We just had a passel of nieces and nephews here for the past week and...I can honestly say I don't understand children these days. Ranging in age from six to fifteen, it took a Herculean effort to detach them from their cell phones and tablets to go do anything. They would much rather park themselves in their rooms or on the sofas for hours on end instead of--what I though--were offers of fun things to do. Eventually we were able to get them out to skate, watch a movie, and go to the indoor driving range but it took quite the effort.
While I can't say much about video games since I don't play them, I wonder if kids these days play games that test and develop their skills like Monopoly, chess, or Risk did for my generation? I don't have to wonder (it's kind of obvious) if the lack of athletic or outdoor games is a detriment to today's kids--childhood obesity is at an all-time high and even the military can't find fit recruits.
The parents of the kids didn't seem to think their behavior odd--they were busy on their own devices--so maybe it is a newish thing and I am just old (a distinct possibility), but I worry for the health and safety of our country as a whole. I worry also about the mental health of the younger generations (in this article that I came across today the kid's mom pays his bills so he doesn't have to work or even leave his place and he wonders why he is an "incel". Maybe if mom forced him to actually be an adult he would be out and about and meeting women?).
So I will stop ranting and just suggest that parents have their kids spend as much time doing physical activities outside or paying games that require critical thinking, as they do online. These sorts of skills will come in handy during a disaster.
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