"Wanna Come Over and Play?"

Can you imagine being a kid these days? It’s a depressing thought, isn’t it?

I suppose everybody says this about their childhood era, but the 90s were the best possible time to grow up. In fact, quite simply, technology has ruined being a youth. It is really quite sad.

Now I know what you are thinking, "But Mr. Juice, there was plenty of technology in the 90s: Nintendo, computers, television, etc." And yes, there was. However, the Nintendo of the 90s was nothing like video games today. You couldn't sit in front of the television for hours playing Mario, because it was the same thing over and over again. An hour or so of Nintendo and you are pretty much set for the day.

I have to admit personal bias here, because I had no interest in Nintendo as a kid. In fact, I didn't even own a video game system until I got a Playstation in sixth grade – shout out to Crash Bandicoot. I am also biased because I spent the majority of my time outside playing baseball in the summer, and building snow forts in the winter. Do kids still do that?

I'm pretty sure they don't. And that is unbelievably depressing.

Now, admittedly, I frolicked outside a tad more than most kids, but even if you take the average frolicker of the 90s, they spent far more time outside than children of today.

In the 90s calling up a friend and saying "wanna come over and play" - which is exactly what everyone said, by the way - didn't mean sitting in front of a TV with an xbox 360 controller, it meant actually playing.

Hell, these days kids don't even need to get together, they can just play each other in Halo and communicate via microphone. I just can't imagine that.

Most child psychologists agree that kids learn the most from interacting with their peers, which essentially means playing outside, not cooping yourself up with an Xbox and bag of Doritos. So what happens when kids skip that step?

I promise human interaction is one thing Google can't help with that.

As I sit here I will admit I can't imagine my life without Google - the answer to any question at your fingertips - but, at the same time, I can't imagine being an kid and not discovering answers for myself. (Although I will say my Google searches would've been a little different as an eight year old, well, except for "boobs." That never gets old.)

Kids no longer have to discover answers. If children want to solve life’s little paradoxes they can simply type them into Google. Thinking and analyzing be damned.

Have you seen that commercial for Windows where the little five year old girl is showing how easy it is to use a PC? How depressing is that? Not because a 5 year old is smarter than me, I'm fine with that, but because a fucking five year old can sit down and use a computer. Five year olds shouldn't be using computers; they should be eating paste and sticking things up their nose. When I have kids, I would much rather have them eating weird shit than sifting through my Google searches.

Life’s little mysteries should be discovered, not Googled.

Now, I'm not trying to advocate outlawing video games or the internet. I use both. And I'm not saying video games are the root of all evil. I played plenty of computer games. I'm just saying they should be used in moderation. They shouldn't be the centerpiece of a child’s day.

My worst fear (other than giant spiders) is that the youth are calling - or hell, probably texting – each other and saying “do you want to play football?” Except football means Madden on Xbox.

And this is a completely a cultural issue.

Kids have been ingrained in the last ten years to think that playing sports video games is more fun than playing actual sports. This, obviously, isn’t true. I, too, enjoy sports video games, but nothing beats green springy grass, and the feel of a baseball in your hands. And, suffice to say, the only reason I actually enjoy sports video games is because they present an alternate reality of something I already love. Something I love, from real experience.

Playing outside is the best part of childhood. Being a kid isn’t about gaming and gorging, it’s about capture the flag and kick the can. It’s about running, jumping, laughing, throwing, hitting, tackling, and anything and everything you can think of. It’s about eenie meenie minee moe, bubble gum bubble gum in a dish, and of course Indian Indian in a hut what color is your butt?

It is about making up games and making up mischief.

And, fine, maybe there is some problem solving involved in video games, and learning to use certain parts of a computer are important for a kid, but no amount of computing, or deciphering how to kill an alien sniper, can make up for whizzing to the bottom of a hill on a bicycle - or whizzing on a bicycle at the bottom of a hill, for that matter. Kids need fresh air and exercise, they just do.

This doesn’t mean children should be forced to play a specific sport (other than not being allowed to play soccer, of course) but, I promise, if you send a kid outside and say "go nuts" they will find something worthwhile. Plus the weird games kids come up with using toys in the garage, show far more analytical thinking than triumph over the alien sniper.

Now I realize my childhood of playing baseball everyday was different than most, and this fanaticism isn't a requirement, but getting kids off their asses is.

Maybe that era is dead. But I like to think that isn’t the case.

I like to think there will again be a day when the phrase "wanna come over and play?" regains its proper meaning.

-Juice