Influence of Video Games and Commercials on Children - Research Paper Example

Influence of video games and commercials on children: Introduction: With the advent of technology, world has undergone a dramatic change in many respects. There has been an altogether shift in the trends and traditions followed by societies over the years. The collection of video games like "Resident Evil" available to children of all ages today impose a negative impression on the psychology of juveniles. Not just games, there are also many television commercials and other programs that are too erotic for the children to digest. Such commercials convey extremely negative messages to the children and affect their psychological and cognitive development adversely. Programs include but are not limited to crime reports, adult movies, negative reality shows, vulgar fashion shows and the commercials of each of these. In an attempt to comprehend things beyond their ken of knowledge, children indulge in unrighteous activities and hence, mature before the right age. This causes them to be aware of things at an age their parents had not been aware of in their time. This has been the fundamental cause of increase in violence and corruption over the last few decades all over the world. However, one can not deny the fact that video games and television programs and commercials do also have many positive impacts on children. Video games are one of the most casual means of carrying out mental exercise. One gets to develop good thinking and responding abilities with minimal unease to the body. Also, exercise can be conducted for long durations because there is no requirement of stamina. In addition to that, commercials teach the children good advertising skills. Children get to learn how to project their creations in a way that would cast a good impression on the audience. This paper evaluates various positive and negative impacts of video games and television commercials on the psychology of children. Psychological influence of video games: Video games have been the center of attraction particularly to the teenagers since their advent in the list of technological inventions. Success of video games has to a large extent, resulted from its strong compliance with the psychological demands of the children. Not only this, video games have been strategically designed in such a way that they address the concerns of children of all ages. Some philosophers are of the view that the concept of video games has emerged from cartoons. Cartoons were known long before video games were introduced to the children. Children have always fancied watching cartoons. The attraction children find in cartoons develops as they are full of colors and animated features of cartoon characters. Bright and vibrant colors and unrealistic concepts are always appealing to the psychology of the children. However, cartoons come with certain restrictions and do not allow the children to maneuver them as per their will. While watching cartoons, children do not have to exert mentally more than just understanding them. Hence, cartoons were never very beneficial for the cognitive development of the children. Having realized this fact, video game makers decided to make money by giving the charge of cartoons to the children. This was thought of as an approach, that would be beneficial not only for the children, but also for many people employed in the industry of video games. Video games have proved the ultimate resort for children because they feel psychologically relieved. Mental exertion has increased manifolds because children have to use their mind in order to accomplish tasks. Positive impacts: Video games increase the stamina by making the children undergo continuous mental exertion. Video games have a big role in educating the children on the use of computer. In the past, not all young people were educated on the use of various technological inventions that were introduced in the society from time to time. It took people a lot of time to understand and learn the use of new scientific creations. However, things have changed considerably over the decades. A social change has occurred all over the world. Today, there is hardly any child who is not computer literate. This causes the elderly to think what causes children to develop computer handling skills in the very initial years of their life? It is fundamentally the video games that enhance the children’s interaction with computer. With an intention to play, children learn to operate the computer. Not only this, children also learn the use of internet in an attempt to browse the sites and download their favorite games for free. This increases the horizon of their knowledge to an infinite world of internet. Video games teach the children one lesson in particular; one should keep trying unless one succeeds. Video games teach the children that they should never give up or surrender. Instead, they should muster up all their courage and keep trying till the time, they achieve their targets. Children develop good competition skills as they compete with their friends and siblings. Many video games are designed in a way that they can accommodate two players simultaneously. This provides the children with an opportunity to develop matches. Furthermore, children learn the fact that practice makes a man perfect. In the start, no one can play a video game correctly. It takes time to develop good playing skills. Ultimately, a child masters a game and there is a lot of practice involved in it. Children learn to practice in order to develop their skills in various walks of life, that are necessary for their professional growth. Negative impacts: Video games have severe negative impacts on the psychology of the children in addition to the fact, that they make children waste a lot of their precious time. Children are attracted towards games at an age in which they should be very serious in their studies. According to the results of a research conducted by Walsh (2000), a vast majority of the juveniles who were involved in the research revealed that their parents did not impose any limitations on them in terms of time while they played video games and were also not aware of the Entertainment Software Rating Board (ESRB) rating of their games. (PAMF, 2010). Video games are an addiction for the students. Time spent on video games can be otherwise invested in studies to secure good grades, and develop a good academic record. However, time wastage is only a minor