How can men turn things around?

You can't listen to Pat Benatar without doing the Pat Benatar chest shake.

 

I don't see one being any worse or any better than the other.

 

As with anything, all is good in moderation. I enjoy playing video games, but not at the expense of a) getting my work done; b) spending time with my girlfriend or c) working out. If I have some free time to play a few games of Madden or Tiger Woods, then I take it. But it's not at the top of my priority list.

 

And playing live while communicating with gamers from all over is a good way for young, anti-social men to play at being social.

 

A) The next two articles I linked also address the idea of kids staying longer in the cocoon. I don't doubt your anecdotal experience, but it doesn't seem to match up to the numbers.

B) Your "more than a year out of college" qualifier kind of proves my point -- when I graduated, neither I nor the people I graduated with had an option available to spend a year kicking around home waiting for the best gig. I understand the challenges of this economy, but I also think this practice of moving home was building for quite a few years before that.

 

This article is stupid, I'm going to play Call of Duty!!

But seriously, playing video games beats hanging out with plenty of women. They say there are plenty of fish in the sea, but I must be stuck in a fish bowl.

 

I spent a year on my own being a slave to grind. I never had energy or time to hit the pavement so to speak for journalism jobs. After a year of making it on my own, just not in the way I wanted, I packed up and moved in with my parents (from New Orleans to South Carolina). After spending three months without being able to find any job, not even Walmart, I finally got a valet job. I then hit the pavement and got the job I have now. I think I was home for 9 months.

I would guess about 50 percent of the people I know from college, all degrees and backgrounds, went home at some point.

 

Men of earlier generations would've been spending their time the same way if they had video games as fucking cool as they are today. Men haven't changed, their world has.

 

Bennett forgot to add, "Hey, you kids, get off my lawn".

It reads like the drunk ramblings of my Uncle Charlie at Thanksgiving dinner.

 

The great majority of them were on their own within three months of graduating from school. I'd say in the 90% range.

I also don't understand why it's a bad thing to go home for a few months to make sure one has a job before starting to pay for an apartment. Would you rather they just go into (more) debt so that they can have what you deem to be acceptable independence?

 

If playing video games is a judge on whether you're a good man or not, I guess I'm not.

I play video games every day. I also have a college degree. A very good job at a very good paper in a very good market. I have two kids, one in catholic school. I own my townhouse and pay all of my own bills.

I also play madden, and I was at Walmart at midnight for NBA2k12's release. Call of Duty? I'm there.

Playing video games is not the measure of whether or not you're a "good man".

At all.

 

Efficient and smart for the child. A pain in the ass for the parent.