According to Google dictionary, a video game means, “a game played by electronically manipulating images produced by a computer program on a television screen or other display screen” (“Video Games”). The first video game was created in 1958 by a Physicist named William Higinbotham. The concept of the game was tennis; this game was not for people to play it was a demonstration to the public. Although the game was created on an oscilloscope and analog computer and was never officially given a name. Shortly after, Ralph Baer created a game. He called it the Brown Box on this game you were able to play athletic games. So the Brown Box becomes the first video game officially with a name in 1967.
After, in 1970 the first arcade video game was released which meant that the game had to be played in a game room under a certain consol. The name of the game was Spacewar. Ralph Baer had already created a game similar to Spacewar, but a couple of men named Nolan Bushnell and Ted Dabney had taken the idea and just put it into a arcade system. During this time, the types of video games were based off of sports and space, but today there are many types of games such as combat, adventure, real-time strategy, and many more. Though video games are very popular, they have negative effects on young people who frequently play these games because they create addictions, inhibit academic success, and, most importantly, encourage the players to commit violent crimes.
However, some people feel that video games actually act as a stress reliever and help with motor and communication skills. Others believe that video games encourage children to be more self assertive. Video games may also help your reaction time get faster, In one study, players who were immersed in fast-paced games were 25 percent faster in reacting to questions about an image they had just seen compared to non-players. (“Benefits of Playing Video Games”). Also, others believe that video games improve social skills and add to people’s creative side.
Although, in some very few incidents video games might help with stress. Overall, these games create serious addictions. According to Sherry Rauh, “They become angry, violent, or depressed. If [parents] take away the computer, their child sits in the corner and cries, refuses to eat, sleep, or do anything.”(“Video Gaming Addiction No Fun”). Just as any other addiction players that play video games excessively players can have withdraws, which could mean mental breakdowns, and players will have shorter if the addiction is not fed.
When people play video games everyday for many hours, this actually can cause other problems, like sleep deprivation. In fact there have been studies done that show if people play games after 9pm, they tend to have sleep problems, and not sleeping right may lead to increase in stress. Uncontrolled gaming can also enhance the signs and symptoms of other mental disorders that may be present. Bluntly, when people become addicted to video games, then people begin to isolate themselves, because the video game puts people in their own worlds. If that occurs, other levels of psychological stress may also appear. In addition, when children play video games excessively, it can lead to posttraumatic stress. Since people play too many video games, not only does it cause addiction but also isolation and posttraumatic stress.
Furthermore , young people who play video games excessively tend to earn lower grades. To prove this, Jancee Write said, “ Several GPA scores that fell within the low 2.0 range, were student that played video games six hours out of their day”(40). When a person plays video games a lot, that person begins to feel like that is the only thing can do, so it turns into their main focus. Also, children who play video games tend to have a chance to have slight chance of increased attention problems in school(“The Effects of Video Games”). Recognizing something is in the way of school work it most likely it is a bad thing, because video games can affect a child’s future by decreasing their grades. Sadly, the way children get into the college is through standardized testing and video gaming might pull children away their main morals that they were taught by their parents.
Helping kids to find a good balance, such as playing games only after homework is done or tests are studied for, is probably better in the long run. Students who rather stay in and play video games than go out and spend time with friends is most likely to start lacking in studies. Javin Gusman once said, “it’s not that video games are addicting it is that school work had no fun to it that would interest me such as games do.” When people young don’t care about anything, but whats on their minds, then video games have taken away the big picture. The big picture could be just success in life and video games take that main focus away. Overall, when children play video games more than school work, their grades drop.
Lastly, many young people who often play violent video games become angry and commit violent crimes. In a game where a child’s success is measured by murder, that game influences the child feel to like the right thing to do is to kill. According to the Dartmouth News, “ Violent video games increase adolescent aggressiveness, but researchers found the first time a child plays a video game mature rated, they tend to become risk-glorifying”(Dartmouthnews.org). The Columbine is a massacre shooting by 2 students at a high school which killed twelve students and one teacher. Some people believe that video games is a cause behind this shooting, because these two students had a very strong video game addiction.
In an interview Dr.Dave said, “ The two students played video games that were programmed to make them feel like a first person shooter”(“Played in Columbine Shooting”). When video games are played excessively it makes you turn the game in to real life interaction, even joking around about taking the game serious, people still do it. If a person wants to fake shoot another person the most likely they will no second guess shooting another person with a real gun, it takes a cold heart to kill and these video games are saying that it is ok to kill. So, basically violent video games are teaching children the wrong tools to succeed in life. The video game industry,sales of games and gaming related supplies are expected to reach 24 billion in the US. Generally, violent video game put a bad effect on a child’s brain.
Video games can affect a child by creating psychological stress, inhibits academic success, and, most importantly, encourages them to commit violent crimes. Children are negatively affected because they tend to be in first person during violent games, when they play too much of it they don’t want to do school work, and it creates psychological stress. Too many violent video games make a child’s mind aggressive. When children play a lot of video games they tend to not get the bigger picture. If a child plays video games a lot it makes their minds psychologically weak.
If a teen cuts down on gaming time by 30 minutes everyday and use the other time to study, the whole of that generation would achieve better results and be more likely to have the career that they want. In education, people get out what they put in, meaning that if a person works hard they will succeed and if they don’t then that person will get average results. Children struggle already mentally so they should not play any video games that would affect their self-esteem. If a child has already played a lot of video games, take it away from the child permanently and watch their reactions. If a child shouldn’t be watching nasty things on TV then they shouldn’t be play violent games.