The Impact of Video Gaming on Children - Essay Example

Video Games Affect Behavior of Participants The rapid technological advancements fronted by the invention of the internet and computers in the 21st century has completely altered and extensively revolutionized child play thereby signaling a significant paradigm shift from the conventional physical pastime activities to the highly addictive video gaming in the cyber space. Video games are electronic games that entail human interaction with a user interface, which generates visual feedback on video devices; personal computers and video game consoles used to be the most common video game electronic systems but hand held devices such as smart phones, iPhones, iPads and tablets have taken over nowadays. Video games are the most prevalent form of entertainment among children as many of them spent most of their free time in front of computers and large screens indulging in these games for hours on end without even a break (Price). The widespread coverage of the internet and personal computers all over the world in the modern day information technology age enables children to easily access, play and even share video games with their peers in other places through the online gaming cyber space. The pervasiveness of video games and video gaming as the preferred form of entertainment for children and young adults all over the world has been a major cause of concern over the possible impacts of this phenomenon on the behavior of children in the long term; precisely, the perceived adverse effects of video games on the behavior of children have raised numerous concerns over this novel invention of the present day century. Sociological studies have been concerned with the effects of media violence on behavior from the 1950s onwards and a particular focus of these studies has been on video games since the 1980s given the ubiquity of this phenomenon among the American children, especially boys (Carey, 2013). The debate regarding the impact of video gaming on children has been highly polarized with two antagonistic arguments dominating the discourse; one school of thought holds that video gaming does not result to any significant effects on the behavior of participants. Contrariwise, the opposing school of thought refutes this perspective by insisting that video games often result to significant effects on the behavior of participants; this perspective draws evidence from a vast body of research from empirical studies conducted by developmental and social psychologists on the effects of video games on behavior. This essay will contribute to the ongoing debate by examining the validity of the supporting and opposing arguments and drawing a conclusion based on the established facts; given that video gaming is a highly pervasive activity that demands a multitude of complex cognitive and motor skills that lead to enhanced eye-hand coordination and high-level visual-spatial abilities, video games result to significant behavioral effects. The highly polarized debate on the possible impact of video gaming on behavior is nowhere close to reaching a consensus on the matter especially given the huge division in expert opinion regarding the issue; on one side of the argument, several points have been raised in support of the position that video gaming does not result to any behavioral effects on participants. For instance, a recent study conducted in the UK by the University of Glasgow concluded that video gaming does not lead to any long term behavioral impacts on children like attention deficit disorder or depression as often suggested (Alise, Abigael 2013). This study focused on the potential impact of gaming factors such as active user engagement, identification with characters as well as repeated rehearsal and reinforcement on the behavior of individuals; their findings underscore the point that exposure to video games has virtually no impact on the behavior of gamers in the long term as alleged by some critics. Furthermore, according to the data of the criminal justice system, the rate of violent juvenile crimes in the U.S. has decreased significantly given that the arrest rates have declined steadily from 71.9% to about 49.3% between 1995 and 2008 (Raphael). Notably, the rate of sales of video games has been on an upwards trend in this period thereby underscoring the conclusion that video games indeed have no impact on the rates of violence among teenagers, thereby dispelling the link between video games and the likelihood of increased juvenile crime rates in the country. Contrariwise, the second school of thought regarding the relationship between video games and the behavior of participants insists that video games do result to significant behavioral impacts by citing the prevailing developmental and sociological research findings that establish a connection between video gaming and behavior. Video games have been attributed to numerous negative influences on the behavior of children since a vast majority of them emphasize negative themes while promoting negative acts such as killing of people or animals, criminality and disregard of the law as well as the use and abuse of drugs. The anti-video gaming arguments have often been charged by the prevalent notion that video games result to aggressiveness in children, which may later seek expression through physical acts of aggression that may be potentially catastrophic (Ferguson 309). For instance, the recent prevalence of massacre incidents such as the shooting at Columbine High School and at the movie theatre in Aurora have been cited widely as physical manifestation of dark digital fantasy, which resulted due to exposure to violent video games (Carey, 2013); the argument goes that the urges to do the violent acts were fuelled by excessive exposure to computerized violence in video games. Studies of children exposed to excessive violent video games show that these children often become immune or numb to the horror of