I'm not going to try and get into this too much, but I'd just like to note that "doing fun things" to some is "sitting behind a computer and learning how to script, program, model, etc."
The quoted user seems to imply that chasing after girls and playing sports is the definite, static description of "fun". Plus, the "usual highschool things" seems like it could vary wildly depending on who you're talking about.

I commend this post for its scientifical, objective and unbiased point of view.

Never at any point did I think swiftcoder implied that you shouldn't program but that you should have some balance in life. A lot of people seem to be taking some kind of personal offense that you can like programming but not have it the complete focus of your life. I self taught myself C in my teenage years as well as doing sports, band, and school dances. I've learned to rebuild a small block Chevy. I've learned to frame interior walls and drywall them. I've learned to shoot high powered rifles. In college I drank four and five nights a week, did a lot of drugs, and consorted with women of loose morals. I learned how to repel. I learned some very basics to black smiting. I skydived. I learned to fly planes. But, I still took time to learn new things about game programming. I now have three quite successful games to my credit and I'm going to be the overall lead on my companies next game. I'm not going to be the lead because I'm some super ace programmer (I'm average at best), its because I've become quite the people person and can relate to most anybody I meet because I've done a wide range of things in my past. My companies CTO didn't get where he was because he is some super ace programmer.

You only get 70-80 years on this planet if you are lucky. If you want to spend that time hunched in front of a computer that is certainly your choice. But there is a wide range of things you are missing out on. If you are at some bar and guys are talking about crazy things do you want your story to be how you repelled down a sheer 100 foot cliff after a two day hike in the Utah badlands or that you got jacked up on Redbull to stay up for another WoW guild raid?

To be honest, I resent the implication that 'sports' and 'girlfriends' are the normal high school pursuits and everything else is squandering your youth. I also dislike the suggestion that you should strive to be normal, or that only doing fun things during high school is the right choice. It strikes me as an incredibly shallow and short-sighted bit of advice. I don't have anything against sports, really -- fitness is good, and sports can be a big door opener if you're serious. But I have a huge problem with telling our younger audience, hey, spend your time on frivolous stuff and come back when you're older. That's not right.

"Normal" is an ambiguous term, you should have probably used "average" in your description. Even so, "average" is quite relative, so sitting in front of computer all the time being good for you might not be so for someone else.

However, you only described the problem but did not provide any solutions. I agree that some people who can easily find their passion, which could help their career, could very well do it on their own. For instance, I work in IT sphere and it's something I enjoy, therefore even when I work, I have fun. In fact, I get a lot of pleasure for finishing projects and getting things done. Yet, there are people who might not be that focused (e.g. some people who work with me), who cannot accomplish a single thing without proper guidance. Therefore, motivating some people to do things, either for work or for fun might not be such a bad idea after all.

On the other hand, I would rather let my kids spend more time with the family or even sit on the computer more often than get AIDS from having unprotected sex with random gals or get drugs from random "friends", but that's just me. Everyone is free to do what they consider best.

In my own case, sure I've sent more time with the computer and books, but I did have a lot of fun when studying for engineering career ten years ago. For instance, we went to ACM programming contest on the institute's bus, we got pretty drunk and made a lot of trouble while other teams were laughing at us - the same day my teammates went to the strip club, while I was calling my ex and making a mess. Next day we went to the contest with a huge hangover and diarrhea (from local food); we returned from the contest with 1st place award and this time the other teams were not laughing anymore. Moral of this story? You can still have fun and accomplish wonderful things (but if you are wondering, I haven't had an alcoholic beverage for 4 years now and *that* I don't regret).

If that's all you ever do, you're missing out, and you may not even realize it.

How can you miss something you never lost? Can you lose something you never had?

I think taking SC's quote out of context makes you not able to read what he was really saying. In the thread a highschool student was getting worked up about trivial differences of opinion between him and his teacher and implying that the teacher was ruining student's futures. SC was just saying that he shouldn't be wasting his youth worrying about such things. There are things that you just won't have the time or ability to do later in life, so do those while you can.

Perhaps his point was hurt by him using specific examples rather than the more general reply along the lines of, "You're young, don't you have better things to do with your time than worry about things that are trivial in the long run?"

I'm responding to the OP not SC's advice. I think if you're involved in programming and you're actually doing significant things with it, that's awesome. By significant I mean building a portfolio by completing legitimate projects from start to finish. However, I wasted an assload of my adolescence just playing video games and "tinkering" on the computer. I don't consider that time wasted, but I certainly could have been doing more productive things. Now honestly I wish I had spent more of that time working out or training harder at sports.

That being said, a lot of my peers ONLY worried about sports and girls. I think they missed out too in many ways.

I had a very eclectic high school experience and I'm very grateful for it. I played football, track, and Rugby. I was in band. I dabbled in programming. I was a hardcore gamer. I was involved in my church and FCA.

Of all those things I have the fondest memories of the non-computer stuff. Computing always seemed to be in isolation, and the time always flew by (it's 6am already??). Contrasted to football where practice seemed to take forever and I was surrounded by 100 other guys. It's only natural that I wish I would have spent more time with people than dicking around with a game prototype.

I also somewhat agree with the advice that there's a limited timeframe on sports and social activities vs. programming. Unless you are really conscious of your health in your 20's, eating right and working out consistently, you're going to hit a roadblock after college where it's not realistic to be getting knocked around on a regular basis. I had a rude awakening with this when I went back to Rugby practice for the first time in a few years last year. Where as I could take my licks and wake up the next day feeling pretty great, at 29 I'm waking up like a ton of bricks and feeling it for the whole week. Same goes if I have a wild night drinking, it pretty much takes me a whole day to recooperate.

I wish more people were more willing to do things that interested them instead of being too afraid to step out of their comfort zone. If I could offer advice to someone in HS, it would be to get out and try new stuff while you're young. If you're a jock, try some brainiac stuff. If you're a programming nerd, put yourself out there and try some sports or social activities.