You guys have to tell me if I should be worried.
Let me start at the beginning. I decided awhile back not to let Lowell play any kind of computer games for as long as possible. I figured that he'll be attached to some kind of screen device for the rest of his life (at least until he's swigging back nanobots) so why not delay the inevitable for a little while? (Ha! Oh, I crack myself up. Actually I have been keeping him in the dark because I don't want to share the computer during the day. The last thing I want is for him to be standing there whining to use it while I'm trying to get my Twitter on. AM I RITE?) But it was a long, cold winter and some of the edumacational games my well-meaning father loves to give him started looking like a good thing. One particularly wretched day I basically said "F*ck it" and popped one of the disks in and let him have at it. Lowell was instantly hooked. He played for as long as I would let him and, technical difficulties aside, he played without a peep. This is a kid who does not like to play alone that often so I have to say I was also instantly hooked. One thing led to another and now he's a Noggin.com flash game junkie. Backyardigans and Diego are his favorites. But this week we (and I do mean we) had to go cold turkey because of the escalating tantrums he was throwing whenever his time was up. After a couple days without playing he was okay but the withdrawal on the first day was painful (for my eardrums especially).
So what's worrying me? Aside from the Noggin.com-DTs? Yesterday he was running around the house doing all sorts of twists and jumps and muttering to himself. Not unusual at all but then I listened in and heard him saying to himself "use the left and right arrow keys to steer. Press the spacebar to do a trick! SPEEDBOOST!" I realized he was playing the Diego snowboarding game in his head as he ran around the living room. First thought: "Oh my God, I have rewired his brain." Second thought: "How creative! He IS a genius!" Third thought: "Perhaps there is a Diego Clean-Your-Room game..."
Worrisome or just funny? It actually reminded me of a time when I was doing a lot of Photoshopping for work and I started thinking "undo" every time I made a mistake in real life. I definitely believe that computer use changes the way that you think so I wonder what effect it has on a developing brain. I'm positive that in moderation it's not going to do anything good or bad but I have no idea where the moderation line is. I'm thinking I'll just stuff the genie back in the bottle for a little longer and then just choose not to worry when he's playing them again. Did I mention that I just got a Wii for my birthday? I am a complete hypocrite on this subject. Although at this point I think video games will probably help my brain since I'm at the atrophying phase. Is there a Clean-Your-Room game out there by the way?