violence that they may end up imitating or acting out the violence they see on screen while showing more aggressive behavior (“Children and Video Games: Playing with Violence”). According to new research in the sociological domain, violent gaming can prompt violent urges as well as mildly aggressive behavior in the short term which implies that children who continuously interact with violent video games are more likely to present with more aggressive behavior in the short term. According to the Social Cognitive Theory, individuals are more likely to model the behavior of characters they are attracted to or consider to be similar to their selves (Lachlan, Smith and Tamborini 313). Nonetheless, research on the long term negative impacts of video games is still largely inconclusive in that it cannot be determined with certainty that video gaming-induced violence tendencies in the short term can have enduring effects such as the likelihood of someone committing a capital offence such as murder, rape, or assault in the long term. So far, there is significant consensus in research that no Psychological study has ever established a strong connection between short term video gaming-induced aggressiveness with the likelihood that a person can commit a violent crime like massacre over longer periods. Apart from that, the other concern fuelling the anti-video games debate has often been that since the games are overly addictive and demanding, children may become obsessed with them thereby spending most of their time playing and this undermines development of prosocial behavior, which encompasses any voluntary behavior aimed at benefiting another (Fraser 638). The implication on behavior of the children is that children may fail to acquire social skills while failing in all other key areas such as family integration, school work as well as physical fitness since video gaming takes up all their valuable time. It is indeed possible that video games can be highly addictive thereby becoming a fatal obsession for children, nonetheless, this argument is not valid since the negative effect of the risk of addiction to video games can be mediated effectively through proper parental control and limits of video gaming. For instance, parents can limit the time children are allowed to play video games at home to a few hours while helping their children to spare time for other activities such as physical exercising and homework thereby significantly diminishing the negative impact of excessive exposure to video games. Nonetheless, apart from the adverse negative behavioral effects associated with video gaming, several positive gains of video gaming have also been highlighted recently; these numerous positive gains of video gaming achieved by children eventually lead to positive influences on behavior. For instance, studies have confirmed that video gaming does enhance a player’s manual dexterity and computer literacy thereby equipping children with beneficial functional computer skills that positively impact their behavior. Besides that, video gaming is a highly demanding activity that provides the brain with real workout activity since it entails abstract and high level thinking, skills which are not even taught at school; invaluable mental skills such as following instructions, problem solving and logic are acquired through video gaming. For instance, video games such as Angry Birds, The Incredible Machine as well as Cut The Rope often require children to device creative ways of unravelling puzzles within short bursts thereby tuning the brain to operate at a higher functional level. Besides that, video gaming enhances hand-eye coordination while refining motor and spatial skills especially because video games often prompt multiple sensory reactions, which in turn demand great eye-hand coordination as well as visual-spatial abilities. Research suggests that video games are invaluable tools for enhancing individuals’ iconic, spatial, and visual attention skills, which are positively associated with great surgical skills as well as high skillfulness of fighter pilots that have been weaned on video games. Additionally, video gaming enhances individuals’ planning, resource management and logistics abilities since they are tuned to manage limited resources through effective utilization while minimizing waste. For instance, strategy games such as SimCity, Age of Empires as well as Railroad Tycoon have been attributable to effective planning, resource management and logistics abilities that are highly valuable in professions such as planning and architecture. Recent research has proved that video gaming enhance problem solving and logical reasoning skills which children require to creatively unravel puzzles in video games to move to the next level of complexity or challenge. For instance, a group of researchers at the University of Rochester have confirmed that the simulation of stressful events is an invaluable lesson for real life crises since it enhances the brain’s capacity to make quick decisions thereby supporting children’s development (Raphael). A considerable amount of research concurs that regular gamers often have increased reflexes, better cognitive skills as well as healthier brains; for instance, the Molecular Psychiatry has confirmed that video gaming increases brain functionality, particularly in areas that deal with spatial orientation, memory formation as well as motor skills and strategic planning. For instance, this research argues that since video gaming is a highly pervasive activity that demands a multitude of complex cognitive and motor skills, video games do enhance the functionality “of the brain regions responsible for spatial orientation, memory formation and strategic planning, as well as fine motor skills” (Elise). Moreover, this research recommends the use of video gaming training as a counteractive measure for the risk factors of mental diseases such as post-traumatic stress disorder, neurodegenerative