My apologies in advance to everyone who owns a Wii. That being said however, I find I am continually asking myself why anyone would feel the need to fork out for a game console thingy so they could get active/fit/whatever in their lounge room when they could just as easily pop out into the real world and do it all for a lot less and in many cases, for free!
It would be a safer for a start because there’s a lot less chance of flinging yourself into the TV, tripping over the coffee table, shattering the prized antique object, hyping the dog, scaring the cat or dumping an entire bookshelf on yourself in the heat of the moment if you are not actually leaping around in the lounge room to begin with. Secondly, you get to meet real people when you go outside so you can up your social skills at the same time as you hone your fitness level. Seriously, this has gotta be a plus in most cases. Besides, going out and doing it for real allows you to get some fresh air, sunlight and a better sense of the world outside your door.
But my feelings about popping out to buy a thing so you can play tennis or something inside the house had me close to popping a gasket when I saw an article about putting them in classrooms so the kiddies could get “active”. Hello!!! Playground outside with lots of play equipment and space to run around!!! So why the Wii???
Thing is, I know people who have forked out for one of these along with all the accompanying games and attachments and guess what? They got one hell of a workout to begin with but it rarely gets used now that the novelty has worn off (which happened pretty quickly) so I’ve come to the conclusion that if a pricey gadget fails to get people regularly off the couch then not much else will. Plus these things take up a surprising amount of space. And collect dust.
Meanwhile, retailers are still plugging them as a great way to get entertained, get active, get fit and to get social (?) but the whole thing just bores me silly. Sorry but it really does and in all honestly, I’d rather watch grass grow and before anyone starts…yes, I have played a few Wii games at a friend’s place and no, I did not get all spaced out on joy and bliss as a result. I really was just bored.
Scrabble is way more fun anyway!