How Do Video Games Affect The Brain?

Video games are enjoyable for people and have good benefits for children who use their multiple skills to play and interact with others. In many parts of the world, the common video game is often seen by parents as something that is wasting their child's time or “rotting their brain”. It is a popular misconception that video games are bad for children. What parents do not know is the positive things about video games. Video games have a positive impact on people and help them learn things for experiences to come. People often do not understand that violent video games are not harmful to people because video games allow people to release their anger, video games decrease crime in youth, and because they allow people to be creative and test their

Do you remember the first time you played a video game? Was it Super Mario Brothers, Call of Duty, or Minesweeper? How about the time your parents told you that video games will rot your brain? Well forget all that, this paper is going to tell you the benefits of playing video games. My claim is that video games can help you with leadership skills, problem solving, education, and cognitive function.

If you are a parent during this time of information and technology, chances are you have a child who has played, is playing, or will be playing video games. The video game industry is a rapidly growing market that went from being worth $100 million in 1985 to $4 billion in 1990 (Gartner, 2013). Prior to the 1980’s, there were rudimentary computer games, commercially sold coin-operated games, and home consoles. Shortly after the North-American Video Game Crash of 1983 the industry took a big hit until the Nintendo Entertainment System induced a resurgence in popularity that has only continued to grow (Cesarone, 2014). In the years since, the gaming world has expanded and divided into numerous categories. There are casual, serious and educational games in mediums ranging from console games to online RPG’s also known as role playing games to the most recent and flourishing market of mobile games. In 2013, the worldwide value of the industry totaled $93 billion (Metrics 2.0, 2007).

Video games are a enormous part in the world today. “More than 150 million people in the United States play video games regularly or for at least three hours per week. The number of sales has increased and in 2016, 24.5 billion games were sold, up from 23.2 billion in 2015.” “This Type of Video Game May Actually Harm Your Brain.” written by Mahita Gajanan is my positive article and “How Video Games Affect the Brain.” written by Hannah Nichols is my negative article. In this essay I am going to talk about video games and their impact on the brain (Nichols).

Everybody in this country plays video games almost every day. It does not matter what the age is, even though they are not young and have free time they would play video games and enjoy themselves. People and society says that through video games children’s and also some adults become more aggressive and violent. Video games are contributing the act of violence all over the world and they are thinking to stop video games for their benefit. The media makes false assumptions. They are not giving details of video games and missing the benefits of the video games. According to medical daily new research indicates that certain video games actually boost the brain power and improve strategic thinking. Unfortunately, our parents and society does not approve the use of video games and it has been decried by many parents and it creates destructive garbage. It also improves the cognitive flexibility which is the mental faculty of creative and lateral thinking. According to Ericson, “Our paper shows that cognitive flexibility, a cornerstone of human intelligence, is not a static trait can be trained and improved using fun learning tools alike gaming”.(Medical Daily) This is the necessary part of our human brain and it can be achieved by video games and other fun learning activities. There are many advantages just like these from playing video games. They should also look at the benefits and not just focus on the disadvantages. It also helps from

Video games have become a very popular hobby that anyone can obtain the skill at any point of people’s lives. Video games are a game played by electronically influencing images produced by a computer program on a television screen. In October 1958, William Higinbotham has created the very first videogame. Studies have shown that video games are actually healthy, and these studies can prove wrong what the older generations assume about video games. Although, older people that grew up with a different hobby that was not video games, there many things that videogames can help improve certain skills a human can strengthen.

The impact video games have on the brain can differ by the opinions of others. Some may argue that it is a disadvantage and others may say it is the total opposite, an advantage. I will be exploring the viewpoints on both ends of the spectrum. Looking into documented research on the topic, I will be discussing the benefits of gaming, why people correlate excessive playing time to negative behaviors, and the long term effects that video games cause to the brain.