disease and schizophrenia since video games demand a multitude of complex cognitive and motor skills. Having looked at the two sides of the argument, it does appear that there is hardly enough evidence to support the claim that video games do not result to any significant change in the behaviour of participants. The scanty evidence available is not sufficient to adequately rule out the possibility of strong links between video games and behaviour of participants, thus the concern that video games indeed do result to adequate behavioural effects. On the other side of the argument, there appears to be a significant body of knowledge that supports the claim of a close relationship between video games and the behaviour of participants; the prevalence of developmental as well as sociological studies that have been conducted in the past provide significant evidence of the impact of video games on the behaviour of individuals. Numerous studies have established that indeed video games result to numerous effects on the behaviour of participants; precisely, video games have been attributed to both positive and negative behavioural effects. Generally, the negative behavioural effects of video games are a major cause of alarm and concern all over the world, particularly given the pervasiveness of video games as the major source of entertainment for many children and teenagers across the world. Violent video games have been found to encourage aggressive behaviour in participants, particularly in the short term; the fact that exposure to violence in video games makes individuals more likely to show aggressive tendencies implies that video games could potentially impact the behaviour of participants in the short term. However, there is no consensus yet whether the aggressiveness of individuals exposed to violence in video games could have enduring effects into the longer term making predisposing individuals to capital crimes and acts of violence such as murder and rape. Apart from the negative behavioural effects of video games on participants, there are also numerous positive behavioural effects that have been attributed to video games; these positive gains eventually outweigh the negative behavioural effects associated with video games. It is an established fact that indeed video games are a highly pervasive activity that requires participants to have a multitude of complex cognitive and motor skills for enhanced eye-hand coordination and high-level visual-spatial abilities, which are required for success. In that respect, it is evident that video games do result to significant positive behavioral effects in the longer term because they encourage individuals to acquire a vast wealth of multiple cognitive as well as motor skills that are crucial for success at the games; precisely, video games enhance brain functionality particularly in areas that deal with spatial orientation, memory formation as well as motor skills and strategic planning. Ultimately, having keenly examined the two sides of the argument regarding whether or not video gaming does impact the behavior of participants, it is undeniable that video games do result to significant behavioral effects. The prevalence of evidence for the relationship between video games and behavioral effects outweighs the counteractive argument that video games do not result to any significant changes in the behavior of individuals. The implication of this assertion is that a video game inevitably results to profound effects on the behavior of participants since it is a highly pervasive activity that demands a multitude of complex cognitive and motor skills that lead to enhanced eye-hand coordination and high-level visual-spatial abilities. Generally, video games have significant positive behavioral effects such as enhanced eye-hand coordination as well as high-level visual-spatial abilities; additionally, a vast proportion of developmental as well as sociological studies have suggested that violent video games can encourage violent urges as well as mild aggressive behavior in participants. Consequently, the implication of this is that avid gamers exposed to violent video games are more likely to demonstrate aggressive behavior 1in the short term; nonetheless, research on the long term negative effects of video games is still largely inconclusive. In that respect, it cannot be determined with certainty whether or not short term video gaming-induced violence tendencies can result to enduring effects such as the possibility of committing a violent crime such as murder, rape, or assault in the longer term. Works Cited Fraser, Ashley, et al. “Associations between violent video gaming, empathic concern, and prosocial behaviour toward strangers, friends, and family members. Journal of Youth and Adolescence, 41.5, (2012): 636-49.  Ferguson, Christopher John. "The Good, the Bad and the Ugly: A Meta-Analytic Review of Positive and Negative Effects of Violent Video Games." Psychiatric Quarterly 78.4 (2007): 309-16. Lachlan, Kenneth, Smith, Stacy, and Tamborini, Ron. "Models for Aggressive Behavior: The Attributes of Violent Characters in Popular Video Games." Communication Studies 56.4 (2005): 313-29. Carey, Benedict. “Shooting in the Dark.” Nytimes.com. 2013. Web. 6th May, 2014. http://www.nytimes.com/2013/02/12/science/studying-the-effects-of-playing-violent-video-games.html?_r=0 “Children and Video Games: Playing with Violence.” Aacap.org. 2011. Web. 6th May, 2014. http://www.aacap.org/aacap/Families_and_Youth/Facts_for_Families/Facts_for_Families_Pages/Children_and_Video_Games_Playing_with_Violence_91.aspx Price, Marilyn. “Effects of Video Games: More Good than Bad for Youth Development?” Rootsofaction.com. 2014. Web. 6th May, 2014. Raphael, Daniel. “The Impact of Video Games on This Generation.” Huffingtonpost.com. 2013. Web. 6th May, 2014. Elise, Abigael. “Video Games Have No Effect On Childrens Behaviour, New Study Finds.” Ibtimes.com. 2013. Web. 6th May, 2014. Read More