i am of the 'atari' and 'NES' generation - the first of the home video game consoles. i grew up in the last days of hanging out at the arcade and the first days of home PC's. the first phones i used were rotary dial, and now a great proportion of Americans have video game consoles in their pockets or in a hip holster and in arms reach at all times.
i'd rather walk in the woods and climb trees, or ride a BMX bicycle for 15-20 miles a day. i didn't want to be hypnotized by technology myself any more than i ever wanted my son to be. i've enjoyed and appreciated games, been thankful for them, really, and also regretted wasting so much time with them. there are worse things a person could be doing that gaming can keep them from, and better things that gaming keeps people from too. i'm not at all ignorant of drug addiction, what it is, what it's like, what it does, and how it ends - and RedTent, you're right, gaming is unquestionably in the same category.
i won't condemn games absolutely. i still believe everything has a time and a season. the internet, too, is a drug.
i was proud of my thoughts on technology's intrusion into healthy lives. but God gave me a son with physical disability, surely in part to humble me. he can't go biking for miles. he can't go walking for miles. he can't play sports, and his peers reject him. a lot of his life (he's a teenager now) has been given over to playing video games, or to the internet. not all of it. a lot more than as a father i would have wanted. i've had to accept that virtual realities have a place, and seen how they've allowed an awkward boy with a lot of limitations interact socially with people and feel accomplishment. it wasn't easy for me to understand as he's grown up; i played all sorts of sports and was always out with a lot of friends as a kid - i wanted him to get up off the couch and go get involved with things! i had to be that father that found the limits of his child, and to learn to forgive myself for pushing him harder than he could go.
i also grew up hating golf, but thanks to my grandfather, who was in too poor health to get out on the course, i learned to love playing it as a video game.
i'm not trying to say video games are good only for the old and the feeble, who can't go out and do things physically - just some thoughts.