[filiph]

> Before I had gaming hardware I wasted the exact same amount of time by re-reading books and comics, and it was quite immersive.

If so, you are in the minority. For most people, it is easier and more natural to put down a book and go do something else, than it is to quit a video game. Media consumption metrics seem to corroborate this.

> That sounds an awful lot like the good old "why do we build space rockets when people are starving".

If you want to simplify the article this way, sure, but then it's "why do we build ever-more immersive entertainment when we could build space rockets or try to address starvation". I think there's a difference. (And of course, even then we're losing all nuance of the actual article, but I guess there's no way around that.)