The Truth About Video Games

How would you feel if you just got home from a bad day and just want to relax and play video games with your friends but your mom won’t let you because she read an article listing how video games damage your children? Sadly, this is the harsh truth for many kids across the world. Parents will see something online or just have their own beliefs thinking that video games will harm their children, in reality they are taking away a huge source of entertainment and learning from them.

This topic interests me because I personally enjoy video games and it relates to me because when I was younger my mom wouldn’t let me play video games. This is relevant because many people have played video games and at least one has had problems playing these games because of their parents. In the current world video games can be found anywhere you look, whether it be on your phone, computer, or console. However it has not always been like this, video games have come a long way to become as you know them today. It all started in 1958 when a physicist who helped create the nuclear bomb wanted to show that science can be applied to create things that aren’t meant for war and destruction, the physicist was William Higinbotham. Higinbotham worked hard and invented the first video game known as Tennis for Two. He unveiled the game at an open house at the Brookhaven National Laboratory and many people lined up to play. Although the game was shortly forgotten after the event, it marked the beginning of a new form of entertainment. Many years later in 1972, the game Pong was released and quickly became popular and ultimately sparked the uprising of the video game industry. As the years went on and technology became more advanced, so did the video games, and they soon became what we know as them today. With the huge popularity of video games, there are bound to be those who do not support them. These people believe that playing video games will corrupt the user and ultimately have negative effects on them mentally and physically. Many of these people are parents and they prevent their kids from playing video games. Even though some parents may think that video games are bad for their kids, the games are just for entertainment and can actually benefit them in ways. 

Video games, along with being entertaining, have aspects that can benefit children and help them overall be successful. Lindsay Kneteman deeply explores the benefits of video games in the article “GAME ON: Your kids win this one! There are some benefits to playing video games”. The article starts by talking about a family who had a child who was shy but participated in a talent show due to dance moves he learned while playing video games. It then goes into the benefits that video games have on children. First it mentions how, “Video games can offer kids a range of benefits, including helping them develop their sense of self. They can give kids a sense of competence, connection and autonomy that really boosts their self-esteem” (Kneteman). This shows how letting your kids play video games can help boost their self-esteem. This is important because one of the most important traits to have as a person is good self-esteem. Having a high self-esteem can help you be more confident in yourself, have healthy relationships, and overall better yourself as a person and be successful. Next, in the article it mentions how “The interactive aspect of some games can also be beneficial for kids who struggle with face-to-face social interactions” (Kneteman). Letting kids play video games allows them to talk to other people on the game and can be helpful for the development of social skills. If your child has social anxiety, talking to people on the game can be easier for them and helps them practice for real world scenarios. This is important because in order to get a good job, work productively with others, and form relationships with others, you need social skills. Lastly, the article goes into education and how playing these games can help a child in school. In the article it states, “Video games can also benefit a kid academically. For example, executive functioning skills, like paying attention, planning and organizing, can be nurtured by certain games” (Kneteman). Enhancing these skills in kids is very beneficial because not only can they help you academically, they can also help you in the real world. In the real world, if you can pay attention, plan, and organize well then you are bound to find a good job and be successful. The article also brings up a research that went on in Europe which “surveyed the parents and teachers of more than 3,000 kids ages six to 11 (and also included a self-assessment by the kids) found that children who played video games for five or more hours a week were likely to have better intellectual functioning and academic achievement and fewer problems with their peers” (Kneteman). This further supports the benefits that video games can have to children because in this research it was proven that kids who played video games did better in school. This is important because the more concrete data supporting video game play is spread, the more likely it is that parents will allow their kids to play video games and benefit them. All in all, it is clear that there are many advantages to letting kids play video games, and some of these advantages can be key to the success of your child.     

Video game playing, if regulated and not abused, is harmless and will not result in health problems. The article “Daily Violent Video Game Playing and Depression in Preadolescent Youth” by Susan Tortolero et al. looks into how violent video games are correlated with depression and talks about a study that was performed to test this. The study took children and subjected them to violent video games and changed the violence for some tests and the time played for others. In the end it was determined that “compared with playing low-violence video games for <2 hours per day, playing high-violence video games for ≥2 hours per day was significantly associated with a higher number of depressive symptoms among preadolescent youth” (Tortolero). This shows how the excessive playing of video games can have negative impacts on the user, but if the game play is kept at a reasonable level then there are no effects. This is important because since it is shown that if violent video games are played at a normal rate they are harmless, parents are more likely to let their children play these games and gain their benefits; and there are benefits to these games because many violent games require a lot of planning and critical thinking to win. Similarly, the article “Does playing video games increase behavioral violence in individuals?” talks about the health problems video games can cause. In the article it says, “The World Health Organisation (WHO), the public health division of the United Nations, has included 'gaming disorder' in the list of classified diseases. Gaming disorders have been listed under Disorders due to substance use or addictive behaviors”. The gaming disorder being under disorders due to addictive behaviors further shows how video games are only harmful when abused. If you are addicted you are doing it too much, so if you just limit your play time then you will not get ‘gaming disorder’ and you will be fine and not be harmed at all. Then, the article goes on to mention other issues that playing video games can lead to. Some of which being “insufficient physical activity, unhealthy diet, problems with eyesight or hearing, musculoskeletal problems, sleep deprivation, aggressive behavior and depression) and psychosocial functioning”. Along with gaming disorders, all of these things are caused by excessive playing. If your eyes are hurting you are playing too much, if you are not eating real meals you are playing too much, if you are losing sleep you are definitely playing too much. None of these problems are caused by the actual game, they are caused by you being addicted and playing too much. This is important because all of these negative effects are all caused by playing too much, so parents should let their children play but monitor their time and everyone will be happy. In the end, the only way video games can cause health problems in the user is if they are playing too much in an unhealthy way.

