The Progression of Fun

When you describe something as "big", people will soon later ask, "How big is that?" The reason is, "big" is relative and how we value something is qualitative, hence a more detailed description is needed, "It is three meters in diameter," then it is quantitative and everyone will understand. But, different case when you describe something as "fun", there is no such thing as fun-o-meter or units to measure how fun something is. Although a detailed and sophisticated explanation has been given, "It has made hormone endorphin and adrenaline rushing ferociously in my blood that I cannot even stop moving my body!", but still, not everybody will understand how "fun" it is.

In fact, every people according to areas of interest, different ranges of age, levels of economy, cultures, etc., will have different measures of excitement. In this post, let us just focus on the most noticeable one, yet captivating to be discussed, it is the ranges of age, an XBOX 360 will not excite a baby, where as a 12-years-old boy will certainly jumping if his parents bought him one. As the mind and the body develop, human will perceive things differently and the level of fun also changes.

My younger sister, who is only 7 months old now, is only attracted to colours and shapes. Even, she was only staring emptily when my mother bought an expensive humongous toy for her, which I, myself will certainly be adrenalized if I am much younger. Soon I realized that she is still too young and the most that she can do is punch repeatedly or bite the parts of the toy. Then, I recalled my experience when I was 3 years old, I was playing with only one action figure in my hand. Imagining it could fly or shoot some lazer beams, sometimes my action figure was involved in a fight with my brother's. I even cried when I could not find it, luckily my mother and my nanny helped me to find it at the end, I was very cheered at that time.

As the time goes on, I began to abandon my old toys and started to play video games, I still remember how my brother banged on the cassette of a Nintendo 64 to make it work. As technology developed, PlayStation was introduced, and GameBoy, and PlayStation 2, and GameBoy colour and XBOX, and Nintendo DS, and XBOX 360, it is never ending. Surprisingly, I was not really interested in video games, but my brother was, but online games nearly taken half of my early teenager's life. Millions of rupiahs I have spent on game vouchers, Internet bills, and rental fees at Internet cafes, days I have gone through in front of the computer (still now, but) only to play Ragnarok Online, GunBound, or Seal Online without gaining anything from it. Now, I regretted for those fruitless experience but I admit that it was a whole fun experience at that time, I cannot even keep my sight away from the screen, maybe (since I have never done so) it is the same feeling when people got addicted to cigarettes.

Most of my friends agreed with this: in primary school or in early secondary/junior high school years, we were all really expecting to go out with friend to the malls and catch a movie. Now, it becomes cliche, shopping malls have become a mundane place to gather with friends, especially with a movie. The "fun" has changed for an adolescent adults, the age range where I am in, most people will perceive going to a party, clubbing, drinking, or even breaking to someone's seventeenth birthday party as fun, but many still play video games instead.

This "fun" seems perpetual, it keeps progressing. Sadly, most of the activities that people nowadays perceive as "fun" is not healthy anymore for the person itself, unlike in the 1970s, where my uncle recounted his experience camping with his friends. Teenagers are now exposed to pornography, alcohols, clubs, video games, and not anymore to outdoor activities. One other thing, one does not have the right to judge someone's "fun", as it is non-measurable and everybody has their own way to have fun.