Negative Effects Of Video Games

“Electronic games are now an everyday part of childhood and adolescence” (Olsen, 2010). Considering children and adolescence are our future, parents need to consider and monitor how these electronic games are affecting their child. There are more studies afloat that report the negative affects of video games over the positive effects until recently. Children and adolescents become addicted to video games easily so it is important to monitor what they are playing and how it is affecting them and their character. A recent study on many boys and girls reported why they are

“Electronic games are now an everyday part of childhood and adolescence” (Olsen, 2010). Considering children and adolescence are our future, parents need to consider and monitor how these electronic games are affecting their child. There are more studies afloat that report the negative affects of video games over the positive effects until recently. Children and adolescents become addicted to video games easily so it is important to monitor what they are playing and how it is affecting them and their character. A recent study on many boys and girls reported why they are

Young people today spend Most of the time playing video games. These games are fun and engaging and young people often feel like playing games is a great thing to do in their spare time. Many times they often use video games as a reason for communication and often never even learn any social skills. However, People shouldn’t spend too much time gaming and there are a number of reasons for this: it’s unhealthy, should spend more time focusing on school, and people need to socialize more.

Video Games cause social isolation, for example a 15 year old boy in Sweden pass out after playing World of Warcraft for 24 hours straight, he passed out because he started experiencing social withdrawal, the kid was lacking contact with other humans, and his body’s response to the problem was to pass out. On an extreme level, Ruya Cunningham, a college student spent twenty hours a week playing video games, she eventually “dropped out of school, stopped exercising, and even stopped bathing” (Marcovitz 70). Later on, Ruya Cunningham developed depression, but she kept playing video games because she was addicted to the game. When people are addicted to a game, there is a spiraling vortex sucking the gamer away from society and from sanity. As a consequence of playing violent video games, many teen gamers struggle with real world relationships, this is because they form close virtual relationships with people they meet online. A man in Wisconsin has formed a tremendously close relationship with a group of guys he plays online with, he discusses politics with them and they send each other Christmas gifts even though they do not know each other (Marcovitz 70-72). Video games can also affect the players mental and their physiological state.

Video Games have been around since the early 1960’s, increasing in popularity in the early 1970’s and 80’s and are now more popular and common than before. It forever changed the entertainment world. The phrase Video Game is defined as a game played by electronically manipulating images produced by a computer program on a television screen or other display screen. Gaming is defined as the action or practice of playing video games. Video games can refer to games played on game consoles such as the PlayStation, Wii and Xbox, or on computers. With its increasing reputation, its sales have continued to grow, as of 2015 total revenues for the video game industry in the U.S. hit $23.5 billion. Current research has shown that, “97 % of American adolescents aged 12–17 years play computer, web, portable or console video games” (Adachi p.1041). However, along with this increase of gaming has come increased controversy on its effects on society. The main reason for this controversy, is whether the content of video games changes the behavior and attitudes of a player negatively, which then effects society negatively. Before focusing on this controversial topic, the history behind what video games are, how they evolved and the efforts that go into making them, should be addressed.

Ninety-seven percent of US children play a minimum of one hour of video games a day (Granic et al. ¶7). Children play video games for a variety of reasons; a survey conducted by Cheryl Olson, an internationally known researcher on the effects of video games, of 1,254 middle schoolers found teens play video games ¨for emotional regulation: as an antidote to boredom and loneliness, to relax, and to vent angry feelings¨(Olson ¶7). Despite the popularity of video games and the emotional benefits they provide, they are believed to be detrimental to teenage development. This is due to studies like the one conducted by Jay Hull, an associate dean of psychology at Dartmouth University, which claim certain video games can cause an increase in ¨alcohol consumption, smoking, aggression, delinquency, and risky sex¨ (¶102). However, those problems can easily be reduced or negated, and playing video games is actually beneficial to teenager´s development when played in moderation.

Video games today have become a huge role in the consumption of people’s entertainment. Ninety- seven percent of kids between the ages of 12 and 17 play video games and the industry only shows signs of large growth. In 2016, 24.5 billion games were sold (Nichols) leading to a 21.53 billion dollar industry (“Do Violent Video”). With the growth of new players around the world, the debate has sparked whether video games are beneficial to society or if they come with repercussions. They may be fun for the kids, but the parents may not agree. Research is quickly being done to determine whether they are harmful or helpful. Some believe that the violence and addiction of video games make them a danger to society while others argue there are benefits to playing video games. However, video games have been misrepresented in the media and wrongly blamed for the actions they are not related to. Research has actually shown that video games can come with a large group of benefits that disprove much of the speculation around them. With video games being misrepresented and research suggesting they are beneficial, it is logical and reasonable to come to the conclusion that video games can do more good than harm.

