Young men dropping out of the job market to spend time in an alternate reality
It's not just video games either. Add Netflix and social media, and soon, VR, to the equation, and it's pretty clear that the game of life offers insufficient rewards relative to one's efforts. I don't believe we ended up here due to some grand conspiracy, but I do think that the top 1% have gotten so skilled at trapping wealth and therefore opportunity that it's really screwing over everyone else. Even as a relatively successful adult who doesn't game (no time for it, and I avoid things I know are addictive) I felt the game is rigged. Most of us have gotten to the point that we literally never expect to retire (though we will literally run into some physical constraints at some point when our bodies and minds begin to fail us). So we grind through work, pay our bills, and hope to God we don't get cancer or Alzheimer's. When life seems so unrewarding, it's unsurprising that many seek refuge in games and other entertainment (Netflix, social media, news feeds, etc)...Any way you slice it this is not going to end well. Essentially we're in a Great Depression of an entirely new sort.