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Obama: Less video games and more playing outside for kids

Posted Jun 16, 2009 at 1:45PM EST by Glenn M.

Listed in: News Tags: Wall Street Journal

Less video games, more playing outside. This is what US President Barack Obama asks the parents of the United States, to raise their kids with less gaming and more time to play outside and be active.

In his speech addressed to the American Medical Association, Obama stressed the importance of every person taking charge of their health - stay healthy - to help avoid illness and disease.

Citing the US$ 2 trillion a year that the nation spends on healthcare as threat to the economy, Obama encourages Americans to do their part for their own health. Despite the huge amount that the US Government spends on health care, "...for all this spending, more of our citizens are uninsured; the quality of our care is often lower; and we arenÂ’t any healthier," Obama said.

You gotta admit, he's got a point. Stewing in front of the TV all day motionless isn't very good for kids who're supposed to be developing their body functions. Some video games may offer exercise and social interaction online, but it just doesn't quite beat the real thing. It's all to stay healthier, after all.

Image courtesy of the Wall Street Journal

Obama and gaming:

Via Wall Street Journal

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People need to learn a little thing called "moderation." Also, get a life! If you had friends to play with, maybe you wouldn't spend all that time playing video games. GTFO and do something! Besides, it's not video games making people unhealthy. If I didn't have video games, it's not like I'm going to substitute all that time with excercise. I'd watch TV and I'd say that is even less healthy than gaming. Then I could sit there and eat the whole time. There's the sole cause of bad health right there: eating habits. Video games pwn.

# Agree but ....... — FORCE4121 2009-06-16 16:08

I agree that people need to go out side...... but there is an issue...... WHAT ABOUT THE CO2 that is causing unbearable heat in the south. HOW ARE KIDS supposed to go out when just being out side gives you a head ache....... I heard that people are getting sick from the heat.......

# well — Darthsappy23 2009-06-16 16:26

well i wasnt sure if i wanna chime in on this or not but wtf why not. 1st off i didnt vote for this guy and i didnt wanna vote for the other guy either but i did and he lost. but thats here nor there. i dont like politics. but what i dont like even more is people interferring with my personal life. ya, im one of those un-insured, but i pay my bills. like stated in the article above, u can get exercise in games, mainly the wii fit. but playing games is good for the brain. its been proven. i dont have a link and dont care to put it in if i had one. id like to think obama is a good person, but the ***** he is doing is bogus. if they pass that nationalized healthcare BS, they are going to hike the taxes on everything bad for the body, and that is f.u.c.k.i.n.g b.u.l.l.s.h.i.t. the government is taking enuf of our money as it is and wasting it away. well bring on the hate w/e this is just another one of those BS policies hes tryn to push on us. well maybe i do wanna put a link in, here it is check it out. http://theglennbeck912project.com/ bring on the FLAMES!! and oh ya ive no kids, but when if and when i do, we WILL go outside and play b/c there is nothing better than the great outdoors

# ! — HIDEO KOJIMA 2009-06-16 16:49

Soooooo if you don't want your kids killing hookers in the virtual world, set them free and let them do that in the real world.

# Lol. — GodGates 2009-06-16 17:27

No. i see what u did thar...

But it wasn't funny. You're just encouraging the "Violent Video Games Ban" -.-

# Obama — Orlyeh 2009-06-16 17:37

claimed to know how to fix the economy; spent money, it's not fixed

claimed to know how to fix GM; spent money, it's not fixed

claims to know how to fix healthcare; wants to spend money

# ... — Foolmonkey 2009-06-16 17:45

ALL presidents have SAID things which they could not follow through on. Don't even try to single Obama out.

# foolmonkey — JOshISPoser 2009-06-16 17:51

agreed. it's easy to point out someone's flaws but you gotta check out everyone else that was in his position first. every president spends some sort of money.

i mean, the drug war is one of the most useless spendings of money that a president could have thought up.

# lol — Miclowgunman 2009-06-16 18:18

he's just saying that because he owns six flags now and wants people to go to in more often....

# Wow, a Glenn Beck fan... — ssouthparkk 2009-06-16 18:44

HAHAHAHA!!!

Just the fact that you linked to Glenn's 9/12 project shows your insanity. All of FOX news is douchebaggery. Enough said...

# pssh — rollypoly 2009-06-16 21:20

thank god for allergies, bees, poisonous snakes and spiders, mosquitoes, sunburn, skin cancer, etc...

outside isn't that pleasant or safe or healthy for a lot of people...

it's a balancing act... personally i'd rather sit inside in my time off (school or work, depending on age)... so maybe i weigh 20lbs too much for my age and height, so what... i don't have insurance and i don't ask the govt for anything except drug policy reform, who am i hurting besides myself? and is that not my right?

