Video games, while a popular entertainment form, are not without controversy. They are often a hot topic of discussion. “The World Health Organisation added “gaming syndrome” to its official mental health list”. It is concerning that many children spend a great deal of time playing videogames. This leads us to ask, do you believe video games negatively impact children’s lives. Video games are addictive and can cause violent behavior, social isolation, and even the possibility of being groomed on the internet.
According to some, playing videogames can cause violent behavior. Violent games are blamed in school shootings. Homicides. And an increase of bullying. A procon.org study found that 60% of middleschool boys, 40% of middl school girls and 30% of high school boys who played/played M (Mature) rated video games had gotten into a fight in school. This shows clearly that video game playing has a detrimental effect on some kids. Many violent offenders have confessed that they played too many violent videogames when younger. People who committed the “1999 Columbine High School massacre” in which thirteen people were killed played violent games. Anders Breivik was also a violent gamer and in 2011 he murdered “seventy six people in Norway”. He admitted to playing Modern Warfare 2 in his youth. This clearly shows that violent offenders are often drawn to brutal video games. Barnardos has released statistics showing that in 2016, “297 children said they were sexually groomed while playing games online or asked to upload explicit pictures”. “Two Hundred and Sixty Five of the Children were Girls”. The number of children who would have reported these crimes would probably have been much higher, as many would have felt scared and frightened to do so. It is a problem we must address. We should educate children about the dangers of internet use. Adam Isaac asked two boys to perform sexual acts while playing Minecraft. Adam Isaac has been jailed for two years and eighteen months. It is clear that online video games are a popular way for paedophiles to abuse children.
Video games may have positive effects on the life of a child. Online friendships can be made, according to some arguments. It’s a bad thing to meet strangers who have no history. The Telegraph did an online survey and found that 18% of children aged nine to eleven years old have met a stranger. Of these, more than half admitted they had gone alone. Do you want your child to meet strangers or not? Do you believe this will have a positive effect? It is much healthier and safer for kids to meet strangers face-to-face in a safe environment. Video games are also said to improve confidence and self esteem. According to them, video games make people feel better when they are successful at a certain game. But if they are not good and fail repeatedly in the game, then it could lead to anger and violence. Many people believe that video games help improve cognitive abilities such as hand-eye cooperation, reaction times and focus. Naturalife, a website, listed nine ways to maintain and improve cognitive skills. These included eating healthy, sleeping enough, exercising your memory, and more. Playing video games was not on this list. This shows that gamers do not have better cognitive abilities than non-gamers.
Video game addiction can lead you to isolation and social withdrawal. The website Psychology Today has many examples of murders that have occurred after video game addiction. Daniel Petric is a seventeen-year-old boy whose parents confiscated the Halo 3 game after he got addicted. He shot his parents and was sentenced for 23 years in prison. This also goes back to the idea that gaming makes children violent. According to an article posted on the Guardian, if a player gets addicted to gaming it can cause social isolation. “Three in four UK children spend less outside time than prisoners on an average daily basis”, which is terrible considering that prisoners only get two hours of outside time each day. Richard Gribble surveyed his Plymouth primary school class to see what gaming habits they had. “Of all 26 students in his P6-P7 classroom, he discovered that three quarters play video games each night. A third play them in mornings, too. Some children stayed awake until 4am, while others got up early at 5am. It’s unhealthy because children will have trouble concentrating in class, and they may fall asleep.
In conclusion, I believe that videogames can negatively affect a child. This decision was made because I believe that video games can cause addiction, social exclusion, online grooming and violent behavior. Would you want your kid to be introverted and lonely because of video games they played? Do you believe it is a good way to improve children’s cognitive skills? What are your thoughts on children in Britain spending less outdoor time than prison inmates. I am shocked by this statement. The same views still apply. I think that small amounts would not negatively affect children the way this essay mentions.
