Effects Of Video Games On Children
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Effects Of Video Games On Children
Technology has developed so fast and even become so easy and advanced such that even children are into it. Digital technology has become a new and preferred lifestyle in our society. People of all ages; children, adolescents, and adults are all embracing the digital world. Apart from making things easy for humans, it has brought an adverse outcome of self-realization in the virtual world. This realization may bring about further self-development in people. The reason why there is a drastic change in the world every day.
Video games have become so popular and widespread globally. They are a way of personality realization and expression of character. Many adults and children have drowned in the pool of the video games world as a form of entertainment, competition, learning, and more their leisure activities. Video games are also a source of income in the form of gambling. Men and boys are more into videogames than women and girls. Research shows that the effects of video games can be both positive and negative. Children are more likely to be affected by video games than adults since they are still in their development stages. In this topic, we will discuss the possible effects of video games on children.
First of all, children become addicted to video games such that they want to play all the time. A child may develop an obsessive behavior in that they are always thinking of getting to the game. They may also show irritable behavior, be restless and aggressive when not playing the games. Once denied to play the video games, they may get irritable and depressed, and even annoyed. Some feel unloved and like they are being denied their right thus becomes depressed.
Some children may become dishonest and develop bad behaviors like stealing video games and money to spend on gaming without the knowledge of their parents.
Addiction to these games causes the child not to participate in other physical exercise games as they are always glued to the games. Lack of exercise may result in health problems as well as affect brain development. These children may also be isolated socially as they don’t get to play outside with other children. Spending time on video games always may cause other physical problems as carpal tunnel syndrome, which is caused by excess use of mouse and controllers when playing the game. Also called the median nerve compression, it is the feeling of the hand being numb or weak. A child may experience headaches such as migraines, backache, and also dry eyes. Children who play games at night may experience sleep deprivation which is not good for their developing minds. This may cause them to have headaches and feel fatigued during the day.
Children may also spend very minimum or no time studying because they spend most of their time on games. They may lack concentration during the little time that they study or in school because of fatigue from playing and also being absent-minded thinking of the game. They may often do their homework and revisions in a hurry so that they can go back to gaming ending up not learning anything. This is more likely to cause a drop in their academic grades. This may cause them to feel guilty in the future because of the time they wasted gaming instead of doing important things like studying. These children may also get very irresponsible with other things like even neglecting their hygiene and cleanliness.
Children that play violent video games are said to have increased physical aggression and are likely to be violent over time. The children are more likely to start up fights with their peers and also try to defend themselves violently when attacked by others. During other physical exercises, they may be found wanting t to prove their ability as they see in these videogames. They may always want to victorious among their peers and to prove that they might end up hurting others by hitting them because they feel it is acceptable as it is in the games. Most of the time they tend to copy moves the saw from the game.
Done with some negative effects of videogames on children, it’s good to check into their good side and how it builds them. Nonviolent games help children developing good characters. Most of these nonviolent video games help in the development of prosocial thoughts helping behavior and also empathy in children. This helps bring children together and teaches them the goodness of treating each other well. This helps to induce good behavior among children. They also help in reducing and limiting the development of aggression in children.
Educational video games and exergames can also build children in being good. Educational games can be used to teach and encourage healthy eating for example, among other necessary contents in life (“Media and the Well-being of Children and Adolescents”, 2020). Participating in these games can lead to positive behavioral changes that help children as they grow. Exergames are interactive games that need children to indulge in some exercises to play. They may require one to use energy, a certain time to do something, or even show they can do a certain activity. They help in physical fitness and development in children and also psychological health. They may also boost social growth among children
Video game playing is also said to have a positive effect on visual-spatial skills. Visual-spatial skills are the potential to tell the distance between objects or where they are. Children who play video games frequently are bound to show fast visual reactions relative to accuracy in localization as well as mental rotation. This reflects on how children perform in real-life activities. They tend to be fast and sharp in their other activities.
Study shows that playing a video game has a positive effect on children suffering from dyslexia. Dyslexia is a disorder that causes difficulties in learning to read. Children with dyslexia have poor language skills in reading, writing, and spelling regardless of their classroom experience. This disorder may cause difficulties in understanding and interpreting what a child has read. From a study done researchers found an improvement in reading and phonological decoding in children who played video games. Action video games are said to improve reading speed.
Some video games require more than one participant to play hence a child has to play with other friends. These video games can also help improve social relations among children. As children stay together playing and teaching each other their favorite games, they grow fond of each other and develop bonds that are healthy for them. They learn to live with each other and also grow from each other’s characters as they learn from each other. This also reduces loneliness and withdrawal from others among children.
In conclusion, videogames are both beneficial and destructive to children. They can build them positively or negatively whether physically psychologically or socially. To appreciate the fast-growing technology and ensure it builds the world and not destroy children who are future leaders and builders it upon parents to monitor and be cautious of the games their children play. To make sure they excel hey should also monitor and regulate the tie the children spend playing and make sure they study. Being bad or good it’s good to give children adequate playtime as it is said that too much work with little play makes Joe a dull boy.
References
Addiction, H., Advice, P., Yourself), H., & Kids, G. (2020). How to Treat your Child’s Video Game Addiction – Raise Smart Kid. Raise Smart Kid. Retrieved 15 November 2020, from https://www.raisesmartkid.com/10-to-16-years-old/6-articles/treat-childs-video-game-addiction#:~:text=Here%20are%20some%20of%20the,wee%20hours%20of%20the%20morning.
carpal tunnel syndrome – Google Search. Google.com. (2020). Retrieved 15 November 2020, from https://www.google.com/search?q=carpal+tunnel+syndrome&rlz=1C1JZAP_enKE914KE914&oq=carpal+tunnel+syndrome&aqs=chrome..69i57&sourceid=chrome&ie=UTF-8.
Children’s violent video game play associated with increased physical aggressive behavior. ScienceDaily. (2020). Retrieved 15 November 2020, from https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2018/10/181001154033.htm.
Media and the Well-being of Children and Adolescents. Google Books. (2020). Retrieved 15 November 2020, from https://books.google.co.ke/books?hl=en&lr=&id=bziTAwAAQBAJ&oi=fnd&pg=PA109&dq=negative+effects+of+video+games+on+children&ots=Z9yntScA67&sig=B5yROLM62Pd4TpoDIsmo9H9hBak&redir_esc=y#v=onepage&q=negative%20effects%20of%20video%20games%20on%20children&f=false.
McArthur, G. et al. Phonics training for English-speaking poor readers. Cochrane Database Syst. Rev. 12, CD009115 (2012).
Towards Understanding the Positive Effect of Playing Violent Video Games on Children’s Development https://doi.org/10.1016/j.sbspro.2012.11.473
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