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The effects of gaming on kids
The effects of videogaming on children and teenagers
Effects of video game addiction by teenagers
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Impact of the issue related with gaming
The playing of online games impacts teenage gamers socially, educationally, ethically and psychologically on teenagers. This issue involves numerous stake holders. They are mainly teenagers, parents, friends, policeman, and the game company.
The advantage of playing online game is that it allows people to communicate to numerous numbers of others from different cultural backgrounds and countries. In the game, a gamer may want to exchange his item with someone. Therefore, he/she has to negotiate with others. Repetition of this negotiation can develop a gamer’s social skills. The disadvantage of online gaming is that spending most of free time in front of a monitor wills remove teenagers from their friends and society. Online games are not for entertainment purpose only.
Majority of games are not designed for educational purposes. However, there are some games that are made for educational to teach ethical/political issues to teenagers through a familiar medium. Teenagers also have to know when to play game and when to stop. It is a wrong time to play games if a teenager hasn’t done his/her homework. And this will result in parents asking their son/daughter to study. There’s no problem of talking about the game with friends. However, there are some people who cannot come out from the “game world” because they are not attached to the real world and ending up killing two policeman in the real world like the incident in Alabama, US in 2003.
How to combat the addiction
Therapy and counseling for gaming addiction-
Therapy can give you a tremendous boost in controlling gaming use. Cognitive-behavioral therapy provides step-by-step ways to stop compulsive Internet behaviors and change...
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...just for subscription fees.
The consequences of government banning the system will result in reduction of WoW gamers. This is because the average age of WoW gamers is 28 which suggest that most of them are adults and they prefer to play the game in the night because they work during the day or because of their job ends late. Therefore, applying this system will lead for reduction in players which will result in game company’s profit.
Far from turning teenagers into anti-social loners, video games help them engage with friends and community, says a report.
The Pew Internet study of US teenagers found that few play alone and most join up with friends when gaming. It found that many used educational games to learn about world issues and to begin to engage with politics. The report also found that gaming had become an almost universal pastime among young Americans.
Kids that watch more educational and informative shows such as PBS are - less aggressive, usually have higher grades, and are more ambitious in their studies once they get to high school. Continuing on, video games result in people interacting with each other and are more inclined in making new friends. Games help teenagers follow instructions, problem-solving, logic, and hand-eye coordination. While music can act as a coping mechanism and help in improving one's
Addiction has been defined as "A primary, chronic disease, characterized by impaired control over the use of a psychoactive substance and/or behavior. Clinically, the manifestations occur along biological, psychological, sociological and spiritual dimensions (2)." While there is currently no category for video game addiction in the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (3), which is the manual utilized to diagnose psychological disorders, video game addicts are often described by clinicians in the field as displaying many symptoms characteristic of other addictions. These behaviors include failure to stop playing games, difficulties in work or school, telling lies to loved ones, decreased attention to personal hygiene, decreased attention to family and friends, and disturbances in the sleep cycle (4). Withdrawal symptoms can even include behaviors as severe as shaking (5).
Researchers, however, have found that gaming may not be completely bad for adolescents. A recent study by Paul J.C. Adachi and Teena Willoughby points out that video gaming may satisfy the same criteria for positive youth development as traditional organized activities such as sports, music or clubs. In direct contrast to this analogy, they demonstrate that there may be significant social benefits of gaming, that adolescents are motivated to play video games and that this type of play requires concentration and mental effort (Adachi and
Video games have now become a social event and people are starting to play in groups and pairs. Henry Jenkins stated that “sixty percent of frequent gamers play with friends, thirty five percent play with siblings, and twenty five percent play with spouses and parents “(Jenkins, 451). Video games have become a middle ground for people to come together and enjoy each others company. In our society today, video games have brought people together through the internet. Gaming community has developed on chat sites, YouTube, and even Facebook.
The average person who plays video games regularly is thirty-three years old (Issitt). This topic is important because video games have been given an unfair stereotype. Video games have the stereotype of taking over the lives of teenagers and making them violent. However, the benefits of video games outweigh the negatives.
Although video game interaction is boundless, gaming can't be referred to as the new way of socializing because it revolves around on the game itself. In the video game community, a player is assumed to have a neutral identity. Even though social interactions are present in MMORPG's, these interactions are not about the individual's traits, emotions, memories, or other personal characteristics; it is all about the game and the environment that surrounds it.
