Effect Of Games On The Youth

Introduction    

Positive and negative effects on children.

Our children are growing up in a technologically advanced world. They have various sources of entertainment. Video game is a major source of entertainment. Video games first came to the market in the 1970s. Growth of video games over the past 30 odd years has been amazing. The quality of graphics has improved very much. Children are spending more time playing video games. A recent survey involving elementary and middle school children revealed that girls play for an average of 5 and a half hours a week and boys play for an average of 13 hours a week. Even preschoolers are found to be spending 28 minutes in a day playing video games. Video games have both positive and negative effects on children.

Positive and Negative Effects

Positive effects:

There are many educational games which help children enjoy while learning. They also learn quickly as there is an element of entertainment involved. These games actively engage the children in the learning process.Video games are found to improve hand - eye coordination in children. Their perceptual and cognitive skills also improve.Children learn to be competitive.


Negative effects:

Children are missing on physical activity. They are spending their evenings playing video games instead of getting themselves involved in outdoor games. This is bound to have a huge negative impact on their health in the long run. There have been cases where children addicted to video games have suffered from obesity, epileptic seizures, muscular and skeletal disorders.Children are avoiding interaction with the elders of the family. This will have a negative impact on their personality. They are not learning family values.Children are unable to focus on their studies due to their addiction to video games. This will have a negative impact on their academic performance.

Violent content in some of the games is found to be affecting the behavior of some children. They are becoming more aggressive and insensitive to pain in others. It has been observed that children studying between 4th to 8th grades prefer games involving violence. Children are not spending time with books. They are losing out on benefits of reading. This is sure to have a huge negative impact in the long run.

Should the video games be banned? Definitely not. Parents should regulate the time children spend with video games. Their loving supervision will go a long way in children benefiting from the advantages of video games.

 Stop it, Before it is to late