Social skills are a big part of being a person, something that you need on an everyday basis. Without social skills the world wouldn’t be running the same way. It helps people talk without having to go through awkward moments. Video games have been known to be a huge impact on causing people's socials skills to become severely affected. Those people that play video games all day long forget what it’s like to have human contact. It produces a person that can’t have a reason conversation without feeling uncomfortable. They begin to feel like they can’t live without their video games.They begin to lose relationships around them, rather than spending time with their families or friends they prefer to play video games. They stop having conversations with the people around them because they are too busy playing games. Which can become long term effects, disabling them to not be able to make relationships in the future. “Teenagers who play too much video games are also less likely to indulge in extracurricular activities like reading, writing and participating in sports” (Gunter). Video games are causing them miss out on other

Video games are an important element of today’s students’ identity, character, culture. Even adults play video games. A survey conducted by Pew research shows the percentage of American adults aged between 18 and 29 who have ever played video games on computer, TV, or other electronic devices such as cell

Technology has rapidly advanced over the past several decades and has led to new discoveries in communication and entertainment. Children in the 1990s did not experience phones with touch screen displays or immediate access to the internet, but the youth of today are a completely different story. At an extremely young age children become accustomed to the presence of a phone or TV screen. Technology is used to occupy kids on a daily basis and with so much time spent on a device the burning question must be discussed, “How is technology affecting the livelihood of the children?” Various outlets of entertainment have been called into question as technology has advanced such as YouTube or Netflix, but the most often targeted mode of enjoyment is video games. Video games have existed since Higinbotham’s simple tennis game in 1958, but have improved rapidly over the years in complexity and graphical quality. However, video games have also become inherently violent and are repeatedly studied for possible impacts on the cognitive development of children.

Since the turn of the Millennium, Video game began to solidify itself as a leading source of entertainment and as a result it also became widely criticized and many parents began to restricted children from having any access to video games. Parents shouldn’t restrict Children’s access to Video games since those who have played video games has been shown to many positive impacts on their lives. Studies have shown that children who play video games have a better mental capability than Children who don’t play video games. Plus, different genres of video games are shown to have different effects on children such as improvements in spatial skills and some can even reduce obesity. Video games have also been shown to improve a children’s education such as having higher test scores and improvement in vocabulary. Any effects video game causes can be reversed if needed yet any skills that a child gain would be beneficial in the digital age they are growing up in.

Addiction is where it all starts. According to TechAddicion, children or teens that are addicted to the video games that they play tend to have most of these problems that are listed below. On average, the average kid is on their video games for about two to three hours a day, but there are some reports on kids being on electronics for five to six hours a day. This is where problems start. However, if the child can control themselves, then it will likely turn out to not be a problem. But for those that develop

During the mid 1970’s through 1990’s the general public had introduced a new revolutionary way of entertainment which was the video game. It all started with Atari’s first console, which only had a simple game of tennis. Since then, many other companies released game consoles such as the Xbox, Playstation, and Nintendo 64. Although many adults participated in this association, children were the main crowd of this attraction, in the next following decades, children that play video games will gain remarkable techniques. As a result, video games have positively influenced children that would enhance mental and social structure in their future.

This may in fact worry some parents because the child could grow up to think that it’s acceptable to act the same way they do on a video game, and that could be very dangerous. The game Grand Theft Auto, for example, is a game where you run around a city shooting random individuals, stealing cars and other items, and has sexual content. This type of game could influence a child to think it’s alright to behave in such a way, then end up in serious, maybe even lifelong trouble. There are also games where the player can shoot and kill zombies, and even though that may be unrealistic, the child is still making the action to shoot and kill something which could lead to aggression in the child. Playing more strategic games, like Solitaire, Tetris, Fruit Ninja, etc., can help a child think more critically instead of just shooting at people.

“Video games are a ubiquitous part of almost all children’s and adolescents’ lives, with 97% playing for at least one hour per day in the United States” (Granic, Lobel and Engels 66). Video games are a big part of life in America and around the world. Technological advances allow for many different devices where video games can be played, so it is not hard for children to get their hands on video games. There is also a wide variety of games, from building games to board games to war games. There is a game out there for everyone. Video games have become a very common activity for children, but at a price. Playing video games is harmful because it can create addiction, desensitize players to violence, and cause depression.