First video games are not harmful to the public quite the contrary actually. Many video games encourage social behavior and team work whether that is the two player cooperative shooter game that two brothers play together working as a team inspiring positive feelings overriding the negative ones as stated in the study coauthored by David Ewoldsen. Or a family on game night all playing a game together and having a great time and bonding together because of the experience. And many games today don’t stop there at just play together and have fun. Many games promote teamwork skills through puzzles which can be solved together, or enemies that the players must work together to defeat. These positive social effects are not limited to one’s family but extend into online play, where one can converse and enjoy his time with others, creating entire
JAMA and Archives Journals. "Study Examines Video Game Play Among Adolescents." ScienceDaily 4 July 2007. 19 March 2008 .
Game addicts cannot go on about that day without playing a game. They will spend at an average of twenty-four hours a week on gaming alone. Many game addicts forget about the everyday basic necessity such as eating, bathing and sleeping and continue on their games. Seungseob lee, a gamer addict who did not take care of himself, “played Starcraft for more than fifty consecutive hours at an internet cafe before suffering a fatal heart attack” (DAnastasio). The game addiction’s danger to health is tremendous mostly among adults and teenagers that are not under adult supervision. A solution to the game addiction problem would be simply prevent the person from accessing the game, but that also causes major problems. Brett, a gamer addict, thought of suicide when he wasn’t allowed to play his video game. He states, “At the time [I] felt anything had to be better than not being allowed to play Counter Strike” (DAnastasio). Brett ended up getting depression and started failing his classes. Brett cut himself away from the world and won’t even come out of the room. Excessive gaming can also “. . . induce pseudo hallucinatory-like experiences” (Clark). It happens when the gamer gets off the game after a long hours of playing. The gamer feels as if he or she is still in the game. One game addict claims to see and hear the zombies out the window of his home. These hallucinations can cause serious psychological and
This being said, it can be proven that advancements come with positive and negative effects. The video games of twenty-five years ago have evolved into something different and in some cases something dark. Research has shown in many cases that video games have negative effects such as: increased aggressive behavior, desensitization, and poor physical heath on adolescents. Many researches also think part of the problem arises because adolescents do not receive enough parental supervision with these games. After discussing these negative effects it will be obvious that more vigilance and regulations are warranted.
Video games are not considered as a serious addiction amongst teenagers and adults, often being compared to severe cases of addiction, such as drug abuse or alcohol abuse that may result in the appearance of a decrease in the severity of the addiction. However, video game addiction is a serious matter and has unhealthy consequences for an individual 's life and their health; spending too much time playing video games can take a great toll on one 's physical and mental well-being. Continuing unhealthy patterns of video game activity for prolonged periods of time can result in mental health issues, physical health problems, and a decline in a social life.
...ain and the health. In fact, violence video games influence children’s behavior badly, thus the child led to be aggressive. Many parents suffer from video games, due to the influences of it on their children. It is a really important topic because many parents are suffering from the influences of video games and I personally know a friend who had epilepsy from playing video games for a long hours daily.
In this case, this theory is true but this addiction could be even more destructive than an average drug addict if we do not try to lower this addiction rate. Our generation is suggesting that it is okay to focus more on video games than school work and that it is common if you spend hours on a computer chair that you will develop blood clots in your legs. The message that we demonstrate to the next generation will lead them to a non-social and dangerous habits. The Greg Beato clarifies that if we continue these behaviors we will “Become introverted philanderers by now, isolating ourselves in the virtual Snuggie of World of Warcraft by day and stepping out by night to destroy our marriages with our latest hook-ups”. Not only will the next era become more introverted, but they will lack certain behavior that we gain in our childhood. They will not fully grow up and won 't proceed the skills that obtain in our child development stages. The internet is dangerous because of how addictive it can be but if we are not careful the internet can leak out inappropriate images that the innocence can view. Another alarming aspect is if the APA does add this disorder to the DSM the consequences will become aggressive. Beato states that “People who suffer from Internet addiction disorder will receive protection under the Americans With Disabilities
Yet many people are concerned how this impacts there social skills the everyday face to face contact. When playing video games people limit their self’s to social interaction unless it has to do with the game, a lot of people play online and talk to their friends through a headset. When people have face to face contact they develop skills in learning how to communicate with people and eye to eye contact you don’t get that through a video game. Being in a social environment promotes social skills. A social environment can provide opportunities for one to learn how to behave properly in different situations. When playing video games most of the time the person is alone and confined in room. Meaning there is very little social interaction between the person and the game. When people play video games they play in sessions and they can last a long time even all night. People get so wrapped up in playing these games they blow off their friends and family meaning it’s hard to maintain social relationships.
Video game play can have both positive and negative effects on children and adolescents, and adults should seek to minimize the negative effects while maximizing the positive effects by staying informed about games and establishing rules about the amount and type of video game play.