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Online games effects on academic performance
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The market for video games targets people of all ages, these games however are not just for recreation but are also making headway in the academic world gearing more towards learning through play on the educational level. With a recent spike in popularity and availability video games have become something of interest with academic scholars, teachers and concerned parents wondering how an increased exposure to video games will affect their students academic success. In theory, one would believe that recreational video games are detrimental to academic success but when video games are used for educational purpose’s they can be very effective. Before we can begin to understand how video games affect student success, there must first be an understanding in what constitutes as problem gaming, or an addiction to video games. According to the article ‘Recognizing problem video game use’ the authors point out that these games often provide an alternative or way to escape everyday life and for some people being able to disappear into an alternate reality is worth the consequences associated with avoiding real-life socialization and responsibilities (Porter, Starcevic, Berle, & French, 2010) . According to their study, the criteria for problem use are characteristics such as having a strong need to play, playing when one knows they shouldn’t, playing for extended hours, interference with social activities and responsibilities, lack of sleep, physical pains as well as in increased consumption of caffeine most often endorsed by 70% of participant’s who reported problem game use (Porter, Starcevic, Berle, & French, 2010). Many mental health professionals have responded by suggesting that video game/internet addiction should be formally ... ... middle of paper ... ...ement: The Correlation between Video Game Usage and Academic Performance Markers. CyberPsychology & Behavior, 10(4), 552-559. doi:10.1089/cpb.2007.9991 Annetta, L. A. (2008). Video Games in Education: Why They Should Be Used and How They Are Being Used. Theory Into Practice, 47(3), 229-239. doi:10.1080/00405840802153940 Ip, B., Jacobs, G., & Watkins, A. (2008). Gaming frequency and academic performance. Australasian Journal of Educational Technology, 24(4), 355-373. Retrieved from EBSCOhost. Porter, G., Starcevic, V., Berle, D., & Fenech, P. (2010). Recognizing problem video game use. Australian & New Zealand Journal of Psychiatry, 44(2), 120-128. doi:10.3109/00048670903279812 Sharif, I., & Sargent, J. (2006). Association between television, movie, and video game exposure and school performance. Pediatrics, 118(4), e1061-70. Retrieved from EBSCOhost.
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
Marcus K. Rogers. New York: N.p., 2012. Print. The. " Parents & Teachers: The Impact of Video Games.
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...
Videogames are looked down upon by parents who see them as a waste of time and experts on education who believe that games corrupt the brain. Many say violent video games are to blame for young people being so violent. Psychologists and scientists believe that videogames have a lot of benefits. One benefit being that it make kids smart and cause them to use high-level thinking skills. Video games requires many skills that aren’t taught in school but, also enhance skills that the gamer already has. Skills that are enhanced by video games include following instructions, problem solving and logic with games like angry birds and cut the rope. Hand eye coordination, fine motor skills and spatial skills used in shooting games. Research has shown enhanced skills in surgeons and fighter pilots. Planning resources management and logistics encouraged by the game SimCity.
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.
Since the Early 70’s video games have been giving a bad name. Parents state that video games rot the minds of children and are influencing them do be violent. These accusations are far from the truth. In my research I found that there are many positive effects of gaming. Some of these effects are increased skills, creativity, general knowledge, and also help those in need. Parents can also take proper precautions and look into a game before buying it to see if it meets the criteria discussed in this paper.
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.
American educational philosopher John Dewey once said, “ Education is not preparation for life; education is life itself.” Education is the foundation of a permanent lifestyle. Parents should desire for their children to have educational stability to build upon. Any concerned parent should want nothing but the best for their child as they are well aware of the new forms of child entertainment. Since the late 1970’s and early 1980’s, children in the United States have become subject to a new type of entertainment: video gaming (Nickson, 2010). Video games have become a big part of the average American household. Parents have begun to wonder how video games are affecting their children’s lifestyles.
Video Games have been accused of making youth violent and aggressive, making people isolate themselves from society, and for lowering the attention span and the ability to concentrate in youth. These claims have yet to be supported by several well organized studies and have never been more than a correlation to any of these claims, and in fact have been disproven on several occasions. Adam Eichenbaum (2014), author contributing to the American Journal of Play, concluded a discussion on the research on video games say that “Today’s video games are much more than entertainment. They are also weapons in the fight against declining mental capacities in old age. They promote job-related skills. And they are a model of how to teach children complex and difficult tasks and abilities. As with any technology, video games are neither intrinsically good nor intrinsically bad.” (pg. 67) Video games are not the waste of time that they are accused of being, nor are they damping the development of today’s youth. If anything is to be said about video games is that in them lays a great potential for good; that video games serve as tools for people who want to make a change in society, whether the changes are positive or negative lie in the hands of those that choose to use video games as tools. These are not unrealistic or histrionic claims; video games, after all, are more than just
Several years ago, technology and child’s play were not such as extremely developed as today. Thousands of teenagers have video game as their primary form of entertainment at home. The disagreement about violent video games is because they focus on several subjects such as violence scenes, pornographic content, racism and other resources. For many years, researchers have been debating if video games can cause dependence or not. However, an expert, Jack Flanagan believes video games have a really negative effect on a person’s life and even for children. Jack states that video game addiction exists, and can have the same effects as drugs and alcohol (Netzley 36-37). This shows that video game addiction can be like other addictions
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.
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”).
The excitement of gaming turned into addiction to the extent that I downloaded games on every device including my cell phone. It began affecting my life negatively in terms of academics, social, family and religious life. The ability to concentrate on studies was significantly reduced by the distractions. Although, I graduated high school with passes in all the subjects, it wasn’t what I expected. I could have done better If I had dedicated enough time on studies.
Video games are not considered as a serious addiction amongst teenagers and adults, often being compared to severe cases of addiction, such as drug abuse or alcohol abuse that may result in the appearance of a decrease in the severity of the addiction. However, video game addiction is a serious matter and has unhealthy consequences for an individual 's life and their health; spending too much time playing video games can take a great toll on one 's physical and mental well-being. Continuing unhealthy patterns of video game activity for prolonged periods of time can result in mental health issues, physical health problems, and a decline in a social life.
Most people think that video games are harmful and waste of time. As a result, the main question of the research is how video games can influence on children and many minor questions come to mind about video games: Do video games influence a child’s psychological development and make them more aggressive and violent? Do video games affect a child’s grades? What are the influences of video games on children? Many people don’t have much information about video games and how video games may effect on people’s behavior, health and mind.