Video games have positive and negative aspects. Acording to a study, those who spend hours and hours in playing ‘civic games’ were found to take more part in different community services like social work, politics or protests, as compared to those who never took interest in vidoe games. Hence video games are proved to increase one’s social interaction skills. The kind of friendship and ethics that are learnt by the young gamers while playing video games provide evidence that they are not completely harmful to our society. (Heins, 62)
There are many people who say that videogames and TV will rot your brain and cause brain damage. Plenty of research and articles are against children playing video games, but there are some that are in favor of video games, and that number is growing every day. Video games can have some medicinal uses from helping patients in physical therapy to improving ones vison. Many people do not see these uses and for every one for video games there are five who are against it, however as that number is slowly growing.
With the rise in popularity, video games have become a common electronic in most households. According to Chris Morris and Ken Polsson, “Total US sales of video game hardware and software increased 204% from 1994 to 2014, reaching $13.1 billion in 2014…” With the astounding surge in electronic entertainment, people are curious to know what effects video games might have on our societies. “An estimated four out of five US households with a male child own a video game system and worldwide sales of video games are predicted to reach $102.9 billion in 2017.” These numbers come from newzoo.com, a leader in global market intelligence in games.
First off it is proven that video games can make you smarter,in fact it is proven that the game series “Mario” has this effect. Huffington post has an article titled "9 reasons video games are actually good for your health". The first argument they make is about the game series "Mario". Huffington describes Mario as "steroids for your brain". It turns out, German scientists did a study where they took 23 adults all around the age of 25 and had them play "Super Mario 64" for 30 minutes a day for 2 months. They then compared them to a control group of adults that played no video games at all. At the end of the 2 months, they got MRIs to scan their brain activities. The scientist discovered that the people who played Super Mario 64 had a higher gray matter count in the right hippocampus, cerebellum,...
First students score higher marks when video games are applied to education, since it makes it more interesting and interactive while improving their cognitive abilities. Moreover, it allows individuals with shy personalities to exercise at home preventing them from disturbing looks at the gym or just to win time. Furthermore, it allows people to build strong based relationships that couldn’t have been made possible in real life interactions. But also it permits to strengthen the bonds with family and friends.
“Video games can train parts of your brain. Our paper shows that cognitive flexibility, a cornerstone of human intelligence, is not a static trait but can be trained and improved using fun learning tools like gaming.”(Playing video games can boost brain power - myScience / news …). Video games can train your brain. “‘Previous research has demonstrated that action video games, such as Halo, can speed up decision making but the current work finds that real-time strategy games can promote our ability to think on the fly and learn from past mistakes,’ said researcher Dr. Brian Glass from Queen Mary's School of Biological and Chemical Sciences.” (http://www.nydailynews.com/life-style/health/playing-video-games-boost-strategic-thinking-article-1.1433812#ixzz2sNRwgqGM). Many games can improve on your brain. “Research published earlier this year in the same journal found that playing video games may prevent and even reverse deteriorating brain functions such as memory, reasoning and visual processing.” (http://www.nydailynews.com/life-style/health/playing-video-games-boost-strategic-thinking-article-1.1433812#ixzz2sNRwgqGM). Games can make your brain last longer. “The University of Iowa study of hundreds of people age 50 and older found that those who played a video game were able to improve a range of cognitive skills and reverse up to seven years of age-related decline.” (http://www.nydailynews.com/life-style/health/playing-video-games-boost-strategic-thinking-article-1.1433812#ixzz2sNRwgqGM). Video games can make your brain improve even at an old age.
Society seems to either love or hate video games. Some say that they turn children into savages, detached from the world, while others say that they encourage creativity and allow children to express themselves in ways never before possible. Many people who have experienced games might say that they are enjoyable entertainment. However current research suggests that gaming is affecting individuals mental and emotional health that may on the surface appears to be negative, but are in fact leading into a new era of human development. According to a 2013 Max Black Institute for Human Development study, gaming may actually increase the gray matter of the brain.
A lot of people (mainly parents) say that video games have a negative effect on children because they think it causes them to become greatly distracted, violent, socially isolated, addicted, and teaches them the wrong values such as vengeance and aggression. However, what a lot of people don’t know is that playing video games actually impacts your brain in many positive ways. It teaches people abstract, high level thinking skills people will need in the future, and changes the physical structure of the brain the same way as learning to write, read, play an instrument, and navigate using a map. Playing videogames are not bad for people however, some people may disagree.
Video games have been argued about for decades. Some people have argued that video games are linked to violence. However, new research shows that video games can be used for therapeutic purposes, exercise, stress relievers, positive interactive learning, hand eye coordination, and different types of patient treatment for people all around the world.
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.
Many people believe that video games change people and mislead them to do bad things, such as drugs and alcohol, but it is the opposite. Gaming prevents people from such acts and actually helps to keep them away from the substances. Lots of people, mainly parents, believe that video games harm people so they try to keep their children away from them. In reality, video games make your life better. Video games can provide many benefits to your lifestyle as “numerous academic studies indicate that playing video games has many psychological and even physical benefits” (Guarini). Gaming helps stimulate the brain and advances your problem solving abilities. There are disadvantages to gaming, which is true, but the amount of benefits outweigh them by far.
Many people believe that too much time spent watching television or playing computer or video games can be detrimental to children’s development. However, video games can also be beneficial. Gaming, in moderation, helps improve cognitive skills, such as attention, vision, and multitasking.