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I would def. disagree with your analysis on the mental challenges involved with free time activities, other than video games. There's a huge mental part of spo

I would def. disagree with your analysis on the mental challenges involved with free time activities, other than video games. There's a huge mental part of sports in re: to strategy and team playing. Even solitary sports requires a huge mental effort under duress. Think about a rock climb - or trying to PR in a foot race - your brain is firing nonstop to analysis your surroundings to not fall/go as fast as possible. Other people like to take things apart and put them together again, like a car, or a motorcycle. Other people write fiction - are you saying that weaving a complicated plot isn't a mental challenge?

TulliusCicero 10y ago
> There's a huge mental part of sports in re: to strategy and team playing. I've played sports competitively too, while you're right there's a large mental component, it's nevertheless smaller than video games, since physicality/muscle memory tends to be the dominant factor. It doesn't matter if you're a strategic genius and your opponent is a moron in tennis if their core skills are flat out superior to yours or you're terribly out of shape. > Other people like to take things apart and put them together again, like a car, or a motorcycle. > Other people write fiction - are you saying that weaving a complicated plot isn't a mental challenge? These hobbies aren't exactly rare, but they're not really competitors to gaming, either, in terms of time consumed. Gaming is unusual in that it's mentally demanding and also super popular and widespread. Yeah learning languages or musical instruments undoubtedly improves cognitive function as well, but collectively people don't spend nearly as much time on those things as video games.