There's already decades of history of computer industry, but up until very recently, until smartphones became a standard gadget, kids who played also had an interest in finding out how all this works that brings them their entertainment. And how you can create something in that sector yourself (either in software or hardware).
Dammit, I even know, as Commodore was still on the market and computers still were complicated enough to keep the stupid spirits away, but leave the smart ones possibilities to easily produce something home-brew, kids didn't just stay consumer gamers, but tried to become coders, musicians and crack-programmers! Some people who programmed cracks and cracktros to deactivate a copy-protection in the 90s were still just teens!
And today it's the competition "whose thumb is as strong to pull a bus"... Plain consuming. Fiddling with their phones all over the day.