Video Games: Are They Good For Us?
March 1, 2023
You’re playing Minecraft when you hear your mom screaming, “Get off your game, you know video games are bad for you!” As soon as you hear that you shout back, “Video games are actually good for you!”. When you say that you and your mom go into debate mode and get ready to go into a full-on debate.
What Is The Debate?
This “Are Video Games good for you?” debate has been going on for literal decades starting with the first video games like Pong to modern-day games like Call of Duty or Fortnite. A lot of studies have been done showing that video games have negative effects on kids, but now there are significant findings from several studies showing that video games have positive effects on kids. There is also another group of articles saying that video games are good, but if used too much, can lead to negative effects on kids. And it turns out that all studies could be true depending on the game, and how much the game is played.
Why Do People Think Video Games Are Bad?
People have been saying that video games are detrimental for kids
since they were first created. The danger of video games is the most widely-known stance on video games, but often, people don’t know why
they’re dangerous.
The main reason people think video games are dangerous is that
various studies are saying that video games cause depression, anxiety, and tons of other problems. According to The Signal, “Gaming disorders are linked to greater levels of loneliness, anxiety, depression, sleeping problems, social problems, and many other psychological-social problems” (The Signal). This is showing that video games
may be very dangerous for kids in a variety of ways. Another reason people think video games are dangerous for kids is that there are a lot of studies that also say that they cause violence. According to Mary Ann Leibert, “Results revealed that briefly exposing children to a violent video
game increased aggressive cognition and aggressive behavior
(Leibert). This is another big reason why people think
video games are dangerous for kids since they are thought to promote aggressive behavior.
Why Do People Think Video Games Are Good?
As long as people have been saying that video games are dangerous, people have been saying video games have positive effects instead of negative ones. People have also been saying that video games since first people started saying they were bad. A big reason people say this is there are also a lot of studies that video games help with hand-eye coordination. According to Tutor Doctor, “Video games that require real-time movement rely on fast reflexes. Whether using a controller or simply your finger on a touch screen, these movements can help develop accurate hand-eye coordination” (Tutor Doctor). This is just saying that video games train your reflexes and your hand-eye coordination because you need fast reflexes to play and good hand-eye coordination to move your hand to the controller. It also releases a chemical called dopamine which is kinda like the happiness or reward feeling. Whenever you get a good grade on a test or do something nice, your body releases dopamine. So when you play video games, it releases your happy chemicals and can make you in a better mood.
Conclusion
To conclude, this debate about video games has been going on for decades, and we will never see an end to it. What do you think?
Works Cited
“The Cognitive Benefits of Playing Video Games.” Tutor Doctor, 1 January 2020, https://www.tutordoctor.com/blog/2020/january/the-cognitive-benefits-of-playing-video-games/. Accessed 24 January 2023.
Fox, James. “Video Games Are Bad For You. – The Signal.” Georgia State Signal, 24 May 2018, https://georgiastatesignal.com/video-games-are-bad-for-you/. Accessed 24 January 2023.
Leibert, Mary Ann. “Effects of Violent Video Games on Aggressive Cognition and Aggressive Behavior.” https://www.liebertpub.com/doi/full/10.1089/cyber.2019.0676.