# . — Solid Snicker 2009-06-16 23:03

lol, maybe they coul;d set up some sort of time limit for kids under a certain age, maybe your xbox switches itself off after 3 hours of continous play or something, hopefully giving you a warning so you can save your game or whatever.

# ... — NathanDrake 2009-06-16 23:49

I think you need to give things a bit more time. He's not been president that long and he's got plenty of messes left over from the last guy to clear up.

# President is dumb — RockmanForte 2009-06-17 00:15

Don't bother. Obama is an idiot.. Many parents dont care and wants to leave kids alone so they can enjoy for themselves. Many parents dont know how to handle the kids. Obama is an idiot and he needs to focus on enomonics and jobs to improvement first!

Jeez. I am sick of every presidents and mayors.. They are terrible! Stupid people for vote every of them.. Those people are dumber than them.

# well, — yoshi314 2009-06-17 00:23

he has a point, but the fact that kids play too much video games is a symptom, not a problem.

like RockmanForte said, parents do not have enough free time for their children. also, some children have nothing better to do than playing games.

# No. — Dave 2009-06-17 01:22

Sometimes I go outside often, and sometimes I stay inside playing video games. What I do notice is that the times when I am going outside, I am catching other peoples colds and becoming ill, when I am inside, I am fine...

# meh~ — genesiscopy 2009-06-17 01:29

the family institution is the one at fault.. stop blaming the games... they are a legit industry and contribute to your country's gdp...

you can prepare for anything except parenting.. ( and mayb death too)..

# ... — Walo 2009-06-17 02:26

I hope that comment was a general comment about having a sedentary life, and not about videogames only because then ill gonna be pissed.

# mm — emcp 2009-06-17 03:37

what so athletes have to stop playing video games as much

anyway Obama is asking for the wrong thing

see should be asking for gamers to come up with new interesting ways to merge the two together and i dont mean wiimote, which is pretty *****. The gadget show as a few good ways of merging them both together

anyway virtual reality as in , a physical world should really be here by now. its possible and as been possible for quite a long time now, they just need to merge a few existing technology together and get it into the public

# WTF!?!?!?!?! — ISOHaven 2009-06-17 05:15

Obama is such a tool.

There is absolutely NO REASON to limit video game playing. In FACT if you remove all FAST FOOD from a kids diet then you could INCREASE his/her video game playing and he/she would STILL become healthier.

This idiot wouldn't know a REAL idea if it bit him on his balls.

# Agreed — BigGulps 2009-06-17 05:30

If anybody else said this everyone would go nuts, but since it's Obama that said it everyone tends to agree. If Bush said the same thing the opinions wouldn't be so forgiving. He's a puppet, people.. The NWO is coming.

# to the dude who replied b4 me (ssouthparkk) — iamshadow 2009-06-17 07:33

just because you voted for Osama shows YOUR insanity, Osama isnt trying to ruin this country...he IS RUINING IT!!! and Darthsappy nice job on linking to Glenn

# to joshISPoser — iamshadow 2009-06-17 07:36

it may be easy to single out someones flaws, but im having an EXTREMELY hard time finding ANY of Obama's greatnesses.(is that the right word? sorry my head hurts and i dont want to think about this anymore)

# ... — iamshadow 2009-06-17 07:39

i agree totally with BOTH of you.

# NWO — James2k 2009-06-17 08:00

Quite possibly

# Tool.. — RSX46 2009-06-17 08:31

Mr O is just a Tool!

This is about the NWO coming to knock on your door...

# Actually, I mostly agree with Obama. — Jez 2009-06-17 09:46

Besides, it's not as if he's attacking video games here, what he's saying is really just common sense, just focussed (perhaps typically) around video games.

The fact is, health isn't simply about cutting out fast food or cutting down the hours playing video games, it's about cutting down on any excesses. Many kids/people play video games to excess, they spend far too many hours each day sitting down with a controller, and this is bad for their health. Same with fast food, some people eat too much of it and too often, which again is bad for their health. Heck, even drinking too much water can kill you (called hyponatraemia, or water intoxication). So videos games isn't bad for us, neither is fast food, or water, but taken to excess, then problems will occur.

INterestingly, no-one ever seems to complain about kids who sit down all day reading books, or spending countless hours looking at their collection of stamps or something, and yet the same applies to them too.

So a lot of different things (foods, drinks, games, sports, socialising etc) in moderation, that's one of the main keys to good health. :)

# ... — Foolmonkey 2009-06-17 09:49

That's because you're not outside enough to build up your immune system, retard.

# Huh? — DrFreeman 2009-06-17 10:37

When did Obama actually say "less video games and more playing outside for kids"?

# Wow again.... — ssouthparkk 2009-06-17 12:18

@iamshadow

I am amazed at Glenn Beck fans....

