Obama: The iPad and videogames are distractions

In a commencement speech to Hampton university graduates, Obama urged students to put away their Ipods, Ipads, Xboxs and Playstations. Does he have a point?

HAMPTON, Virginia (Reuters) – President Barack Obama told college graduates on Sunday the era of the iPod and the Xbox has not always been good for the cause of a strong education.

 Obama made the point in a commencement speech to more than 1,000 graduates and thousands of their family and friends gathered on the football field at Hampton University, a historically black college in southeastern Virginia.

Obama said today’s college graduates are coming of age at a time of great difficulty for the United States. They face a tough economy for jobs, two wars and a 24/7 media environment not always dedicated to the truth, he said.

Added to the mix are the distractions offered by popular electronic devices that entertain millions of Americans.

“With iPods and iPads; Xboxes and PlayStations — none of which I know how to work — information becomes a distraction, a diversion, a form of entertainment, rather than a tool of empowerment, rather than the means of emancipation,” Obama said.

“All of this is not only putting new pressures on you. It is putting new pressures on our country and on our democracy,” Obama said.

Via [Yahoo]