I am curious in this day of instant connections and tweeting and posting have we as humans become more narcissistic? Does the desire to post our every thought and moment make us more self focused and less interested in what is going on the the lives of those around us?
In any gathering today look around you and you will observe that over 50% (numbers pulled out of thin air) are not even paying attention to their surroundings but are staring at the little screens on their phones and making no effort to connect to the live humans that are sitting on the other side of the table or across the room from them.
This problem is not limited to the adults today, the proliferation of portable electronic games, which the kids today refuse to leave home without, teach the younger generation that life without portable entertainment is not cool.
When my boys were little the gaming industry had not advanced to the portable devices yet and we made up games to entertain ourselves. One of our favorites was battle ship drawn with pencils on the back of place mats at which ever eating establishment we happened to be at at the time. The premise of the game is you draw a "base" for each player one opposite sides of the page then add in islands or other things in the middle of the "ocean" which will make the battle more interesting. Each player is permitted 5 "battle ships" and they are denoted by different shapes (ie: x's vs o's or triangles or squares). Using only a pencil or pen placed on the beginning ship location the player flicks their pen across the page giving their "battleship" a path heading into enemy territory...where the line disappears is the point where you stop your turn and redraw your ship. The next player attempts to "blow up" your battle ship by aiming their "battle ship" to intercept yours. A ship is destroyed if the line intersects directly across the location of the opponents "battleship".
Does everyone follow? I know it sounds complicated...but it is a game that is free... and keeps children entertained for long periods of time and promotes interaction with others.
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