The Negative And Beneficial Effects Of Gaming
Do you or someone you know take an interest in video gaming? If so, have you at any point pondered what negative and beneficial outcomes gaming can have on you? Video gaming is a mainstream type of entertainment, in which numerous individuals around the world take interest in for countless hours each day. As “engaging” as this sounds, there are some negative side effects such as addiction and adverse health effects. However, gaming has also been shown to reveal positive effects such as improved cognitive functioning and quick- thinking. Although negative effects can form from playing video games, gaming can also have beneficial effects.
Addiction is among one of the many negative factors of video gaming. Rather than becoming hooked on drugs, some teenagers and young adults depend on Video Games (webmd. com). In this case, the symptoms of addiction in the form of video gaming shows that if the person does not get what they want, they will become exasperated and agonized (webmd. com). “Young (the clinical director of the Center for Online Addiction) says compulsive gaming meets this criteria (webmd. com). ” “They become enraged, agitated, or depressed, says Young (webmd. com). ” “If [parents] take away the electronic device, their child sits in the corner and cries, refuses to eat, sleep, or do anything (webmd. com). ” For video gamers, the fantasy world makes them feel exceptional- the virtual life becomes more appealing than real life (webmd. com). The bait of a dreamland is appropriate to online role-playing games (webmd. com).
These are games in which a player accepts the job of a fictive character and collaborate with different players in a virtual world (webmd. com). As Young puts it, an insightful child who is unpopular at school can "become dominant in the game”; (webmd. com). The virtual life turns out to be more captivating than the real world (webmd. com). Children playing four to five hours each day have no time for socialization, sports, and homework (webmd. com). Spending excessive time gaming does not necessarily mean you are addicted; in fact, more than half the world can play video games safely (webmd. com). Signs to search for in video game addicts are playing for expanding amounts of time, lying to friends and family to conceal, to escape real life problems, and feeling irritable when trying to cut down on gaming (webmd. com).
Consequently, video game addiction is a problem that should be taken seriously. Becoming addicted allows kids and young adults to escape reality and enter a fantasy where they can escape real feelings that may need to be taken care of (anxiety, depression, etc). Overall, this is not a healthy lifestyle, it burglarizes of socializing time, as well as time for sports and homework. In the same way addiction harms teenagers and young adults, adverse health effects, such as obesity and changes in physical appearance, also causes harm. Childhood obesity in the United States has tripled in the past thirty years- from seven percent to twenty percent- according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (post-gazette. com). Due to less physical activity and more screen time, more than a third of the nation's children are overweight or obese (post-gazette. com). Children ages eight to eighteen spend at least seven and a half hours a day on video gaming and about four and a half hours watching television (post-gazette. com).
A recent report from Eastern Ontario
Research Institute discovered video games are to blame, mainly because children, young men particularly, have a tendency to eat increasingly when they're playing them (post-gazette). Changes in physical appearance also occur due to gaming for lengthy intervals of time each day (healthcentral). Anyone who lacks sufficient sleep, who does not get sun, who overeats, or eats and drinks an unhealthy diet, is going to exhibit effects of pale skin, bags underneath the eyes, weight gain, and poor posture (healthcentral). Muscle pain, such as discomforts in the neck, hand, wrist or forearm, has also been associated with video gaming (healthcentral). Taking this into account, sitting before a television screen and gazing at a mobile device screen for various hours each day, may prompt obesity and changes in physical appearance. Unlike addiction and adverse health effects, the development of cognitive functioning ( an intellectual process which involves all aspects of perception, thinking, reasoning, and remembering) is a beneficial feature of gaming (medical-dictionary). A study by a group driven by Dezhong Yao comprised of MRI scans of the brains of twenty seven professional gamers and thirty amatuer gamers (iflscience. com).
The scans concentrated on the area of the insular cortex, which is associated with motor control and cognitive functioning (iflscience. com). Results came out demonstrating that the professional gamers had a better cognitive function than the amateurs (iflscience. com). This clarifies why expert gamers are above average when it comes to problem solving (iflscience. com). Professional gamers were also found to have more grey matter (processes information in the brain) than amatuers did, meaning that the they can process data more effectively (iflscience). So whenever you end up playing video games, keep in mind that you could be enhancing your cognitive ability while you're gaming. There seems to be evidence that you can build the amount of grey matter in your brain, which implies that if you practice, you also can also become an expert at video gaming and develop better cognitive function abilities. Like cognitive functioning, quick thinking is also a beneficial effect that comes from gaming. Playing strategic video games can help ones brain to become rapid in thinking and improve strategic thinking (psychcentral). A study that took place in Queen Mary University of London and University College London invited seventy-two volunteers to play video games for forty hours over six to eight weeks (psychcentral). All participants were female, this is because they failed to obtain a sufficient amount of males who did not game for less than two hours a week (psychcentral). As this study began, researchers measured the recruits cognitive flexibility (ability to adapt and switch between tasks) (psychcentral). The recruits were split into three groups, the first two groups played different versions of a strategy game known as StarCraft (a game where one builds and organizes an army to attack enemies) (psychcentral). The third group played The Sims (requiring less memory and tactics) (psychcentral).
Later, when these groups were done playing the two games, researchers discovered that the groups who played StarCraft developed quicker and more accurate cognitive flexibility than the group that played The Sims did (psychcentral).
Researchers previously indicated that action video games can speed up the making of decisions, however, current research found that strategy games can promote the ability to learn from past mistakes (psychcentral). “ Creative problem solving and thinking outside the box require cognitive flexibility,” “Perhaps in contrast to the repetitive nature of work in past centuries, the modern knowledge economy places a premium on cognitive flexibility. ” said Brad Love (Psychcentral). Researchers acclaimed that the recruits who played more complex video games accomplished the most in post-game psychological tests (Psychcentral). “We need to understand now what exactly about these games is leading to these changes, and whether these cognitive boosts are permanent or if they dwindle over time,” “Once we have that understanding, it could become possible to develop clinical interventions for symptoms related to attention deficit hyperactivity disorder or traumatic brain injuries, for example. ” said Glass (psychcentral).
In conclusion, gaming is a mainstream type of entertainment which has both negative and beneficial effects
With negative effects such as addiction and adverse health, the burglarizing of time for sports, homework, and socializing in the real world may occur, as well as, obesity, physical changes and muscle pains. Beneficial effects, such as the development of cognitive functioning and quick thinking, allows for the build up of grey matter in one’s brain, above average and creative problem solving skills, and quicker and more active cognitive flexibility to take place. Maybe next time you play video games or stare at a mobile device screen, you will think of how it can harm and benefit you.
