Video Games have:
- Thought me more English than I could ever learn in school especially TALKING (non-native) - Started many projects for me that helped me later on from learning programming to analytical thinking and strategy - Learn to work in teams and become part of a community, even though I still had the weekly sports activity and school etc also - Got me into PC hardware and MS Windows with great detail to optimize my experience - Made me "escape reality" without waking up with a broken bone somewhere next to the road
Guess there were many more points, some of which I maybe wouldn't attribute towards gaming but where indirectly affected by it.
But I can also see how other generations might have a different experience. You might no longer need to tinker with your OS and hardware to get a great performance. Creating large spreadsheets to calculate game specific actions and derive decisions is also not needed for many games.
So I guess saying video games are bad is way too generic, as it is to say drinking is bad. Depending on the usage and what you get out of it.
I am more than happy to not have taken jiu-jitsu classes and I would also challenge if that had made it any better for me compared to gaming.