There are effects of video games on children that many of us may not be aware of. Today approximately 2/3rd of the US population plays video games. Video games were invented in 1970s and have now become an regular source of fun, learning, and entertainment for children and adults alike. You will find Nintendo PlayStation or Wii U in almost every home with multiple video game genres categorized under action, adventure, roleplay, sports, general entertainment, adult and educational games and so on. The popularity of video games has never been questionable. Consider the Mario franchise for instance. It is one of the best-selling video games ever having sold more than 200 million units worldwide.
Parents often blame video games to be a complete waste of time. They blame video games to have bad effects on their children.
However, video games may also have some really good effects at times. So let’s study the effects of video games on children and decide whether it’s good or bad.
Positive effects
Playing video games helps in the developing of perception skills and cognitive thinking as well as motor skills. While playing video games children gain problem-solving skills. They learn teamwork and become more attentive. Playing video games also helps improve their short-term memory. It requires them to make quick and accurate decisions. Thus developing their decision-making skills. A study conducted by the University of Rochester states that gamers perform better in tests that involve focus, speed, multitasking, vision and accuracy than others or non-gamers. So playing video games can teach your children to concentrate, come up with different strategies to reach the goal perform multiple tasks simultaneously and learn how to handle complex situations.
A virtual environment is the future of Education as it offers an interactive way for students to learn and succeed in a competitive world.
Negative effects
Video games have negative effects on health of children. Spending hours in front of video game consoles can increase the risk of fatness, sleep disturbances, headaches, dry eyes, carpal tunnel syndrome, muscular diseases as well as skeletal and postural disorders. Other health effects include anxiety, high heart rate and high blood pressure. Various research studies conducted by researchers have shown a relation between aggressive behavior and playing violent video games.
They say that regularly playing games that have a lot of violence and killing is said to increase anger in children leading to aggressive behavior. These video games get children hooked as playing and winning boosts their morale. The University of Calgary conducted an online survey on children aged 9 to 15 years who play mature and violent video games and concluded that bullying, abusiveness, beating others and violent behavior can be a direct result of addition to video games. .
There is a direct relation between children who spend a lot of time playing games and ignoring their studies. This may result in poor performance in studies, school bunking and dropping out of school.
A Korean couple in 2009 spent hours playing video games neglecting their three-month-old baby who died from malnutrition and dehydration.
A 16 year old kid from USA killed his mother in 2010 for confiscating his PSP.
What parents can do to reduce the negative effects of gaming on children. Parental control is essential. Parents should keep a watch on the type of games their children play. Parents should check the age limit mentioned on the cover by the Entertainment Software Rating board ESRB before buying any video games,
They should also not allow games that have too much violence in them. It’s very important to track the time spent on playing video games. Parents should not allow their kids to spend more than 2 hours per day in gaming.
To track and monitor your kids video gaming habits place all gaming devices in a more visible area of the house and kids younger than two years should not be allowed to play video or mobile games.
Kids should develop their hobbies like playing outdoor games It will help them to communicate face-to-face in reality and socialize with people comfortably.
Last but not the least talk to your kids about how video games should be enjoyed and the time they should spend on them. Also discuss the negative effects these games can have with children. Everything is good only if it is done in proper way. Similarly video games are definitely fun and entertaining.
We’ve enjoyed occasionally however excess indulgence can lead to an addiction and adverse physical as well as psychological effects.
Watch this Video to know what Young generation think about Playing video games.