The U.S. public talks a lot about their children excessively playing video games these days. It seems in every family a kid is growing up who is into video gaming and prefers the latter to any other kind of entertainment. Ms Jane McGonigal, an accomplished video games designer, observes that U.S. statistics for involvement in playing video games is threatening: 183 million people who play at least one hour a day on average. In her famous bestseller Reality is Broken, Ms McGonigal cites these statistical data: an average U.S. teen spends approximately 10, 000 hours playing video games by the moment he/she turns 21. Ironically, this is just 24 hours less than teenagers spend at school, at the time they attend middle or high school, based on the idea of a perfect attendance rate (McGonigal, 2011).
Sometimes kids say that video games helped them relax, whereas they might also complain on headache after finishing a video game. Apparently, video games are likely to bring both nice entertainment and disappointing discomfort to those people who play. So, when one needs to decide on the issue of kids’ playing video games, can we as parents allow our children to play games, while also doing our best to ensure their health is not affected in a bad way?
Without a doubt, video games ought to be allowed given their multiple benefits. While playing games on laptops or computers, children experience numerous positive effects. Apart from serving a source of great fun and entertainment, games effectively facilitate people’s problem-solving skills; also, they efficiently develop people’s logical thinking, and, what is important, better kids’ hand-eye coordination. While playing, kids promote the essential ability of multitasking. Next, they develop their ability to focus on small detail. Besides, children improve skills of doing something as a part of a single team and learn to cooperate with other people in a prompt and productive fashion. In addition, kids grow up rather quick thinkers and decision-makers. For instance, parents of the kids who enjoy video gaming share that playing video games has boosted their kids’ self-esteem, considerably widened their attention span, and helped significantly improve their memory (Circle of Moms).
Further, it appears that video gaming can benefit kids with special needs. Careful analysis of numerous parents’ feedbacks relating to how video gaming has influenced their disabled children leads to conclusion that this activity is helpful in overcoming some symptoms of a range of syndromes and psychological disorders (specifically, ADHD and Asberger’s); playing video games is helpful in talent development based on the fact they are perceived as a kind of art; playing video games serves as a source of knowledge and a source of learning opportunities; video gaming helps to improve these children’s self-esteem; and, finally, playing video games provides a stimulus to adequate brain activity in these children (Circle of Moms).
However, video gaming can be banned once the parents see that they clearly pose a threat to their kids’ health. Whereas particular kinds of video games can be allowed and ought not to be forbidden, the games which have M (meaning “mature”, or fitting people who have turned 17+) or AO markings (meaning “adult only”, or fitting people who are 18+) ought to be forbidden for the benefit of kids’ health.
The issue is the M and AO games are likely to contain excessive realistic violence, lots of blood scenes, and sometimes even sex. Obviously, this will greatly expose gentle children’s psyches to absolutely unnecessary tension and clearly age-irrelevant themes. To specify, two thirds of kids who had been surveyed by the scholars Funk, Hagan, & Shimming and had reported that violent video games were among their favorites, were found to be affected by hostile attribution biases. The study showed they those kids demonstrated a growing number of arguments and excessive confrontation with their school teachers. Besides, they had lower levels of self-perception of their own conduct. To exacerbate the situation, those children often displayed aggressive conduct, along with a greater number of fights (Bushman & Anderson).
A range of recent studies of the impact of video gaming on kids’ health have brought the following findings. There are a number of games that are addictive in nature and serve to promote over engagement in kids’ playing activity. Additionally, video games can either interfere with or restrain the normal development of kids’ social skills, make them turn aside from their studies at school, and, lastly, divert them from active participation in a range of physical activities aimed at ensuring a healthy lifestyle and obesity prevention (Culture, Media, and Sport Committee, 2008, p. 2).
In addition, scholars have found that playing for extended time periods has led people to becoming smokers (Kasper, Welsh, & Chambliss, 1999), quick gaining of excessive weight (Berkey et al, 2000), and displaying worse performance at school (Anderson & Dill, 2000). Plus, a few health-related issues referring to video gaming have been identified. These include both skeletal and muscle disorders accompanied by nerve compression and, sometimes, by gaming-induced seizures.
If to consider a broad spectrum of video games in the American market, a few games are about very high violence and sex contents and marked AO and M. Video games which have these markings should certainly be banned, whereas others may be permitted to play. As a rule, the majority of kids get tired having played video-games for some time, so parents ought to figure out the best amount of time for the children to play, for instance, a number of hours to be played per day or per week. In this case, children will enjoy an opportunity to have their favorite entertainment while also being healthy enough and keeping some time for school homework and some other important activities. After all, our kids’ psychological wellbeing is one of the biggest assets, which can neither be bought nor easily renewed.
- Anderson, C. & Dill, K. (2000). Video games and aggressive thoughts, feelings, and behavior in the laboratory and life. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 78, 772–790.
- Anderson, C., & Bushman, B. (2002). The effects of media violence on society, Science, 295, 2377–2379.
- Berkey, C. S., Rockett, H. R. H., Field, A. E., Gillman, M. W., Frazier, A. L., Camargo, C. A., et al. (2012). Activity, dietary intake, and weight changes in a longitudinal study of preadolescent and adolescent boys and girls. Pediatrics, 105, e56.
- Circle of Moms. (2010). ADHD and Video Games. Circleofmums.com
- Culture, Media, and Sport Committee. (2008). Harmful Content on the Internet and in Video Games: Tenth Report of Session 2007-08, Vol. 2: Oral and Written Evidence. The Stationery Office.
- Funk, J., Hagan, J., & Schimming, J. (1999). Children and electronic games: A comparison of parent and child perceptions of children’s habits and preferences in a United States sample. Psychological Reports, 85, 883–888.
- Kasper, D., Welsh, S., & Chambliss, C. (1999). Educating Students about the Risks of Excessive Videogame Usage. Education Resources Information Center.
- McGonigal, J. (2011). Reality is Broken: Why Games Make Us Better and How They Can Change the World. Penguin Press.
