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Received this interesting paper today from another individual with his views of why people shouldn't be playing video games, really at all. Let me know what you think of it.
"The video game market is a multi-billion dollar industry with individuals from ages two to seventeen playing on average seven hours a week. What these individuals can learn from playing these games can vary depending on what games they are playing. The truth is that video games have a large number of health concerns associated with them. Similarly, they tend to be very addictive. I personally have known an individual who was extremely addicted to video games. This individual played video games on average three to six hours a day, and sometimes more. A large majority of his money went into buying new video games as well. If that individual did not play a video game within two or three days then he would develop an almost compulsive behavior in which he absolutely had to play a video game. If he did not play a video game within those few days then he became very tired and emotionally depressed; moreover, he couldn't concentrate or focus on the task he was performing at that time. The reason for this was because his mind was so sue to playing video games all the time that when he finally stopped eh developed withdrawal effects. These withdrawal effects caused his depression and compulsive behavior. People should beware of addiction because it can lead to a number of other health implications. It is understandable that video games can amount to a great deal of disadvantages. Therefore, one can conclude that video games, due to their significant amount of disadvantages, should not be played by individuals whom are under the age of eighteen.
However, according to Kurt Squire video games can provide relatively few advantages, one of them relating to the brain. Video games stimulate the brain to adapt to problem solving skills and utilize the brain's critical thinking and responsiveness. Individuals learn how to find the enemy, or avoid being seen or shot. Players also learn how to make quick decisions and take note of the patterns that the opponents are utilizing. Some individuals believe that this may help them in the real world by increasing their ability to solve arduous tasks such as doing Calculus homework or bargaining for a cheaper price on a car. In addition, many individuals who play video games argue that it helps them relieve stress. I appeals to their form of entertainment and helps them relax after a strenuous day. This form of relaxation for the body ironically involves using many parts of the brain to coordinate and make quick decisions; likewise, this many not necessary allow the brain to relax as much as one might imagine.
Conversely, there are disadvantages to this method of relieving stress. Individuals who play these games tend to sit down for hours without any form of physical activity. Physical activity is one of the absolute best methods for relieving stress on the mind; moreover, it can promote concentration, memory, and give you a larger brain. Video games may reduce some stress, but exercise reduces more and is healthier for your body. In addition to the effect of video games on stress relief, they create problem solving and quick thinking sills which are otherwise worthless in the real world. This phenomenon is referred to as the "Transfer Problem" in which as Kurt Squires writes, "Improvement in any single mental function rarely brings about equal improvement in any other function, no matter how similar." This means that just because an individual learns outstanding problem solving, critical thinking, and planning skills in a video game, does not mean that he/she can effectively use those problem solving and planning skills for real life activities. For example, if an individual were to play a game called Sim City, one in which focuses on the strategic thinking and planning of a virtual city, then the skills that individual learned from that game would only help him/her in games which have the same unique properties. Those skills would not help that individual in real life situations like debating in a courtroom or planning out an effective schedule.
As any individual can see, many of these skills become obsolete and practically worthless for the individual. Likewise, these futile skills take time to develop and ironically, very little energy to develop. People who play video games tend to sit down in a chair for minutes or even hours a day Professor Denbow, with a Ph.D in Avian Physiology from North Caroline State University states that "Obesity in America is the second mot preventable disease behind smoking." If individual were to use the time they spent playing video games, then America would be a lot healthier of a country. Furthermore, people only need to exercise thirty minutes a day for three times a week to be considered not to have a sedentary lifestyle. Professor Denbow also states, "They are now finding hypertension in children under the age of five. Back in the day this was unheard of." This is scary when considering that the average American child between the ages of two and seventeen play video games for seven hours a week or more. Obesity is not a problem itself; it's the problems that it can lead to, such as hypertension, diabetes, heart disease, and cancer.
In addition, the reason for these individuals becoming overweight is because of how addicting video games are. Individual who play video games excessively find themselves saying "just one more round" or "just one more try." This procrastination stops them from breaking away from the computer to go exercise. This addiction can also lead to actual withdrawal symptoms. Some people feel that they must play video games in order to go through the day and if they don't then they feel depressed or tired. This addiction usually occurs because video games excite and simulate that individual's brain. As individuals become accustomed to playing video games repetitively, their brain eventually adapts to this form of repetition. In other words, the human brain gets so use to this form of stimulation that when an individual stops playing video games, the brain sees this as something out of the ordinary. This extraordinary feeling the individual gets will usually result in depression or drowsiness. The human body gives these signals of depression and drowsiness as a note to the individual that he/she needs to get back onto its normal cycle. According to Linda Davis, with a M.S. in Nutrition Education from Boston University, the human brain likes to stay in a state of homeostasis, thus it will try to prevent the body from living in a rapidly changing environment. When individuals get addicted to these games they usually find themselves staying up all night playing them, or doing the work they should have been doing while they were playing the video game. This can cause a lack of sleep in the individual which can also lead to slower reaction time, irritability, and impaired memory. This lack of sleep can be inversely related to an individual's academic achievements. Usually as the amount of hours playing video games increases, the individual's grades decrease. This decrease in academics can be related to the lack of sleep which would constitute impaired memory, or lack of time in which the individual is always playing video games. Children are at the greatest risk when it comes to playing video games because according to Campbell- Reece, the easiest time for individuals to learn new knowledge is then they are young, especially when referring to foreign languages. This is because the mind is still developing and has the ability to remember knowledge easier. This early development of the brain can lead to advantage when talking about learning but proves to be a serious disadvantage when dealing with the effects of video games on violence.
This disadvantage of video games versus violence on the human brain was tested by Craig Anderson and Karen Dill. According to Craig Anderson, Department of Psychology at the University of Missouri-Columbia, "Two studies examined violent video game effects on aggression related variables. Study 1 found that real- life violent video game play was positively related to aggressive behavior and delinquency". Their second study revealed that exposure to violent video games increased that individual's aggressive thoughts and behavior. These two studies proved the idea that video games do cause violence as targeted form recent negative publicity.
The reason for video games making an individual more violent is because, as mentioned earlier, the brain learns easier when the individual is young. According to WebMD Health, kids who played video games had less activity in the part of the brain that controlled emotions, impulses, and attention. Any individual can cleary see the correlation between video games and violence because kids who play these video games excessively do not use the part of the brain which controls emotion. As noted earlier, the brain is still in development when an individual is young, so that when individual does not use that part of the brain when that area will not develop like it should. This reduces the amount of emotion a person can develop which can end up resulting in greater violence since that person cannot initiate emotion as well in the body. According to Cragin Anderson, videogames can also increase violence because "Each time people play violent video games, they rehearse aggressive scripts that teach and reinforce vigilance for enemies, aggressive action against others, and beliefs that violent solutions are effective and appropriate". This means that an individual learns from the constant violence in the video games that it is justifiable to use killing or any other form of violence to resolve their problems.
Many adults should not let their children play these video games mainly because of the enormous amount of disadvantages. Adults who have children that are under the age of 18 should restrict the amount of video games their kids are playing and especially the types of video games that their kids are playing. If the individuals are under the age of 18 then the parents still have legal control over the kids. Thus, they can legally regulate the amount and types of games which the kids are playing. Regulating which video games children can play will provide numerous advantages and help promote safety in society. This reduction in violence and increased education and exercise will promote a healthier childhood for kids and prepare them for the tedious tasks of what lies ahead for years to come."
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