consequence of video games. Real loss happens in the form of moral destruction of the children playing video games. Many video games spread the message of eroticism and brutality. Tasks in such video games are designed in such a way that children have to kill many characters in order to get to their destination. Many video games teach the children use of pistols and such other tools used in violent activities. What is more depressing is that children tend to develop an orientation towards crime. Having played games in which they murdered and raped, the gravity of such acts lost in the view of the children and they do not consider such acts as serious offence. Moreover, the games are designed in a way that children progress in the attainment of negative skills as they complete tasks with increasing levels of complexity. Since the children dedicate a considerable portion of their daily time to the video games, the slow and continuous reception of negative messages completely corrupts the mentality. The process of psychological development is hindered. Children develop a temptation and psychological inclination towards corruption. “Of the 33 most popular video games chosen by children in grades four through eight, 21 percent of them featured violence against women, in addition to other violent acts.” (American Academy of Pediatrics cited in LoveToKnow Corp., 2010). In addition to that, playing video games involves continuous eye-contact with the screen and the vision is affected adversely. Commercials: Television and internet commercials meant for children are so many in number that they make up to $ 12 billion a year of the industry’s total expenditure on advertisements, exposing a child to above 40000 commercials every year on average. (Dittmann, 2004). Commercials have a pronounced impact on the psychological development of the children. These days, television overtly displays commercials pertaining to all kinds of products, many of which are of no concern to the children. Children feel an urge to get the things they see in the commercials. Commercials are designed in such a way that makes them persuasive and appealing to the psychology of people. Children being the younger lot, are influenced the most. Owing to the sharp memory of the children as they step from teenage to adolescence, they own an ability to recall almost all contents of a commercial that they happen to see at least once. Positive impacts: By watching commercials, children remain updated on the latest products that are available in the market. Commercials increase awareness about the usefulness of the products and children can select things as per their requirements from a large variety of products. Various commercials like those of tooth-pastes educated children on the negative effects of candies and toffees on their teeth. Negative impacts: Many commercials, particularly those advertising products pertaining to adults corrupt the innocent minds of children. Commercials are so designed that they educated the audience on the actual issue to which the solution lies in the product they advertise. In the description of such issues, children get to know a lot of what is “too much” for their age. In addition to that, various commercials, specially those about fashion and style, project vulgarity. This causes the children tend to explore their sexuality even before they are sexually mature. Children undergo a complete psychological and behavioral change as they tend to discover hidden areas of knowledge. Many indulge in adultery practices which adversely affects their sexual health. Vulgar commercials are harmful for both the sexual and psychological health of children. Apart from spreading vulgarity and eroticism, commercials have all the capability to convince the children to adopt unfavorable habits. Commercials advertising junk food lessen the importance of healthy food in the view of children. Commercials have shown their strength in the form of widespread obesity among individuals in many advanced countries in the present age. People are tempted towards new candies, toffees, ice creams and other forms of junk food as they see a poster by the side of the road advertising one or more of them. Bad eating habits once acquired as a result of viewing commercials, persist throughout the life of such children. The psychology of children is negatively influenced as they first see a commercial convincing the audience to choose a certain brand of cigarettes among many available in the market, and then see the same commercial telling the harmful impacts of smoking on health. Children can not tell whether the commercial wants them to smoke or abstain from it. So they tend to experience smoking in an attempt to answer their own question. Children take commercials as displaying truth and cannot identify the underlying exaggeration in the statements of the commercials. This makes them susceptible to indulging in many practices that are not favorable for their psychological health. Conclusion: Video games and commercials have a significant role in shaping the psychology of children. Because of their innocence, children can not perceive this reality. Parents assume a big responsibility of educating their children on various negative impacts of video games and commercials on their children. Children’s susceptibility to getting exposed to crime can be significantly lessened provided that the parents keep a close eye on their children’s activities. Parents should have an awareness of what their children are playing, and how their exposure to media is affecting their behavior and psychological development. This can be achieved by setting the television and computer in a place where they can be seen by all family members any time. Many parents set these items in the living room so that they can guard their children against harmful content of the commercials and video games. Parents should adopt similar approaches to minimize the negative impacts of these on their children’s psychology. References: Dittmann, M. (2004, June). Protecting children from advertising. 35(6). American Psychological Association. Retrieved from http://www.apa.org/monitor/jun04/protecting.aspx. LoveToKnow Corp. (2010). Do Violent Video Games Influence Children. Retrieved from http://kids.lovetoknow.com/wiki/Do_Violent_Video_Games_Influence_Children. Palo Alto Medical Foundation. (2010). The Impact of Video Games on Children. Retrieved from http://www.pamf.org/preteen/parents/videogames.html. Read More