Have you ever thought that video games could bring more positive to a person than negative? Video games have been around for a very long time and new games are being made at this moment. All around the world, There are gamers playing all kinds of games at this moment. In April 2013, nearly 671 million people worldwide played an online game using a desktop or a laptop and 145 million played on a daily basis. With these kind of numbers what effects have been playing these games brought for all these people? Improved cognitive skills, problem solving, and social connections are just a few of the positive effects video games bring to teenagers.
Video games have been proven to improve cognitive skills. For example, “A 2013 study found that playing shooter video games improved a player’s capacity to think about objects in three dimensions” (Kotz). From this quote we now know that video games can increase our depth perception which is our ability to perceive objects in the distance which is important for driving. In addition, children who play video games that involve paying attention to many events going on throughout the game are able to use this skill into the real world (Weber). Playing these games can mean that we can have a better attention span than we had before, Since these kids are focused on the game’s events that can mean that the kids can be more focused in real life events. Furthermore, A study, done by Queen Mary, University Of London and University College London found that people who played Starcraft gained higher performance on psychological tests, completing cognitive flexibility task much faster and more accurate (Guarini 1) Games like Starcraft involve a lot of events happening at one time which can cause such an i...
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...yable and have been for many years. Developers working on video games are working on improving the game certainly out also making new games for everyone to enjoy which makes having video games a pleasure. Spending long hours on such games does not mean it has to bad it depends on how it is working on the person that determines if that person should be playing the game or not.
Works Cited
Guarini, Drew. N.p., Web. 6 Apr 2014. .
Weber, Lisa. “Positive Effects of Video Games On Children.” Global Post N.p., Web. 06 April. 2014.
Kotz, Deborah “Do violent video games have an upside for kids?” Boston.com The New York Times, 29 November 2013 Web. 06 April 2014
Gentile, Douglas A. “Video Games Affect the Brain-for Better and Worse” The Dana Foundation N.p., 23 July 2009 Web. 06 April 2014
Researchers, however, have found that gaming may not be completely bad for adolescents. A recent study by Paul J.C. Adachi and Teena Willoughby points out that video gaming may satisfy the same criteria for positive youth development as traditional organized activities such as sports, music or clubs. In direct contrast to this analogy, they demonstrate that there may be significant social benefits of gaming, that adolescents are motivated to play video games and that this type of play requires concentration and mental effort (Adachi and
Video games do not make us more intelligent. They may however, make us more prone to violence and sex. Video games are preventing us from screening out distractions and making thinking deeply a difficult task. Our brains become overwhelmed when multitasking. Moreover, Johnson states “... a modern video game can take forty hours to complete”. Forty hours keep kids from homework and as Rachael Rettner states in livescience, “The results show that boys given a PlayStation II are slower to progress in their reading and writing skills and have more learning problems reported by their teachers than those not given a system”. The sole reason studies come back positive for video games being productive is due to the fact that they test a regular video gamer with a non-gamer. Regular video gamers will do better in the study because the more they play, the better they get. Not many realize the effect of these “fully realized imaginary worlds”, it is making it harder for people to differentiate their virtual life with their real
AsapSCIENCE. “Can Video Games Make You Smarter?” Youtube. 10 January 2014. Web. 1 May 2014.
... games do have an important and distinct impact on the psychological development of children. Some of the positive effects of social, educational, cognitive, and physical uptake are substantial and far outweigh the occasional negative showing of aggression and lethargic behavior. As with all things, the situation and content should always be considered, especially in the developing stages of young minds. With the landscape of the video game industry changing year-by-year, there are constantly more dimensions of this puzzle needing to be assessed. However, there has already been a shift in their potential effects even as recently as the past 10 years. With more research in this field, we can start to note trends (relative to sex and age) and begin to create and environment where children enjoy the process of growing up while developing good health and social habits.
Adachi, Paul J.C. and Willoughby, Teena. “Do Video Games Promote Positive Youth Development?” Journal of Adolescent Research 28.2 (2012): 155-165. Web. 12
Gentile, Douglas A. "The Multiple Dimensions of Video Game Effects." Child Development Perspectives 5.2 (2011): 75-81. Academic Search Complete. Web. 24 Apr. 2014.
Video games have improved a lot since they were first introduced. They have also made a lot of impacts in our generation by making gamers more social, teaching children through educational video games, and how video games can improve our health. Furthermore, the articles show many different ways that proves that video games aren’t bad for you physically and emotionally. Since video games were introduced they have changed our society.
194 Issue 2, p10-10. Norcia, Andrea. The Impact of Video Games on Children.
One article points out that video games have a big impact on children’s lives and that many of the games played are violent. Researchers have found that “nearly all children spend time playing video games” and studies have found that “8th graders spent an average of 17 hours per week playing video games” (Tamborini 336). Moreover, 68% of the most popular video games contain violence (Tamborini 336). So it is clear that many children have access to violent video games and they have a big impact on their lives simply because of the amount of time spent playing them.
By far the largest concern of technology today is video games. There have been so many experiments and studies to try and figure out if video games have a negative or positive effect on our children. A growing body of research is linking violent video game play to aggressive cognitive, attitudes and behaviors (D.A. Gentile, 2004). Video games can obviously be dangerous for our children causing aggression, bad performances in school and obesity. Although we cant blame all of these problems on the use of video game...
Nowadays, video games are frequently accused of having detrimental effects on children and adolescents. The main arguments against video games are that they lead to addiction, that they provoke violence, and that they impair social development. Whether or not such claims are true has not been determined with certainty as scientific studies have produced contradictory results. Nevertheless, video games also have beneficial effects, which tend to be underrated, as they do not receive the same level of media coverage that adverse ones do, and are thus unknown to the general public. Some of the positive effects of playing video games on mental development include: stimulating analytical thinking, improving concentration, and encouraging planning and anticipation (“Video game controversies”).
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 game play may provide learning, health, social benefits." American Psychological Association. February 2014, Vol 45, No. 2
One way in which video games can be beneficial is by supporting individuals’ intellectual development in the areas of problem solving and logic. Games like Cut the Rope, Angry Birds and The Incredible Machine require players to solve a puzzle under time limited conditions. When people are playing these games, they practice their critical thinking skills and creativity, which are both important components of intelligence.
“90% of pediatricians and 67% of parents agreed or strongly agreed that violent video games can increase aggressive behavior among children” ("Do Violent Video Games Contribute to Youth Violence?”). Pediatrics and parents are aware that kids that play violent video games see a change in their behavior. Many cases they see the kids with anger problems and causing them to do violent acts. Violent video games have been around for many years where some older titles, such as ‘Mortal Kombat’ and 'Grand Theft Auto’ both are some of the most controversial ones. The video game industry has been growing and with the large amounts of violent video games being produced. “Total US sales of video game hardware and software increased 204% from 1994 to