Side effects of video games number just about as many types of video games that people play. In Lisa Weber’s article “Positive Effects of Video Games on Children,” she states several benefits that children obtain when they play video games. Some of these advantages include the areas of social development, education, and an emotional outlet. As a result, Lisa clearly displays her stance on the positive side of the opinions of video games. However, electronic gaming contains a voluminous amount of pernicious effects. When young adults and children partake in video games, they come across numerous experiences that could have a negative influence on their lives.

North America has spiraled into an unhealthy obsession with video games. The value of the video game industry in 2015 was over seventy-one billion dollars in the United States alone, and its worth has only increased. Polls show that 63% of American households have persons who play video games for a minimum of three hours a day. But do exposure to those games affect the brain in a negative way? Video games are shown to be more influential to the brain than television and movies, and research shows that video games shrink essential parts of the brain, such as the hippocampus. This diminution influences cognitive functions, whose effects will carry on into later life.

Regardless of the positive or negative effects on the brain, People from all walks of life have benefited from the use of video game simulation. Video games have been very instrumental in providing both Physicians, Airplane Pilots, and Air Controllers simulated training scenarios in their perspective fields.

Playing video games is popular among children and adults alike. People play video games in almost every household all over the world. This paper explores the impact of video games on the brain. There are good and bad effects of video games. In a 2011 article Bavelier, Green, Han, Renshaw, Merzenich, & Gentile reported the content of game play may produce different effects. The players control images on television, telephones and computer screens. There are positive and negative effects of video games corrupting the brain, it can be addictive and cause behavioral changes.

The military sometimes uses video games as a way to train soldiers to be able to accomplish tasks faster and make critical decisions faster and more effectively in combat situations. Video games seem to provoke a positive effect on memory, motor skills and other behaviors. "The brain is constantly reconfiguring itself. Everything new that we learn means that some connections in the brain have been added or altered, even if temporarily,"(Mark Burgess). What Burgess is saying is that the brain continently changing and it could be seen and helps understand the effects of video games on the brain, especially on games with high intensive action when you are constantly having to watch and pay attention to different aspects of the game all at the same

In today’s society, the concerns for the effects of video games have acquired quite a terrible reputation. Worried parents around the world assume video games make their children do poorly in school, and create violent, desensitized, antisocial children. The increase in violent games, usually get the blame for aggressive behavior, shootings and violence in schools and young individuals. Most beliefs about video games effect on the brain and emotions are very common misconceptions. I strongly believe that video games are an essential tool to learning and gaining much-needed skills. When people look at the studies that have been done on video games and the brain, it will be apparent that some myths about video games have been blown out of proportion. It has come to my attention that there are studies that prove the negative effects of video games may only last the duration of game play. Kids can improve in general knowledge with educational video games like Leap Frog. Video games can train specific areas of the brain as well as increase brain flexibility and memory. Gaming actually has more beneficial effects than negative effects. Video games are excellent educational implement used in elementary schools. It is extremely helpful in brain development and helping kids with trouble reading improve. Memory retention can be improved and increased with the use of strategic, thinking games. Video games, as funny as it might sound, even promote

Despite video games being known for promoting anger and becoming addictive, it is shown that in recent studies some video games enhance cognitive skills. It is seen that action games enhance cognitive skills and that “brain training” games do very little in improving these skills because of lack in critical features.

Playing video games is among one of the favorite pastimes of many people around the world. Some play games to kill time with simple tasks found most commonly on the phone, while others play them to challenge their mind in the form of complex puzzles or to practice management skills, some play them to experience a sense of adventure that they just can’t find anywhere else, and many use them as a way to communicate or have fun with friends both near and far. Whatever the reason someone may have for playing video games, they may not think that games can have an effect on their brains. Some would say that playing video games can lead to negative effects such as harming the player’s cognitive skills or causing them to become much more violent than normal. Others would argue that playing video games quickens the minds of their players, leading to higher mental performance or an increased attention to detail. Thanks to this hotly debated controversy many studies have been conducted over the past years in order to settle the debate once and for all. So what effect can playing video games have on the cognitive skills of their players, and are these effects positive, negative, or somewhere in the middle?