59. Atari 2600
Innocence is perpetually renewable.
In the early 1980s, Ronald Reagan said video games would create a generation of skilled Cold Warriors, while U.S. Surgeon General C. Everett Koop proclaimed games among the top health risks facing Americans. What if video games are just nature doing what nature does? A natural development for a species with tools and imagination—an inevitable progression of games, our ancient pleasure?
The Atari 2600 was the first home gaming system that could play more than one game. It came out in 1977 and was sold through Sears, whose Christmas Wish Book was the Bible for holiday gift-giving, especially toys. But the Atari was located in the sporting goods section, suggesting it had crossover appeal for kids and adults both. Today the notion that it would be in the same category as athletic gear is laughable—gaming is sedentary, with its own specialized chairs and headsets—but in the late 1970s it was still novel, even innocent. Few parents worried about how letting their GenX kids sit for hours with the Atari, trading “real-world” achievements for simulated ones, might be rewiring their brains.
It’s tempting to look back with nostalgia at kids gathered around a cathode-ray television, playing games that were comically simple compared to today’s offerings—the Atari almost like an antique cast-iron toy. But the Atari looks quaint and innocent not because the 1970s were innocent, but because time does that to technology. Our grandchildren will find today’s gaming horrors quaint. Innocence is perpetually renewable.
Links:
“How Atari 2600 Revolutionized Gaming (1977)” – belfallen, Oldiesnest
“The Poetry of the Atari 2600” – Alexander B. Joy, Gamers with Glasses, no date
“Video game addiction is a real condition, WHO says. Here’s what that means.” – Hayley Tsukayama, Washington Post, June 18, 2018 (via Internet Archive)
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This post is part of The American 250, a series featuring 250 words on 250 objects made by Americans, located in America, in honor of the country’s 250th anniversary. Through December 31, 2026.
I’m looking for ideas for this series — have something you’d like me to consider for inclusion? Please feel free to leave a comment!
This was so very interesting to me. In the early 70's I began my teaching career; the first ten years in a very poor socio-economic area. I loved it: the students, the parents who worked so hard encouraging their students, but I don't remember anything about Atari. I had to have seen ads, but It was not an option, I don't guess, for my students. Just very interesting...I guess like Pac-man later? I don't know...just interesting.... the music and games I missed....???? Thank you....