I love that the old arcade games that I played as a child—from Frogger to Pitfall to Pac Man—can all be played online these days. I still miss playing them with a joystick—staring into the little television in my grandmother’s kitchen, taking turns with my sisters and cousins as we all got our 20 minutes of game time.

Can you imagine—just 20 minutes? I know, it’s almost sacrilegious in today’s world. The other day when we were taking our daughter to her six-month ophthalmology exam, there was a mother sitting across from us with her daughter and son. While she read a novel (by James Patterson, of all people; I wanted to yell, “You know, he didn’t even write that!”), her daughter—who was about nine—peered over her shoulder, which was sad enough. Couldn’t she have brought her a book of her own along—and a better one, at that? But even more sadly, her son—only a couple of years older than our four-year-old—sad with his own personal game system, playing away with a dazed expression on his face.

While we sat and talked to our child—about eyes dilating, patching, why pinkies are so small, and why people don’t have tails like monkeys do (all were simply the questions she had at that moment)—I peered up and noticed not just the one, not two, but four personal game systems in the hands of various young children all over the room. The rest had their eyes glued to the television, which was some show about a platypus that actually looked more like a pickle to me.

I had to wonder at this phenomenon; were these kids truly enjoying themselves? It sure didn’t look like it. I don’t know about you, but when I was young and got my turn at pitfall—swinging over the alligator’s heads was always the best!—I relished the whole turn. I grinned with glee, and I know my sisters and cousins did, too, during their turns. Then we’d all run off and do other things—play outside, terrorize one another with cooties, read books, that sort of thing. We played a lot of non-computerized games—like checkers, Life, and Bargain Hunter—too. We just never spent so much time in front of a screen.

Is this healthy for kids? I have no idea, but I would certainly guess yes, if nothing else just because they don’t seem to be moving much. Even though I spent much of my youth as a bookworm, you could usually find me on my bicycle or running after playmates at least once a day.

If you’re going to spend time on these weird games—like Barbie dress-up or whatever and violent shooting games—why not revisit the classics instead? They were so much fun, and provided just enough taste to play a quick game before moving on to another activity.

Then again, maybe kids who are used to modern computer games would become bored easily with the games that many of us treasure so much—but that could be a good thing, since they might abandon the joystick for some four square or tetherball!