• maniclucky@lemmy.world
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    7 months ago

    And your opinion is myopic and generally wrong. The rationalizations you’re mentioning are pretty useless and only come up when assholes demand people justify the things that make people happy.

    First: Hobbies have the utility of being stress relievers, no different than TV or reading or stamp collecting. These activities have no huge social value, other than when they are done together to increase social cohesion and provide a touchpoint of connection with others. Dismissing a hobby as being useless really misses the point of a hobby. As an example, in addition to video games, I also lift weights as a hobby, I have friend groups for each of these. And they provide little to no utility beyond being a thing I enjoy. Because as much as I enjoy bodybuilding, it’s inherently unhealthy, just in the other direction. My knees will not be forgiving me in the future, and that’s because of a ‘healthy’ hobby (insert running here if you are anti-bodybuilding, same issue).

    Second: A lot of health problems that you’re describing can also be attributed to the rise of office work, the availability of unhealthy food, reduced quality of life at the hands of unrestrained capitalism. Believing that all those societal woes are exclusively at the hands of gaming is akin to the satanic panic. It’s a strawman distracting from the actual problems. Big things like that are rarely explained by one thing. Stop watching Fox and learn some nuance.

    • LemmyKnowsBest@lemmy.world
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      7 months ago

      your opinion is myopic and generally wrong

      LOL dissect the word “opinion” for a moment. Opinions can ever be right or wrong. They are simply opinions.

      Have a good day.

      • maniclucky@lemmy.world
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        7 months ago

        Couching error as ‘opinion’ is as bad faith as it gets because your statement isn’t an opinion, it’s a belief. One that is wrong. You believe that video games are a terrible evil (man what a flashback…).

        That’s not an opinion, that’s being generally wrong in the face of reality (studies have been done). That’s being callous in the face of real problems (addicts need careful bounded help, not condemnation). That’s being cruel because it makes you feel superior in your insignificant life (no one needs to justify their harmless happiness to you).

        Terry Pratchett was said to be an angry man, as described by his best friend. He was angry at a world that could be so much better but chooses not to be. You, and people like you, and sometimes me, are the reason he was angry.

        Thank you for reminding me that anger is sometimes the appropriate reaction. I hope your life is as pleasant as you are.