> I’m a lifelong gamer and it’s still heartbreaking to hear people say the grass outside is no more valuable to them than what’s going on in a digital world.

Digital is just another part of the human experience, albeit much further removed from the surviving-in-the-savannah experience most of our ancestors evolved in.

For folks with significant limitations, screen-based experiences can be a huge enhancement and even a lifeline. A balanced life is such a subjective concept. IME it's easy and natural to judge, but not always fair or productive.

By all means, let's encourage people to try a wide variety of experiences in all available mediums. Yet without scolding or pity when they make choices we don't relate to.

Would you say the same about any other drug?

Not experiencing reality is a bit like dreaming no?

We all have a different experience of reality, even if differences are usually small. So the digital realm is an extension of reality. They aren't mutually exclusive. Ask any kid whose been cyber bullied.

Drugs alter ones perspective, so IMO a case can be made that they too are legitimate part of life. Dreaming too.

What people choose to do with the short time they exist is up to them. I hope my kids have a happy and fulfilling life, ideally giving as much as they take and leaving the world better than they found it. Yet it's not my place to dictate what sources of fulfillment are more or less legit, or even what 'better' looks like. (Of course I still teach them some fundamentals, to think critically, to make informed choices, and to try many things.)