Wait a second!
More handpicked essays just for you.
More handpicked essays just for you.
Effects of video games on mental health essay
Effects of video games on mental health essay
Don’t take our word for it - see why 10 million students trust us with their essay needs.
Recommended: Effects of video games on mental health essay
The world of online gaming has revolutionized within these past two decades. Because of gaming consoles such as the PlayStation 4, XBOX 1, and even digital platforms such as Steam, there are millions of players interacting with each other online. As technology advances so will online gaming. People tend to link online gaming with the self-pleasure of playing games to kill time or see it as an addiction; however, as the gaming world advances, online gaming can be much more than just playing games. Online games should be utilized in clinics or schools because it can improve an individual’s personal or intellectual skill, can provide real life simulation for soldiers and medical professionals, and even become a therapeutic option for those with disabilities or post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD). …show more content…
Gaming consoles, computers, smartphones, and much more can be a server for online games. The world of online gaming is literally a global community with millions of users and that term would be called a massively multiplayer online game (MMO). Just within the United States, “it is estimated that video games are played in 67% U.S. homes” (Hastings 2015). Networks such as PSN, Xbox Live, Steam, and Second Life, have millions of players, and with this virtual community many people can be influenced by other users. The community of online gaming allows individuals to interact with a variety of personalities. Although there is a history of addiction, violence, anti-socialism, and other negative factors, many researchers are looking into the benefits of online
Beato stresses out the idea that “American psychiatric Association (APA) should add internet addiction to the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM)” by bringing up its consequences, he is extremely right. In its first conception, internet addiction disorder may appear as a negligible issue in our society since some of its effects are the promotion of the stupidity and the increase of the unconsciousness. An example of how ignorant and insensate we have become, Greg writes an anecdote about “the 18-year-old who choose homelessness over gamelessness” (para. 7). However, when in paragraph 8 he presents the tragic brief history of the young man who killed his mother and injured his father because they wanted to take his Xbox one, this leads us to question ourselves on how the internet can seriously affect our behavior like drugs. In addition, internet addiction has a negative impact on our mind. In other words, it may conduct to a depression. In his article Beato backs up this evidence with an example of students who qualify themselves “jittery”, “anxious”, “miserable”, and “crazy” (para.3) when they were deprived of their connections to the Internet. Finally, many young people have prefer their virtual life at the expense of their social life. They do not know what it means to communicate with other methods like a letter or a face to face communication. Greg support this idea by using a statistic graph. According to that graph, “more than 1
Back in the day, gamers would use dials and keyboards to move simple two-dimensional shapes across a tiny pixelated screen. Since then, forty years later, friends and family are able to play together in ultra realistic virtual realities. Games are no longer only played by geeky teenage boys spending the day at an arcade. Video games are now for men, women, boys, and girls of all ages. According to a survey taken by 23 participants at McHenry County College on April 22 2014, 96% of them have played video games before, 61% play video games weekly, and 9 of the 16 women surveyed currently play video games. These results show that not only are video games extremely prevalent in modern day life, contrary to popular belief, a good portion of women play them as well. Many different types of personalities play video games as well. Video games are no longer an activity only desired by introverts. Not since the internet has allowe...
Moreover, a study conducted by Kühn, Gleich, Lorenz, Lindenberger and Gallinat verified that video games can assist treat cerebral disorders and illnesses like schizophrenia, post-traumatic str...
There is much persistent debate throughout culture these days concerning video games. Common questions asked are things like ?Where should the lines be drawn in terms of content? and What audience, if any, is this appropriate for? As lawyers fight, bizarre crimes are blamed on video games, constant studies take place, and technology continues to evolve, the video game world continues to thrive and be extremely profitable. While there is near-constant focus on the supposed ?negatives? of games like simulated killing, drug use, or sex, most people, especially those completely outside of gaming circles, fail to acknowledge that gaming of any kind can possibly have positive effects on players. While increased hand-eye coordination is a common benefit attributed to gaming, one particular study conducted revealed a mixed bag of possibly positive and negative effects.
center with the pool tables and a line of arcades in front of me. At least nine to twelve players are gathered around 2 gaming arcade machines in front of me. The two main popular ones that are of interest would be the Street Fighter 3rd Strike and the Marvel vs Capcom 2 machines. The gamers are heavily immerse in watching the players and cheering them on. I am observing four players playing on two separate machines. The two players who are on MVC2 are wearing both hooded jackets and baggy jeans with tennis shoes. It seems they were here for quite a while. Backpacks are off to the side of the machines or lying around randomly near them on the ground and some half eaten snacks can be seen on the tables nearby. A quick glance around allowed me to take in the surroundings. There are three pool table games in session occupied by two to four players per table. Three girls are having a drink to the table directly adjacent from my stool across the room. My location is near enough from the arcade machines to allow me to easily view the players and note all of what is going on and far enough to remain hidden and unsuspected of recording the scene. I am recording with my Nokia N95 with Carl Zeiss optics 5 mega pixel lens with creative sounds voice amp. I am wearing a zip up hooded jacket and some baggy cargo pants with a pair of vans allowing me to easily blend in as a normal spectator. Soon after, there are at least six to seven guys spectators for the four players. And also noted at ten minute intervals, the losers rotates out with one of the players lining up to be the new challenger of the victorious. The guys seem to be much louder and animate on the MVC2 ...
