Kinect

I have held the anti-gaming position for my entire adult life. We had one when we were kids, a Nintendo I think. I don't ever remember playing it. EVER! I vaguely remember my brother playing it. And I have more vivid memories of my dad thinking it was a complete waste of time. It was. And now I am the owner of yet another piece of time-wasting equipment. Yes it is. As if the iPhone, iPad, and other Apple products didn't rob us of our productivity already. We are die hard apple fans, but they don't make gaming systems... they might be on to something.

My husband would have me believe that the future of medicine can be found in the science of video gaming. That his eye-hand coordination will improve by playing these games and thereby make him a better surgeon. Don't I want him to be a good surgeon? For years I have been telling him to show me the evidence that such research on the subject exists. He said there is a study showing that surgeons who played video games prior to operating had xyz, a good something or other. You can tell that I didn't really listen to that. He did show me this article recently that makes sense, but I am convinced that it could be learned in 5 minutes  - it's not rocket science. Wasn't Kinect targeted to kids?

I have images of a grown man sitting on the couch for hours with drool pooling below him, unshaven, and in a state of hypnosis, game controller in hand saying "just until I get to the next level". The kind of guy that suddenly loses his desire for the OR by the same device that was supposed to make him better in the OR. Sounds really attractive. I have no intention of enabling that kind of behavior. I have four children to take care of, one of which already drools and wears a diaper. I don't need another one.

Well after years of denying my husband what every male wants, I have finally given in. We are the owners of an Xbox Kinect gaming system. I am a practical person who respects a good deal, and I suppose we needed to buy something for Christmas with the money that the hospital gives us. It was supposed to be for the kids. Yeah, right. I suppose every man needs a way to decompress after a long day in the OR. And I suppose that because he is playing Lego Star Wars with his son that can count as male-bonding time that was previously lacking. But so help me, if I find him sitting up in the middle of the night in his underwear playing games I'm going to pull the plug!