Positive and Negative Effects of Video Games
With the technology advancing, the trend of video games can clearly be seen growing among the teenagers today. According to most teenagers, video games are one of the best recreational activity. Not only a pastime, but it is used as a fun activity and most teenagers and adults enjoy long hours of video gaming. With new controllers and joysticks, playing video games has been made easier and hence more preferable than any outdoor games by most teenagers today.
However, these video games can have adverse effects on children’s health and eyes if extensive addiction is developed. Most parents today are concerned with the number of hours their children are spending on these video games and whether it is good or bad for them. Generally, it is frowned upon and not really liked by the parents when they see their children getting addicted to these games.
The video games cannot be all that bad. They have many positive effects too. But everything in excess is bound to carry negativity as well.
Following are some of the most common positive and negative effects of video games.
Positive Effects of Video Games:
- Not all video games require you to slouch on to a couch in your living room and never move. Many video games have been recently introduced that do require some kind of physical activity. These are available for both consoles and computers. These help in getting on with some physical activity along with having some fun.
- With different variations in video games, many are available that involves the maintain of fitness, healthy living or nutrition for the player. Some games stimulate outdoor sports and can be seen as a fun alternative for outdoor exercises. Regardless of the weather outside, they can be done inside the house anytime. These may prove successful in giving gamers a fitness goal to live and keep a healthy lifestyle.
- Video games help in improving the hand-eye coordination which is a must to be quick and reflexive. They add up to the sports playing skills and general task performing skills of the teenagers.
- Video games are also helpful for children who lack the socializing ability and skill. Some teenagers fall under the introvert category and find it difficult to talk to people. But with video games and the sense of anonymity and security it offers, teenagers can overcome their fear of interaction and learn the art of opening up to people.
- Many complex video games teach the teenager how to learn quickly by enhancing their cognitive skills such as problem solving, decision making and reasoning.
- Good video games teach teenagers about good sportsmanship and fair-play. These values are important to be developed to maintain a healthy competition in everything.
- Not only are these video games a recreational activity, they are also really good stress busters. Teenagers face a lot of stress including studies, fitting in, parents’ expectations. Video games can be a great way to cool off and lighten up once in a while.
- Many online video games require teenagers to interact and cooperate with their teams. This induces a sense of Cooperation and team work which are important traits that must be developed in a teenager from the start.
Negative effects of Video Games:
- Most video games today are violent in nature. These can easily lead to the development of an aggressive behavior among the students. They may start believing in violence which is not good.
- When teenager spend long hours gaming, their addiction results in isolating them from the outer world. They are not able to socialize with the real world any more or are not interested in other activities such as reading, writing etc.
- Some video games induce wrong moral values in teenagers. This may be against the women, displaying them as weak.
- Long hours of video games results in weak academic performance. Addiction to these video games makes the teenagers lose their interest in studies and hence their performance suffers.
- Long hours of video gaming can have deteriorating effects on teenager’s health. Long hours of screen exposure can weaken their eye sight. Extensive gaming hours can lead to back pains and posture malfunction because of sitting and not moving all day. Chances of headaches can also swoop in due to prolonged exposure of the computer screen.
As they say, excess of everything is bad. So, if you try to keep the habit of video gaming under control, it will serve you in all the positive ways. While the excess of the same will cause havoc on your health and lifestyle.
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7 replies on “Positive and negative effects of video games”
I believe the problem is that their free time isn’t really always free time. Children will often play at the expense of their homework or chores getting done, so limits do need to be made to ensure they are doing other things they need to do.
This is tricky. My Eldest kiddo would play video games 24/7 if I let him. Even now he can become explosive when we put reasonable, predetermined limits on them. My younger 2 are more flexible and are happy to do other things. Really depends upon each child. Realistically, I believe, there is no replacement for good old fashioned play and social interaction.
My 11 year old meets all of his school friends every single day and they plot , plan and create. They share , interact , devise . They are all online . If I were to prohibit him from playing or limit him , he would be isolated from the activity. They then discuss their online activity in the playground in school . He has no problem stopping without any reminders when it’s time to go football training etc . I do think there needs to be a balance though , as some children are adverse to playing outside and exercise is so important for a healthy lifestyle .
I come from a video gaming family, so I know well the benefits and social fun of video games. I had a blast playing games with my dad and brothers growing up, and my husband and I still use games to connect with siblings and friends who live far away. However, video games can also be addictive, and I think it’s okay for parents to step in if they feel video games are starting to negatively affect a child’s life. I have a brother who is definitely addicted, and daily spends so much time gaming that it has been detrimental to his career, social life, intimate relationships and health. He’s an adult, so there’s not much that can be done, but as a parent, if I saw the same tendencies in one of my kids, I would definitely intervene and try to teach them self moderation.
I still believe young children should be experiencing outdoors. Taking a child on a nature walk, to the beach, or to a park is a lesson in seeing the world as a wonderful place to explore. Once they have a solid foundation of understanding the basics of nature, that there are bugs under rocks, flowers of various shades of color and shape, leaves change color in different seasons, etc. then I’m ok with video games. My son is 14 now, and he plays them after he is finished with his learning for the day and on weekends. We home school, so this is one of his main social activities besides his PE class at the YMCA. He has made friends with kids in other states and in Canada. It has been a good thing. He also has learned a lot from the games. I still don’t like him to play as much as he does, but I’ve relaxed my opposition a bit because I see the benefits. Team work. Negotiations. Strategy. Conflict resolution. And some of the games are historically accurate.
I disagree !!! Video games promotes isolation, behavioral disorders and indeed addiction ( just like any other activity that is done out of balance/proportion )
It’s not the thing itself, it’s the attitude toward that thing. You can be an addict of anything, substance or behavior, or you can have a healthy approach to it. It varies from person to person. Video games are not evil, nor are they just fine for everyone.