The Times: Xbox is crack for kids

The Times’ opinion columnist Janice Turner has stuck the knife into the video games industry in an article entitled ‘Xbox is crack for kids’.

In the piece, which appeared in Saturday’s newspaper, Turner calls consoles ‘Satan’s Sudoku’. She goes on to write that children are ‘mentally imprisoned’ when playing games, and are ‘wired into their evil creators’ brains’.

The column reads:

‘Once, such kids would be the playground outcasts, but no longer. Mine are. Because, unlike the TV-hating parents, I refuse to buy them portable gaming consoles, Xboxes, GameCubes, PS2s.

‘These are Satan’s Sudoku, crack cocaine of the brain. Even the crappiest cartoon or lamest soap teaches a child about character, plot, drama, humour, life. Playing video games, children are mentally imprisoned, wired into their evil creators’ brains. And they play them – beepety-beep – on journeys, over family meals, any minute in which they find themselves unamused.

‘And their parents never seem to say, hey, this is the bit where you pick up a book. Or game over, kids: get an inner life.’

You can read the full version on The Times website here.