And no, i didn't vote for Obama. Why you ask? Because I am too young. I was 17 at the time of the voting.

Would I have voted for him?

Between him and McCain, you bet your @S$ I would have. It's about time science is put back into discussions about policies dealing with climate change and sexual education, and not religious dogma...

# hurr durr — Orlyeh 2009-06-17 12:20

Foolmonkey - it's one thing to promise something then not do it, it's another to SPEND OUR CHILDREN'S AND GRANDCHILDREN'S MONEY in doing nothing

I'm singling him out for the things he HAS done and plans to do

JOshISPoser - the war on poverty has been far more expensive, but we can't get rid of that, now can we? I'm all for stopping unnecessary expenditure on failed programs

however, you should read up organized crime and the Netherlands' lax drug policies; surrounding countries are complaining that hard drugs routinely and easily flow through the Netherlands because of the lax approach to its issues

NathanDrake - the thing is, his policies aren't designed to work, they are designed to strip money away from the private sector and expand government - the only sector of our economy which has NEVER, in its entire existance, produced a single product

as for plenty of messes? what, you mean like the financial reforms that Bush tried to pass? those problems?

hey, let's not forget the original TARP bill Obama voted for while in the Senate

having firsthand experience of socialized medicine in both Europe and Canada and having have had to help family members get visas to come here to receive medical treatment that their government refused to give because of rationing, I'd rather go into poverty to pay for my medical expenses than try what they've done

# I don't want to keep brining up politics, but... — ssouthparkk 2009-06-17 12:23

It's inevitable. I just want to say that any site in the Internet that isn't specifically for Conservatives is going to be dominated by us Liberals. (Demonized word, but I'm proud to help take back the word Liberal and tell everyone that I am a Liberal.)

So for anyone criticizing Obama, please know that you most likely will have little support. Just a heads up.

# ssouthparkk — dragonracer900 2009-06-17 14:07

u do realize that fox news is the highest news channel in ratings right now. Out of every news cable channel, fox news is considered as the most balanced.

Here is a link for june 16 on ratings -

http://tvbythenumbers.com/2009/06/17/cable-news-tv-ratings-for-tuesday-june-16/20970

Here's a link about "balanced reporting". Of course it is colmes which used to be with hannity but he has a link to the survey. -

http://www.alan.com/2008/08/17/fox-vs-msnbc-vs-cnn/

Besides, I would rather watch Glenn Beck. He is 10 times better than Hannity. But that is my opinion.

# ssouthparkk — dragonracer900 2009-06-17 14:34

again, most american's considered themselves as conservative due to ideology. Most of the moderates leaned to democrat during the past election. To me that is possibly due to bad press of a past president and popularity/positive look to obama. Of course while he seems like he can do a lot of good, time will tell within a few yrs.

link to 2009 poll - http://blogs.cqpolitics.com/polltracker/2009/06/a-plurality-of-americans-descr.html

# + Brian — Stewies 2009-06-17 14:36

MS already applied this to their X360. If you played too much, it would RROD.

Victory is mine!

# Well Obama, — GUNBEHINDTHESUN 2009-06-17 16:57

Less smoking, hypocrite.

# the irony — GTO_VR4 2009-06-17 17:10

rockmanforte, did you even read the article?

oh and also, if your sick our leaders, why dont you move to a third world country? I hear Haiti is nice this time of year.

# I had an awesome childhood. — GTO_VR4 2009-06-17 17:14

Because I went outside and played with my friends. I also played the ***** out of video games too.

# Damn Obama — xXxZEROxXx 2009-06-17 17:37

Wants to now take control of my video games..

also its not just video games..

theres also television, you know Mr. O.. that thing that has you on there 24/7..

# Amazing. — ssouthparkk 2009-06-17 17:59

I like how Conservatives think that a majority + fact and right.

Just because it's the most watched means jack.

Dude, look how many of us Americans deny Global Warming and evolution.

Most of us are Religious. Does a majority make it right? No.

Besides, I said this many times before.

The only reason their ratings are so high is because the (Social) Conservative party is a sinking ship, and the part not sunk where they all ran to is FOX News.

All the Moderates (Fiscal) are diluted between CBS,%uFEFF ABC, CNN, etc.

But, let's not kid ourselves, I'm a Liberal, but I won't deny the Liberal bias at MSNBC. LMAO They're the Fox of the left, but I agree with them more.

(Soon the Libertarians will take over the Republicans, and then I can be civil with them.)

# ***** that — James2k 2009-06-17 20:00

Taking video games away is not the answer.

# that why I headed north — xophaser 2009-06-17 20:22

I also play soccer and go to the gym, but you can only do so much of that. I can hang around a city, but most people don't live in the city either.

# @Stewies — 1ofamillion 2009-06-18 01:26

I lol'd ;)

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