An Addiction or Disease Gaming: Harmful Video Games - Essay Sample

Introduction

Among the most popular form of entertainment currently, are video games. Many companies around the globe invest a substantial amount of money, in billion dollars and in particular in the research which is aimed towards making virtual reality appears to be like reality. Their products attract a bigger audience as they become sophisticated over time. Despite all the happiness and joy brought about by the game to children and teenagers, taken to be the primary target audience, active engagement in the video games at a very young age is likely to yield adverse effects (Gretemeyer, Tobias & Dirk 578). Given the profound and numerous impacts of video games, it should be discouraged in totality among teenagers. This paper, therefore, focuses on the negative evaluation of video games and the effects brought to the children and teenagers.

Is your time best spent reading someone else’s essay? Get a 100% original essay FROM A CERTIFIED WRITER!

Save 25%

The various harms caused by video games can be analyzed and evaluated using several criteria. The common and most noticeable among the criteria is the negative and adverse effects the games can bring on the physical health of an individual. Although various proponents of the video games argue that real-time strategies and first-person shooters tend to increase concentration, sharpen reflexes, and enhances muscle coordination, going by the reality, youths who involve in gaming at most of their times tend to experience nonbeneficial effects.

Among the adverse effects is the possibility that gaming teenagers might lose their sight. Among the causes of visions which are blurred among the youth is the amount of time spent by them in front of computers and TV screens as they enjoy gaming without realizing the adverse effects of doing so. As the teenagers focus on video games for long hours, they tend to forego a lot of physical activities which are healthy and as a result, they expose themselves highly to obesity. Research indicates that one of the leading cause of obesity among teens is their inability to keep moving around since they just sit down play games. Gamers at most times do not like to be interrupted as they play even if they are being called to take their meals. They prefer to eat in front of their screens or monitors so that they do not engage in constant movement and their meals always consist of products or foods that can quickly be cooked or taken in immediately such as crackers, chocolate bars, crisps, and a lot more fast foods. This kind of foods has been proven bot to bring about a healthy and proper development among the teenagers' growth (Skoric, Marko, Linda & Rachel 567).

The mental health and stability of the youths can get affected due to the engagement of video games while still very young. The reasoning logic of many teens tends to be narrowed within the scope of their gaming. This can be attributed to the addiction which brings about inappropriate behavior. It is known clearly that many video gamers tend to suffer addictions which are just as dangerous as alcoholism and narcomania. An ideal case involves a report which surfaced in August 2005 regarding the death of a gamer from South Korea, twenty-eight years old. The gamer took 50 hours playing a game, real-time strategy. Another prominent case involved the Taiwanese teenager who fatally collapsed following a 40 -hour playing session. Numerous such cases happen all over the world which forms additional arguments on the various negative evaluations involving the video games to be activities that cause harm to the youth (Porter, Guy & Vladan 422).Over the year, the great desire by the teenagers to play video games have contributed to the growth and escalation of crimes in society. Many young people strive to get money so that they can visit video games playing centers to satisfy their great desires. Consequently, they are made to use all means including stealing from others. At many times the teenagers engage in gambling which is outlawed in many parts of the world in a bid to get an extra coin to buy computers and equipment required to satisfy their desire for games. Due to this many youths have dropped out of school to experience the feeling and also bowing to the pressure from others.

Inappropriate behaviors among teenagers can be as a result of video games which are violent. Research indicates that youth who play video games which are violent are most like aggressive and this is attributable to their desire to actualize what they see on video games. They tend to confront anyone including their peers and teachers and as a result, registering a decline in their academic performance. This kind of implications furthers explains why video games are not constructive and a beneficial occupation for the youth. Addiction of video games among children tend to be associated with social skill levels, the level of animosity and their academic achievements. Violence brought about by the video games addictions can be predicted statistically by the measure of hostility. Those with video games addictions are said to be more hostile compared to those without (Skoric, Marko, Linda & Rachel 567).

Video games have been found to limit the social interaction nature of the teenagers as most time is spent by them while gaming. This has an adverse effect as they grow up and when it comes to relating to society, in general, they find it difficult. Interaction enables individuals to understand others better and how to value the feeling and believes of others. It is due to the lack of communications that makes some people disregard others and what they believe in. It is due to this that some teens eventually venture into terrorism and end up killing those who lived close to them (Skoric, Marko, Linda & Rachel 567).

Individuals who engage in more hour playing games are often unable to distinguish fantasies from reality. Video games at many times offer conditional and simplified models of relationships, rivalry, friendships, and environments. Gamers apply these models to relate to the world around them, and at most times they lack the skills that can be developed by the real-life experience and not through simulation. It is therefore clear that video games bring about the inability of the gamers to adapt socially. Video games discourage innovation and conscious thinking among the youth as they just actualized what they have seen and are used to. This limits their though to a given line, and they cannot think productively. (Gretemeyer, Tobias & Dirk 578).There has been a focus shift on the stereotypical portrayal involving minorities and women in various video games and adverse effects brought about by these characterizations. Research shows that there exists a positive between the anti-women attitudes and the extreme video games hence profiling violence against women in the society. The youths who got exposed to various sexist images involving video game characters were the most probable to accept various myths related to rape with such ideas that men should always dominate women sexually.

Another argument indicating the addiction brought about by the video games and its adverse effects on the youth is demonstrated by the reduction in emphatic response of the brain to various real-life situations such as gun attacks. Research indicates that those with the less emphatic response of the brain tend to behave aggressively. For instance, the adolescent brain involves the active learning of impulse control and the way to deal with violent and sexual urges. They are more vulnerable to sexual and violent imagery which is prevalent in video games (Gretemeyer et al. 580).

Conclusion

In conclusion, it is clear that video games are not ideal for teenagers and children as a form of entertainment. The assessment is founded on numerous negative consequences caused by indulgence in excessive video games. The effects of video games necessitate great involvement of parents and various stakeholders in ensuring that children are protected from vices that disorient their logical thoughts. Young individuals who spend more hours playing games have been observed to be vulnerable to obesity and loss of sight. Also, they tend to be aggressive as compared to their peers who do not engage in video games, and they face difficulties when it comes to social adaptations. Video games can also result in Addictions that are not less compared to narcomania or alcoholism as indicated in the media stories in which various deaths are reported. Therefore, it is evident through the discussed collection of facts that which has highly contributed t towards the negative evaluation of the video games being an unwholesome activity among teenagers and children.

Works Cited

Greitemeyer, Tobias, and Dirk O. Mugge. "Video games do affect social outcomes: A meta-analytic review of the effects of violent and prosocial video game play." Personality and social psychology bulletin 40.5 (2014): 578-589. Accessed on 19th February 2019 from https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/abs/10.1177/0146167213520459

Porter, Guy, and Vladan Starcevic. "Are violent video games harmful?" Australasian Psychiatry 15.5 (2007): 422-426. Accessed on 19th February 2019 from https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/abs/10.1080/10398560701463343

Skoric, Marko M., Linda Lay Ching Teo, and Rachel Lijie Neo. "Children and video games: addiction, engagement, and scholastic achievement." Cyberpsychology & behavior 12.5 (2009): 567-572. Accessed on 19th February 2019 from https://www.liebertpub.com/doi/abs/10.1089/cpb.2009.0079