I think it's more of its perceived usefulness over the entrance barrier rather than the old vs. new thing. Video games and social networks today are much easier

I think it's more of its perceived usefulness over the entrance barrier rather than the old vs. new thing. Video games and social networks today are much easier to start with than chess while its usefulness (recognized by society) is questionable (not much higher than chess); so it seems more wasteful, i.e. "bad" Compare this to computer programming. This is clearly new and pretty addictive thing IMO but its entrance barrier is rather high and it looks useful (to the eyes of parents and teachers), so they tend to accept it. Similarly, there's not much novelty in a fidget spinner but it's blamed and banned from school. It's extremely easy to play with while its apparent usefulness is unclear. Hence it's "bad".