I'm glad I have allies in my address book who vary in age because this is a topic we can really "see" from both sides. My take on this issue is that it does take up too much time in their day and under the wrong circumstances.

It's been many years now since my Grand-Nephews got their first Game Boy and a bunch of games that would make your eyes pop out. When they received these wonderful toys all they did, outside of school, was play them. As soon as school was ended out came the Game Boy and it was Game Time! Since then, things haven't gotten any better, they've just become more complex and expensive beyond belief!

Sure, there are many things a game system can teach a child like manual dexterity, how to develope strategies, hand-eye coordination and probably a host of others but we must have learned these things somehow before the handheld or computer games came to town to rob us of our little ones!

I was in a Diner the other night with my daughter, son-in-law and grandson. He's 9 years old but since the age of 6 he's known how to operate a PC and he along with his dad would play some kid's games through my son-in-laws Nintendo on the TV screen. We weren't in the Diner for one minute and I could see Nicky getting his PSP out and load a game. I was looking around for my son-in-law, Chris, to come to the table and since this is such a humongous Diner and I had never been there, I had no idea where anything was there. As I looked around, I saw at least 25 kids, heads down, doing what Nicky was doing! Nicky, as always, was focused on the game and so were the others.. The place could have been on fire and he would have been playing that thing as we dragged him out to safety. The only thing he might have asked was if we remembered to bring his case with all the games in it! Incredible.

There's a time and a place for everything, or so I was taught while growing up. I can see there might be a time when your kid is playing a video game and that might be OK because you're having an adult conversation and kids ears hear too much as it is except, of course, a request to put your game away now, your dinner is on the table! Teaching kids the art of visiting with someone isn't easy and they do get bored with things that are above them but...I don't think playing Computer Games is the answer. I don't see my grandson very often and I'd like to be able to visit with him a bit when I do see him. I, for one, think he gets enough play time and computer time every day. I believe it makes them a bit more solitary than they should be. At the age of nine I was interacting with all sorts of people and most of them well above my age!

So, is this a problem or not? Should the kids parents intervene and mete out the time they spend playing games by themselves and try and get them to interact a bit more with those he happens to be with? If you think this is good for them in some way, please tell me because I don't see it...at least not ALL the time. Do you think this stunts their mental growth in some ways or is this really OK?

I think a certain amount is ok, but they tend to be very addictive and pull children in for hours, so I would have to say yes they do.

I'll admit to having spent way too much time in front of computer games. Then again, my definition of too much time in front of a game is considerably different from those of my peers and those of my brother (who is 8). My dad had bought a NES half a decade before I was born; there's always been a video game console accessible to me. Yet I never spent more than an hour, or two in front of them until I was in Middle School. But my parents never set any limits on my video game "consumption." I got bored with them easily, mostly because they were too difficult for me. I found playing outside to be much more interesting.

Still, as I got older newer, more exciting games emerged that began to draw me in more and more. Yet I never had the urge to take my Gameboy into a restaurant, nor did I spend days staring at a TV or computer screen.

What it comes down to is this, a combination of my upraising and my own temperament prevented me from abusing video games. It would have been unthinkable to me to bring a game into a restaurant. I think that what we have here is a generation of children whose parents view video games as a great way to distract their kids without worrying about someone driving through the neighborhood and kidnapping them. Yet, this solution clearly has its drawbacks, lack of any exercise at all, lack of social interaction, an utter detachment from reality.

Look there's nothing wrong with video games, but there is clearly a limit to any good thing.

I'm kind of on both sides here, so I will state my overall point first: Computer games are taking up too much time in a child's life, but as the games continue to evolve, the detrimental effects will diminish.

Ok, so there are two things that are very negative about video games.

1. They can encourage a sedentary, as opposed to, an active lifestyle.

2. They can serve as a substitute for social interaction with others.

While these are both very serious issues for our youth, as our childhood obesity levels continue to grow, the technology advances in the videogames are working to curtail both of them.

The Wii is motion sensing, so now the games are actually forcing kids to move in order to play the game. They've even released the Wii Fit, which is played by doing actual workouts, and yoga stretches. This is all tracked on the game's system to show monthly improvements, just like a real personal trainer would do!

The lack of social interaction with others is still a major problem, but all of the new gaming platforms are connected to the internet, which allows gamers to interact with other gamers through headset communication. As the technologies continue to innovate, I expect that live video communication will be an integral part of these video games in the next 5 years. While this will not replace live social interactions, it will reduce the detriment.