Introduction
Video games have increased in popularity especially among teenage. Playing video games pose effects to those playing in one way or another. Through playing video games, there are several vices that people try to emulate in the society which might turn out to be very dangerous to the society and even to the individuals who are playing. Some of the effects that might arise due to playing video games includes waste of time because of addiction, some teach wrong values, and they make people to be socially isolated among others.
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"Effects Of Video Games".
Problems
Most of video games are very addictive to the kids who play. Because of this, most of them tend to spend much of their time playing and thus forget to do other roles (Dewar, 2015).
When kids spent much of their time playing video games, they may be affected academically as they will have no time to do their personal reading as much of their time will be spent on playing video games. This will therefore affect the academic performance of the kids and also make him or her irresponsible because he or she cannot do anything constructive other than playing video games.
Through playing video games, there are wrong values that kids tend to learn and this may also affect them (Gentile, 2003).
Violent behavior, vengeance and aggression are some of the values that are encouraged and rewarded while playing video games. Furthermore, negotiating as well as other nonviolent solutions are not taught in video games (Dai et al, 2015). In addition, some of the video games portray women as weaker characters who are helpless or even sexually provocative.
While playing video games, kids tend to use this values in the virtual world and they may express them in the real world which might not be acceptable.
Social isolation.
Children playing video games are likely to be socially isolated. The study shows that kids tend to spend most of their free time playing video games instead of physically playing outside with other kids. In addition, another study indicated that most of the kids’ free time of spent on playing video games than being in with other people (Dewar, 2015). By spending much of their time on playing video games, they end up missing much on their social life. They cannot participate in extracurricular activities that could enable them to meet people and make friends. Social isolation may pose effect to the kid as he or she may not be able to interact with people freely when he grows up. This may therefore affect this entire social life as the individual may find it difficult being in with other people.
Poor health development.
Playing video games may also lead to poor health development thus resulting to obesity. The study conducted shows that majority of the kids who are obese spend much of their time playing video games rather than engaging in real physical activities. CDC in the 2009-2010 conducted a survey and found that 12.1% of the children between the ages of 2 to 5 years are obese, 18% 6 to 11 years are obese and 18.4% of 12 to 19 years are obese (Dai et al, 2015). By looking at the figures, obesity is high at the 12 to 19. This category of age is when the kids are actively engaged in playing video games instead of other physical activities that may keep them physically fit and healthy. In addition, they key a lazy mindset and thus they would rather play video games while seated instead of playing outside. This therefore contributes to obesity among the children.
Solutions
Despite this, there are some solution to these problems caused by video games.
Parents should consider limiting their children from the time they spend on playing video games (Bavelier, 2015). Parents are advised to let their children play video games for a considerate period of time and let him or her engage in other activities outside. This will enable the kid to grow healthier and even avoid being socially isolated.
Discipline children when they express violent behavior.
Another solution is that parents should discipline their children whenever they try to express violence or aggression that they acquired while playing video games (Dewar, 2015). When children are disciplined when they try to portray these values that they acquire from video games, they will be aware that such vices are no acceptable and thus they control their behavior and not be affected by the video games.
Monitoring the video games played.
Monitoring the video games being played is also a solution. Some of the video games may be more beneficial to the child than others (Bavelier, 2015). For example, some of the games tend to stimulate and promote thinking capacity of the child. Such games can be encouraged. On the other hand, games that involve violence and aggression should be limited and even avoided if possible. This will enable the child benefit from video games.
Conclusion
Video games may have both positive and negative effects. The negative effects such as waste of time due to addiction, making the child to be socially isolated, teaching wrong values and also cause obesity are some of the negative effects of video games that needs to be solved. Some of the solution of these effects includes limiting the time children take on playing games, disciplining them whenever they express the wrong values they may acquire from video games and monitoring them to ensure that they play constructive video games. Parents are therefore advised to monitor and control the games that their children play. In addition, parents are also advised to give their children constructive games and also encourage them to engage in physical activities rather than playing video games.
- Bavelier, D. (2015). The Positive and Negative Effects of Video Games. Raise Smart Kid. Retrieved 26 May 2015, from http://www.raisesmartkid.com
- Dai, D., & Fry, A. (2015). Effect of Video Games on Child Development | Developmental Psychology at Vanderbilt. My.vanderbilt.edu. Retrieved 26 May 2015, from https://my.vanderbilt.edu/developmentalpsychologyblog/2014/04/effect-of-video-games-on-child-development/
- Dewar, G. (2015). The effects of video games: A guide for the science-minded. Parentingscience.com. Retrieved 26 May 2015, from http://www.parentingscience.com/effects-of-video-games.html
- Gentile, D. (2003). Media violence and children. Westport, CT: Praeger.
