What Are The Positive Effects Of Playing Video Games?

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

Bowen, Lisa. Video game play may provide learning, health, social benefits, review finds. American Psychological Association. February 2014. Vol 45, No. 2. Print version: page 10.

Other than cognitive benefits, there are also many social benefits of playing video games. Unlike what stereotypes say, the average gamer is not socially isolated. Over 70% of gamers tend

“Research demonstrates the importance of social skills in life and relationships, while other research indicates a lack of social interaction when playing video games” (Barenthin and Van Puymbroeck, 2006).

Some of the first video games ever made like Pac Man, Mario Bros.,Sonic the Hedgehog and Street Fighter never helped someone learn their ABC’s and 123’s which caused video games to develop a bad name like it’s “rotting kids’ brains” or distract them from more important studies but over time things change and become better and based off this website it says that “A number of recent studies have indicated that video games, even violent ones, can help kids develop essential emotional and intellectual skills that support academic achievement. These findings led many innovative teachers around the globe to recognize the benefits of gaming and include game-based learning in their curricula. However, it’s not just in-school gaming that reaps benefits. New research shows that all gaming can be positive.”

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).

This paper will explore the psychological benefits that video games have on individuals based on research conducted online (Internet) and offline (non-Internet) . The research will focus mainly on cognitive , motivational , emotional and social benefits that individuals gain by playing video games. Furthermore it will compare gamers with those that don 't play video games or normal teaching methods and what helps better retain the skills gained. The research conducted is based on console gaming (xbox, playstation, wii) and pc. The research will focus on first person shooters, role playing, racing games.

Showing the positive effects with video games on the brain and cognitive function associated with high intensive action games and how they can help to increase motor skills, attentiveness and learning capabilities of those who play video games.

Researchers have found results proving that playing action video games can have positive cognitive effects on people while having side effects to playing them as well. There is always two sides to every issues. The main point is to take things to moderation. Moderation is key because doing anything excessively can have bad effects. Such as drinking wine. Having a moderate amount found to improve our heart health, but having it too much can harm our health. Potentially creates an addition. Video games is the same way. Playing games in a moderate amount can have positive health effects, but poor use of it can hurt the body. What we should mostly take from this is try to do everything in

There are also many studies that show how video games increase peripheral perception, processing speed, and memory (Bavelier, Green, Han, Renshaw,  Merzenich, & Gentile, 2011). Also, depending on the type of video game a particular person is playing, it can be used as an effective training scenario(Bavelier, Green, Han, Renshaw,  Merzenich, & Gentile, 2011). The idea here is that video games can be used as a productive tool for people of all ages, professions, and lifestyles, if they are utilized correctly (Bavelier, Green, Han, Renshaw,  Merzenich, & Gentile, 2011). An issue that may come up is trying to find the happy area in the middle of the people who don’t use games at all and the ones that are using them excessively and becoming

Video game addition is a serious problem in many parts of the world today and deserves more attention. It is no secret that children and adults in many countries throughout the world play video games. According to Jennifer Seter Wagner, studies show 92 percent of under ages of 18 play video games frequently in the United States. A video game is an electronic game that needs the players to generate visual feedback on a video device such as a TV screen or a computer device. There are two concepts that people have about addiction to video gaming: some people believe video games benefit children mind, but most people consider video games have negative side effects for all ages. I strongly believe that addiction to video gaming has negative side effects for teenagers such as wasting money, disobeying parents, skipping class to play games, and others.

for 3 hours a week, while the other set played none. The set who played the

The biggest type of health that video games affect is a person’s mental and emotional health. Studies show that video games have positive effects on mental health. In the study “Is Time Spent Playing Video Games Associated with Mental health, Cognitive and Social Skills in Young Children?” it was found that video games have positive effects on mental health. Viviane Kowess-Masfety et al. say “The results of the present study suggest that video game use is not associated with an increased risk of mental health problems. On the contrary, the data presented here suggest that video games are a protective factor” (356). Isabela Granic et al. discusses the effects video games have on emotions and mood and how these affect mental health. They say, “Several studies have shown a causal relation between playing preferred video games and improved mood or increases in positive emotion” (71). The improvement to mood and emotions can have many positive effects to mental health. One example comes from the puzzle genre of games. The

“High-school students who report spending more time playing video games or who report spending more money on video games had poorer grades in English classes” (Gentile, Lynch, Linder, Walsh 2). All young minds that play video games longer than the average time start to show a poor performance in school. These children start to think more about the video games they are watching and playing every day, rather than doing their homework and studying for tests.

Video games, the newest and most popular form of entertainment for children and adults of various ages. But this form of entertainment can be harmful in the development of children during their youth. Initially, children who play these video games can suffer from severe aggression problems, due to the fact that they can be exposed to violent video games at a young age. Although there are evident downsides to video games some of these video games can be used to help educate some people and/or children and can include educational school subjects such as math, science, and social studies. In spite some video games being educational, some people play these video games for excessive amounts of time a day which is not good for health. Video games can sometimes be unhealthy for people in excess and serious repercussions can take place to those who do play them.