Violent video games do not cause violence in kids and are just for entertainment and having a good time. This topic of violent video games causing violence in kids is explored in the article “Does playing video games increase behavioral violence in individuals?”. The article mentions a shooting that happened in Germany and it states “In Munich, Germany, an 18-year-old gunman who killed nine people in July 2016 was a fan of first-person shooter video games, according to reports” (Animation Xpress). This makes it seem like the reason the person got the idea to shoot and kill people came from playing violent video games. However, liking to play a shooter video game does not mean that the reason they killed people was because of the game. This is further supported later in the article when it says, “a survivor of the 14 February shootings at Stoneman Douglas High School in Florida: I grew up playing video games first-person shooter games, and I would never, ever dream of taking the lives of any of my peers" (Animation Xpress). This shows how playing violent video games doesn’t mean you are going to shoot up a school or building. This is important because many people think that playing shooter games will cause you to want to shoot someone but that is just not the case. This is also supported in the article “Video game violence” by Emily Sohn. In the article they interview a guy and ask him about violent video games and he said, “I have been playing the games since I was at least 7," he writes. "I have no criminal record. I have good grades and have often been caught playing well into the night (that is, 4 hours or more)" (Sohn). This further proves the point that playing violent video games won’t cause you to become violent or be a delinquent. In this article a study trying to see the effect violent video games have on kids is mentioned. The kids were randomly assigned to play either a violent game like Doom or a non-violent game like a skateboarding game, and then they were given the option to blast a loud noise in their competitors ears or a quiet noise. The results of the study showed that “kids who played violent games first, then went to the task, delivered louder noises to their competitors than did kids who played nonviolent games first” (Sohn). This shows that the kids playing the more violent game tended to have the more violent action. However, there is a big problem with this study and that is the kids were told to play a sound directly after they were done with playing the game. Violent games tend to be more competitive than non violent games like Minecraft or a skateboarding game, and since they played the sound right after playing the game they were still in a competitive mindset and due to that played the louder noise. This does not prove that playing a violent video game causes violence, but rather proves that kids who played a more competitive game played a louder sound since they were still in a competitive mindset. Everything considered, there is little evidence that violent video games cause violence in kids, and any evidence that claims it does is flawed and needs more research. 

There is no doubt that parents and other cynics' thoughts on video games are flawed. This can be seen in the research done by groups, opinions of kids, and the known benefits that video games can have on children. Even though some may think that video games will seriously harm their children, data shows that video games, when not abused, actually benefit them. If things don't change now, the future is going to be filled with dull individuals who haven’t experienced the benefits from the greatest form of entertainment

Works Cited

"Does playing video games increase behavioral violence in individuals?" Animation 

Xpress, 14 Jan. 2019.Gale General OneFile, link-gale-w9ba.orc.scoolaid.net/app s/doc/A578663275/ITOF?u=nysl_li_harb& sid=bookmark-ITOF&xid=5df2f154. Accessed 16 Jan. 2022.

Kneteman, Lindsay. "GAME ON: Your kids win this one! There are some benefits to 

playing video games." Today's Parent, vol. 37, no. 1, Jan.-Feb. 2020, pp. 27+. Gale General OneFile, link-gale-w9ba.orc.scoolaid.net/apps/doc/A609585 050/ITOF?u=nysl_li_harb&sid=bookmark-ITOF&xid=120e3f91. Accessed 19 Jan. 2022.

Sohn, Emily. "Video game violence." Science News for Kids, 24 Jan. 2007. Gale General 

OneFile, link-gale-w9ba.orc.scoolaid.net/apps/doc/A159079789/ITOF?u=ny sl_li_harb&sid=bookmark-ITOF&xid=4c7d12e5. Accessed 19 Jan. 2022.

Tortolero, Susan R et al. “Daily violent video game playing and depression in 

preadolescent youth.” Cyberpsychology, behavior and social networking vol. 17,9 (2014): 609-15. doi:10.1089/cyber.2014.0091, https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc /articles/PMC4227415/.