The World's Most Interesting Man
Philip Zimbardo and Nikita D. Coulombe ( Man (Dis)connecte d , 226) claim that the average American male teen plays video games 676 hours each year.
With that time, he could. . . .
Learn the rudiments of French on Rosetta Stone (205 hours);
Learn to play the guitar (260 hours);
Play a sport (32 hours);
Learn salsa dancing (40 hours).
He could, in short, become the most interesting man in the world.
And if all the gamers devoted just one percent of their gaming hours to something with a real-world impact, they could move the world: “Considering Wikipedia represents roughly 100 million hours of human thought, hypothetically 15.6 Wikipedia-size projects could be accomplished every year if each game invested that 1 per cent into a crowdsourcing project” (250).
Peter Leithart
Peter J. Leithart is President of Theopolis Institute. He is the author of numerous books on theology, literature, and culture, including Theopolitan, Defending Constantine, and Baptized Body.
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