Play Station And Video Games

"Pediatrics for Parents"; the effects of video games on children: what parents need to know?

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).

The act of video games for children have been a controversy in today 's society for a very long time. One half of the argument believes video games is a positive act and the other half of the argument believes that video games is a negative act. Both parties have significant data backing up their own personal believes. There has been many studies done around the topic of children playing video games trying to conclude which side of the argument is correct which is very hard to do. Some of the studies prove that video games is a good thing for children, and some studies prove that video games is a bad thing for children. Although both sides have their own personal believes and studies, video games is a positive act for children because it benefits one 's cognitive skills, health, and social life.

Since the Early 70’s video games have been giving a bad name. Parents state that video games rot the minds of children and are influencing them do be violent. These accusations are far from the truth. In my research I found that there are many positive effects of gaming. Some of these effects are increased skills, creativity, general knowledge, and also help those in need. Parents can also take proper precautions and look into a game before buying it to see if it meets the criteria discussed in this paper.

Over the years there has been a huge controversy over video games; the number one being the effect on the development of children, and this seems to be used a lot as a way to stigmatize gaming as something entirely destructive. In general, there are many misconceptions about video games. The Entertainment Software Association estimates that around 60% of Americans, around 145 million people in all, currently play some type of video game. Despite the common view of video games as being for kids, the average age of a video game player is actually around 29 years old. While most of the media and research available on video games is geared towards the potential for video game playing to have a negative impact, there is significant research

The primary purpose of this paper is to describe and discuss the positive influence of video games on children. This study also considers the question of how video games influence children and what the positive effects of videos games are on children. Video games can be implemented in education, learning, and the classroom, just like how any other form of educational media can.

Playing video games is a pastime that many children enjoy. It has been found that “National surveys of American youth ages 8 to 18 by the Kaiser Family Foundation … found that in 2005, 49% of children had a game console in their bedroom” (Olson et al. 55). From this information, it can be assumed that after school about half of the children come home and start playing video games. The duration of time that children play these video games varies. In recent times it is estimated that, “…adolescent girls played video games for an average of 5 h a week whereas boys averaged 13 h a week.” (Gentile et al. 5). Gaming, therefore, has become more than just a fun activity, it has become an addiction. Addiction can be defined as “… with an uncontrollable urge, often accompanied by a loss of control, a preoccupation with use, and a desire to continue with the activity even though it creates problems” (Skoric et al. 568). These children feel the need to play video games, and it is taking over their lives. This addiction to video games impacts many aspects of a child’s life. As a result of this addiction, video games cause difficulties at school, detrimental impact to relationships and teenage development.

Games are something based on entertainment and enjoyment. But they have the tendency to offer you valuable things like peace, relaxation and happiness without having to spend anything other than time. No one can ever forgot, how extremely they enjoyed while playing games. Children alone are not the ones who know the value of games. Thus it approached each and every individual in different ways with its different types and nature. Generally, Games can be categorized into plenty of varieties. The evolution comes up in this form. In olden days, there were only indoor and outdoor games. Then the middle age witnessed video games along with common games. And now the modern children rely only on online games and mobile applications. This development is common. But the ones who enjoyed to their heart’s content would surely be the middle ones, who lived in late 1970s to the mid 1990s. For them, games are not just games. They are known to have lived in the century of fantasy. Arcade games are one among them, which made them fantasize.

Timon of Athens admonished Apemantus once and said: “In general riot; melted down thy youth. / In different beds of lust; and never learn'd. / The icy precepts of respect, but follow'd. / The sugar'd game before thee” (Shakespeare, trans. 1995, 4.3.255-258). This idea of games as being a distraction from more serious tasks is not unique to Timon of Athens but also many cultures, especially American culture. This is manifested in the metaphors we live by such as “He is playing games!” or “She is gaming the system.” I remember my father said to me once: “Don’t waste your time on this!” He was referring to Pong, the first retro tennis video game, which I played a lot during my childhood. There is a negative atmosphere still surrounding video games as containing inappropriate language and content. I always thought this negative categorization of video games as unfair and inaccurate. As I grew up and began playing more advanced video games on PlayStation and Xbox, I became more interested in their potentials. I became particularly absorbed in the online collaborative environment, the critical thinking skills needed to solve problems and overcome challenges, and the virtual environment. Gee’s (2003) What video games have to teach us about learning and literacy, kindled my passion in conducting research on this topic.

Video games are ubiquitous in modern life. It has not only been a source of entertainment, but also played an important role in a child growth and brain development. Many parents have a bad perspective towards video games, they consider it as a devil that corrupts mind and engages their child into non-productive, virtual, and harmful environment. Hence, they try to stop them completely from playing games by all means. This kind of attitude and behavior from the parent might not only effect their relationship with their child, but also deprive the child from advantages of playing video games that enhance brain power. Therefore, parents should allow their children engage with video games in reasonable amount.

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.

The effects of video games on children has been widely debated on multiple occasions. Most homes contain at least one video game system. There are plenty of companies involved in the rapidly growing gaming industry. These companies ensure a wide variety of types and genres of video games exist in the world today, and most people, including adults, will have very little difficulty identifying precisely which game is their favourite. The fact of the matter is, nearly every child has easy access to video games; playing these games has to have some impact on the children. Not all of the effects from playing video games are definitively positive or negative. Children happen to be the intended audience for many video games. Companies create these games to be kid friendly, and kids are able to learn from the content of the games. There is much that can be learned from and skills that can be improved by playing video games. There are many positive outcomes of playing video games; children should be allowed the opportunity to learn both skills and knowledge from video games.

Video games have become a huge part of our lives in various forms, such as consoles, handheld devices and some television games. As Suzanne Phillips Psy.D, ABPP, stated, “Statistics reveal that 58% of Americans play video games, the average age of a player is 30 years old... and parents are involved with their children’s game purchases 81% of the time.” “Video Gaming: Unexpected Benefits” Every age group from toddlers to senior citizens are exposed to a form of video game, whether it be educational, fantasy, violence or even a puzzle. Within all age groups, there is a variation of different types of video games and usage amount.

Scientific research supports that video games have implications on the youngsters. In addition, they support the claim with concrete findings addressed in the literature review. In their reports, various researchers state that video games affect the social, psychological, and physical well-being of children. This research report supports the scientific view that although video games are beneficial in terms of improving attention, they negatively affect the children’s social being on a deeper context. The methods employed in the collection of data involved administering of closed questionnaires to the parents and teachers in a small neighborhood. The inherent motive was to establish the beliefs of parents and teachers upon the negative effects of the video games. The teachers partially agreed that video games have more detrimental effects to children than benefits.

Personal computer games also known as the computer games demonstrate the video games which are played on a personal computer rather than an arcade machine or a video game console. The most defining features of these games include a higher degree of user control of the gaming software and hardware, absence of central controlling ability. Another most defining characteristic of the games is the increased capacity for input to the pc, processing and consequently the output. The people playing the computer games are able to interact with objects that are displayed on the computer screen for the purpose of entertainment. The computer games have been classified into different typologies such as skill and action games, role and strategy games, hybrid play among others. There are recent studies about that computer games do not encourage full brain growth and development in children and even translate to some of these children been completely antisocial. However, some people see great potential for educating the players within the field of games and a serious gaming community has sprung up within the years. The game developers have been able to architect experiences and design learner environments.