Do video games ruin televisions? - Answers

On many older TVs, leaving a single image on the screen for too long will result in "burn-in" in which the picture is literally etched into the screen. Newer sets are specially designed to prevent this. Leaving a video game on pause while you go out for dinner (and forgetting to turn off the tube) may very well cause this. Unfortunately, several parents don't realize that screens have improved, so as a result, for fear of screen burn-in, these parents won't let their kids play Nintendo on that brand-new high-definition TV in the den. Instead they're stuck with the boring old black-and-white TV with a screen so tiny you have to squint just to see which way Mario's facing. The truth is, the new TV is actually more resistant to burn-in than the old one. Moral: Always turn off your TV when you're not using it!