The (almost) undisputed King of YouTube, PewDiePie, has reflected on the controversial words of Joe Rogan in his latest episode of Pew News, stating his belief that video games just aren’t as good as books and admitting that he himself was a video game addict.
ICYMI, podcast host Joe Rogan recently hit the headlines for branding video games a “waste of time.” Since then, a number of streamers and content creators has spoken out against his words, including the likes of Ninja. Now Pewds himself has dissected Rogan’s words, in a new video which you can watch here or below.
On the topic of whether or not a passion should be considered a waste of time, Pewds’ weighed in: “It’s just such a generational gap that’s always existed, even with novels I’m sure people said ‘people are wasting their time reading books? They should go out there and enjoy the real world.'”
He then went on to discuss the problematic nature of gaming, calling games “highly addictive” before admitting he considers himself a former video game addict.
“Video games are dopamine hits and having kids being so exposed to them for hours and hours, I can’t honestly say that I think that’s necessarily a good thing either,” he said.
“It kind of worries me as well a little bit…even as a kid, looking back, I was definitely addicted to video games and I think a lot of kids are. I think it’s way more common than people think.”
The multimillionaire then went on to compare his love of video games with his love of reading, admitting that he gets more from a book than a video game as the latter isn’t as great an educational tool or immersive platforms
“I can’t honestly say I get that much out of video games, compared to reading a book [where] I feel like ‘Oh I learned something, I actually got something out of this.’ Even if it’s fiction, I can immerse myself in the character. Yes, you can do that in games, but I don’t think games are that good at it. I don’t think they are. I can’t remember the last time I played a game and learned something.”
While I can’t say I agree that video games “aren’t as good” as books when it comes to them having immersive stories or characters, I definitely think branching out your hobbies and choosing less screen time is something we all need to do!
Featured Image Credit: YouTube/PewDiePie/Mojang