The addiction of Birkerts

After reading Chapter 2, I feel much more sympathetic and able to relate a lot more with the author of The Gutenberg Elegies, Sven Birkerts. In the novel, Birkerts refers to his “drug”, or addiction, being books and my equivalent is videogames. I completely understand his feelings when his father disapproves of his frequent reading. As a child, my parents frowned upon my excessive playing of video games. I played videogames non-stop and can “remember so clearly the shock I would feel whenever I looked up from the vortex”(Birkerts, 37) of the game. I was so fascinated by these games that I was unable to put them down and discontinue playing. My mother, in particular, was extremely against videogames similar to Birkerts father ‘s view of his reading. She would always scold “videogames will never get you any where in life” and tell me I should be studying for school. Birkerts says he “began to be more careful about reading”(Birkerts, 38) and I too became more careful about playing videogames. I too would play “when my parents were away”(Birkerts, 38) or “late into the night”(Birkerts, 38) as they lay sleeping. Like Birkerts, this was my way of “yielding to my [mother] while inwardly rebelling”(Birkerts, 38). Today, my mother has finally given up on preventing me from playing videogames, due to my older brother’s intervention. My bother, who was the major influence behind my videogame drug addiction and the teacher of all my gaming skills, was able to prove to her that idea of, “videogames will never get you any where in life,” was wrong. He was able to do this because he went to college to study computer graphics at Purdue University. After graduating he was offered a job position at Activision, one of the biggest videogame companies in the world. He is now very successful and if he did not play videogames as a kid, like I did, he would have never gotten his job.  In Birkerts world, my brother is comparable to his mother. He was always on my side and fueled my love for videogames just like Birkerts’ mother who “would [always] rush to [his] defense” and helped supply him with books . Without Birkerts’ mother he would not be in the position he is in today and without my brother I would not be the person I am today.

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