Central Interference: President Obama Says Videogames Are a Health Hazard

Barack Obama, the President of the United States, seems to be referring to videogames more and more in his speeches, especially when addressing big themes like health care reform and the challenges facing the educational system. The most recent reference comes in a speech made to the American Medical Association.

Here's the relevant passage for videogames lovers, coming via the Health blog of the Wall Street Journal, which also has the full text, if you are interested in it, “The second step that we can all agree on is to invest more in preventive care so that we can avoid illness and disease in the first place. That starts with each of us taking more responsibility for our health and the health of our children. It means quitting smoking, going in for that mammogram or colon cancer screening. It means going for a run or hitting the gym, and raising our children to step away from the video games and spend more time playing outside.”

Of course, people are not only fat because they spend time in front of the computer playing videogames. It's just a stereotype which, unfortunately, has made its way into the speech of the President of the United States. Deficient eating habits and overall lack of physical exercise are the main reasons and the first has no tie to videogames while videogames can only be blamed for the condition of a percent of those who do not get the fitness regime they need.

This comes a short time after the president, speaking in Wisconsin and addressing the overall value of the educational system in the United States, again pointed to videogames as being among the reasons for the continued fall that the United States is experiencing when compared to other nations. Obama urged parents and educators to make sure that children put down controllers and spend more times either in school or engaged in educational activities.