Video Games Influence on Children

766 Words2 Pages

I remember while growing up my sister and I would go outside to ride our bikes, play basketball, roller skate, play hide and seek and just roam around our neighborhood. We just had fun and enjoyed doing mostly physical activities which caused us to exercise without us even knowing it. However, today I don’t see children outside having that kind of fun anymore or even exercising at all. I feel that the cause for this decrease in physical activity from children has to deal with today’s video games. Video games have become a big part of children's life. It all started when Atari came up with its first gaming console, which included a very simple game of tennis. The controller had just one stick and one button to play with. Today, we have many different types of consoles available in the market with very complex games that requires controllers with two or more sticks and a variety of buttons. I believe that playing video games can have both positive as well as negative effects on children. According to the Henry J. Kaiser Family Foundation, “some of these effects include increasing hand-eye coordination and increasing dexterity mental skills but a decreased interest in other activities such as studies and sports and a very negative effect of inducing violence”. One can argue that video games are simply no good because they keep children from engaging in physical activity which can be detrimental to a youth’s health but regardless of this, video games can have a positive effect on children. One of the most positive effects of video games is increasing the dexterity of a child and improving his or her hand-eye coordination. Today’s video games and consoles that are being released are very complex and involve the movement of different... ... middle of paper ... ...me and end up believing that it is all right. Research is still ongoing on this negative effect and it has not entirely been proven or disproven as of yet. We find that playing videogames can have various effects on the children, both positive as well as negative. Many people argue if the positive effects of children playing video games outweigh the negative effects. Even though the children can benefit by increasing their dexterity and improving their reflexes, the cost of them losing out on their physical exercise and homework, as well as their becoming prone to violent acts, are way too much. It is important that the parents and the educators take up this problem seriously and enable certain rules and regulations that allow children to divide their time responsibly between playing videogames and participating in physical exercise and their other responsibilities.

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