The average adolescent spends a major part of the normal week watching or interacting with some form of the media’s products. Video games are one of these media based mediums and have become increasingly popular since the 1980’s. According to a report in Archives of Pediatrics & Adolescent Medicine, "Female gamers spent an average of 44 minutes playing on the weekdays and one hour and four minutes playing on the weekends, and male gamers spent an average of 58 minutes playing on the weekdays and one hour and 37 minutes playing on the weekends" ("Video Game Play Among Adolescents"). What can we understand from this evidence? The fact is that adolescents, male or female, are spending tremendous amounts of time each day sitting in front of a screen with a controller in hand.
Video games have been around about 50 years and they contribute a big part of the U.S. economy. People interact with video games every day throughout different ways, such as cell phone devices, computers, consoles or whatever which has a screen on it. In fact, it has always affected people’s lives. However, not so many people understand the benefits of video games. With video games, people can not only relieve themselves from stress and suffering, but it also improves people’s social experiences while they are exchanging and absorbing knowledge with other people; more than that, people can learn many other things from video games which can help them to achieve great things in lives.
Role-playing games are becoming increasingly popular in this age due the assistance of the Internet. In these types of game a person can assume a character and give this character a personality, physical features and “live” through them. All though in past years “pen and paper” types have dominated the rpg world, now MUDs are making it possible to role-play along with thousands of others A MUD is a network-accessible, multi-participant virtual reality that is primarily text-based. (Bruckman, 1992). Although the term “virtual reality” often refers to a computer-simulated environment that contains varying degrees of audio/visual interface, this form of virtual reality is mainly text-based. Elizabeth Reid further explains by saying:
There are several negative stereotypes associated with video games and those who play them; some of these may often hold true. However, there are plenty of learning opportunities in video games. While the direct purpose of some games is to educate or train, other games that do not directly have this purpose can still become a learning experience for the player. As Ntiedo Etuk, president of the educational video game company Tabula Digital said, “The traditional view of video games has been that they are distractions from the task of learning” (Electronic Education Report 1). Video games are an effective tool for learning and retaining skills both inside and outside the classroom environment. The basic cycle of game play--the introduction to the game, game play, collaboration, improvement of these between each round, and evaluation at the end of the game (Klievink and Janssen 159)--are nearly parallel to the traditional classroom learning cycle of reading a textbook or listening to a lecture, taking a quiz, studying, focusing on items missed on the quiz, and taking a test or exam. Within this cycle, there are many opportunities to develop and perfect both educational, life, and occupational skills.
First video games are not harmful to the public quite the contrary actually. Many video games encourage social behavior and team work whether that is the two player cooperative shooter game that two brothers play together working as a team inspiring positive feelings overriding the negative ones as stated in the study coauthored by David Ewoldsen. Or a family on game night all playing a game together and having a great time and bonding together because of the experience. And many games today don’t stop there at just play together and have fun. Many games promote teamwork skills through puzzles which can be solved together, or enemies that the players must work together to defeat. These positive social effects are not limited to one’s family but extend into online play, where one can converse and enjoy his time with others, creating entire
Presently, video games aren’t merely toys that negatively influence the youth. They have become an alternative means for people to learn and train for work. Games teach values and essential information, and motivate its players to achieve goals. Soldiers and doctors benefit from video games as well. The collaboration of game developers and educators helps improve the quality of educational games. At present, as technology progresses, one can truly see that video games have become an important factor in learning.
Many people believe that video games change people and mislead them to do bad things, such as drugs and alcohol, but it is the opposite. Gaming prevents people from such acts and actually helps to keep them away from the substances. Lots of people, mainly parents, believe that video games harm people so they try to keep their children away from them. In reality, video games make your life better. Video games can provide many benefits to your lifestyle as “numerous academic studies indicate that playing video games has many psychological and even physical benefits” (Guarini). Gaming helps stimulate the brain and advances your problem solving abilities. There are disadvantages to gaming, which is true, but the amount of benefits outweigh them by far.
Video games are commonly known as games that you play for fun or as a hobby, but what if this fun could turn into your profession. Most video games started out as arcade games played to reach the highest score. People played with a "fistful of quarters" each day to try and reach the top of the score board. A prime example of someone who is well known on the high score board is Billy Mitchell. In the documentary, King of Kong: A fistful of quarters, Billy stated,
The experience of game play can be described as an activity in which the player is virtually embodied in the game world. Anyone who has experienced the world of gaming knows how the engaging experience can manifest itself with “sweaty palms and chills down the spine” (http://www.eludamos.org/index.php/eludamos/article/viewArticle/80/147) when coming face-to-face with alien creatures; or with the adrenaline rush we get when racing a high speed automobile head-to-head with a friend. Gaming is an excellent source of entertainment. It provides an opportunity for social growth, provides a meaningful form of exploring expression, and provides heightened sensitivity.
The advantage of playing online games is that it allows people to communicate with numerous numbers of others from different cultural backgrounds and countries. In the game, a gamer may want to exchange his item with someone else. Therefore, he/she has to negotiate with others. Repetition of this negotiation can develop a gamer’s social skills. The disadvantage of online gaming is that spending most of your free time in front of a monitor will remove teenagers from their friends and society.