What's more impressive? Playing a spotty rendition of "Blackbird" on an acoustic guitar or getting a perfect score fake-playing "Blackbird" on Beatles Rock Band?

Ask someone working at CNN, and they may favor the latter.

On Sunday, I perused the headlines on cnn.com and found a headline that -- even before watching the news report or reading any further -- confirmed my worst suspicions about our future generations. This article was simply titled "1,019,000 points on Guitar Hero."

Well, this is what it's come to, everyone.

Being really, really, really good at Guitar Hero is now considered a legitimate skill. The CNN video news report highlighted Dylan Phifer, a 12-year-old from Everett, Wa., who now holds the Guinness World Record for most Guitar Hero points. According to the The Daily Herald in Everett, which also reported on this fluff, he scored 1,019,862 points while playing "Mercyful Fate" by Metallica, presumably on Expert mode.

"Watch his nimble fingers move on the fretboard," the CNN video's narrator says during the opening of the report. "In the videogaming world, Dylan Phifer has reached rockstar status." His mother, Sallie, and the manager down at the local video game store -- where Dylan broke this obviously paramount world record -- agree.

There's something detrimental happening here to our youth, and I hope more people start to realize that it's happening -- especially parents or those who are planning to be parents soon. These music/rhythm-based video games are, in a sense, destroying any curiosity children might possess about playing musical instruments. It was bad enough with Guitar Hero, but with the Rock Band franchise, you're actually encouraged to gather up three friends and form your own fake band.

Is it just me or is the idea of having four people in a room pretending to play musical instruments just depressing?

In the news report, Dylan is asked if he ever tried playing an actual guitar. He did try it but couldn't handle it because "there's all these strings on it, and you have to strum and play notes," according to CNN.

You have to strum strings and play notes? What a concept.

To summarize, this Guitar Hero master is being lauded by the media for fake-playing music, and it's OK that this kid is confused at the notion of guitars having strings.

What's worse is that his mother is proud of this and condones this activity. As Dylan blankly stares at the screen, his mother sits on the couch behind him smiling and nodding her head.

"Dylan's had a natural ability to focus on things," she says with an obvious sign of pride on her face. If he's got such natural ability, then why not encourage him to stick with the guitar or perhaps a different musical instrument?

According to the Herald, his dad bought him his first Guitar Hero game two years ago. This kid was 10 years old -- the perfect age to start learning an instrument -- and displayed an interest in playing music in some sort of capacity. His dad should have bought him a cheap guitar and told him to stick with it and not get discouraged -- maybe he did, but the follow-through, or focus, was lacking.

Skills on guitar and Guitar Hero are not interchangeable; just because you're good at one doesn't mean you'll automatically be good at the other. However, to be good at either of them you need to do one thing: practice.

It's early for some of us to start thinking about parenting, but now that these types of video games are becoming more popular and marketed as more of a "family" activity, it's time to make a decision as to what you want to teach your children.

Do your children a favor. If they desperately want to play Guitar Hero, tell them, "Learn how to play an actual guitar first. Then we'll talk."

Rich Coleman is a senior majoring in journalism and is The Daily Collegian's Tuesday columnist. His e-mail address is rmc5074@psu.edu