To me this whole thing is kind of nutty. Bird watching is good, but watching a football game is not. Or maybe watching a football game in the stadium is good, but on your 50"TV where you can at least see the game and not freeze is not. What if I watch a football game, but at the same time row on my rower? Here I have not one but two expensive THINGS. Would I rather go to church service, where I participate in the service, than row and watch football? Sometimes, but often not.
Good point.
Generally, when someone on this forum says that they prefer buying experiences to things, I silently translate that to a defensive justification for travel - - a justification that is entirely unneeded as far as I am concerned. I don't like travel but if somebody loves to travel, more power to him or her! My goodness, wouldn't it be a boring world if we were all identical.
I happen to get bored watching other people do things, usually. American Idol doesn't count; I love that show! But, that is the exception, not the rule, for me.
I do love playing video games because I am a participant - - I am part of the action, I decide what to do next in the game, and my actions can determine the outcome of the game. While it may not be any more physically active than watching TV, still I do not feel so much like a somnolent lump on a log as when just passively watching TV for some reason.
BTW, please don't expect me to make any points or form any erudite conclusions here - - I am just musing out loud so feel free to skip this post entirely. Anyway, continuing on, when I watch a TV documentary that fascinates me I am looking up various aspects of the subject online while watching, so in a sense I am a participant there, too, at least to a small extent.
Either way. The TV that I bought this year cost about 3x as much as a gaming console, but then again I bought 3 gaming consoles this year and last. Whether video gaming or watching TV, something must be bought. In both cases one is inside and not physically active. I do think that I
participate much more in video games than when watching TV, though, and I do prefer video gaming.