Africans will decide that the Western World has to be A-bombed into oblivion because it's like a cancer cell on the Earth. Fat, stupid and useless pieces of shit with no right to occupy space needed for food production for more productive and useful humans.

Just my 2 (Euro) Cents.

[Omnitir]

People around here are so jaded.

I use my iPod exclusively when I go for my daily jog.
About 75% of the time I use my Playstation is when I’m on the exercise bike (because it’s too wet out to ride/jog).
A large portion of income that I’ve ever earned has come about thanks to my frequent use of computers growing up.

I love the modern gadgets and always have, but I’m still (reasonably) smart, and physically fit. Modern gadgets aren’t making us weak. The problem is people’s mentality.

[TommyJefferson]

I don't blame electronics.

People are fat and stupid because they can be. The fact that we have so many people in that condition is testament to our success as a society. In times past these people would be weeded out by war, malnutrition, and competition for natural resources.

If the need arose, people could get smart and fit in a very short time. People with poor eyesight, mental disorders, and ill health would fall by the wayside, but that has been the nature of the world for millions of years.

I think we should enjoy and be proud of our success.

[AmericanEmpire]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('', 'I') think we should enjoy and be proud of our success.