Positive Effects of Video Games on Children

Video games and the positive effects on society Do video games infect children and force them to act out violently? With incidents like Columbine High School and Sandy Hook Elementary society, and the media, has strived to find a connection in these school massacres. These incidents occur at the hands of children and adolescences and they all played video games. The media has ultimately decided that these violent video games may be to blame. After every school shooting this is information the media will often attempt to verify. Most of today's youth play some form of interactive software via PC or game console. So the question is “why do so few become violent if so many play”? Despite this controversy video games continue to become more violent. Games are bloodier and more realistic than ever and these incidents of violence continue to increase. Not only are these shootings occurring more often but the scale of carnage increases as well. Several studies on behavior due to video games have been performed all over the world since the 1980's. We hear about the negative effects games have on children but what about the positive effects? Social scientists have researched on the positive effects of video games as well as the negative. Most studies show that it is far better to let a younger child play video games than it is to let them watch television. Several scientists agree that video games may actually teach kids high-level thinking skills that they will need in the future. “Video games change your brain,” according to University of Wisconsin psychologist C. Shawn Green. When a child plays a game it gives their brain a real workout. With most games the skills needed to win involve high-level thinking. These are skills not taught in the classroom or by a child's parents. Studies show these positive aspects of video games and how the effect children. Video games may enable a child to become more adept at following instructions. Some games require the player to come up with creative ways of solving a puzzle and demand the use of logic. Games can also improve hand-eye coordination and improve motor and spatial skills. These games are typically shooting games that require the player to keep track of the character's position, their destination, their speed, the position of their weapon, and where the weapon is hitting. Though this process seems minimal it actually requires a great deal of hand-eye coordination and spatial awareness to be successful. Some games require a player to manage and allocate resources that are limited, the same way as one would in real life. This skill is required mainly in strategy games and teaches resourcefulness and logic. These types of games also demand the ability to multitask and adjust to ever changing situations. This forces a player to be flexible and to adapt new tactics. Many games require quick thinking and decision making giving the brain a thorough workout. Learning games can help a child develop better math and reading skills but even non learning games force the player to read to understand instructions, follow story lines, or gather information from game text. Video games also demand players to concentrate and map information in their brains. A child learns perseverance in games with higher levels of game play. Players will usually fail the first time around, but they continue to try until they have succeeded and moved on to the next level. These games often teach inductive reasoning. For example, players are constantly trying out weapon and power combinations in order to defeat the enemy. If this does not work, they change their hypothesis and try a different combination. Video games are goal-driven experiences which are fundamental to learning. One study conducted by the Appalachia Educational Laboratory revealed children with attention-deficit disorder improved their reading scores after playing video games focused on concentration, such as Dance Dance Revolution. Video games can teach children teamwork and cooperation when playing with others. Several multiplayer games require cooperation with other online players in order to win. These games encourage players to make the most of their individual skills to contribute to a team. According to a survey by Joan Ganz Cooney Center, teachers report that their students are better collaborators after using digital games in their classrooms. These video games also introduce children to computer technology and the online world. We are now living in a high-tech and sophisticated world. Video games allow a child to adapt and become comfortable with the concepts of computing. As with all matters relating to children it is the parent's responsibility to monitor video gaming. To blame video games for school shootings and other acts of violence produced by children and teens is to ultimately blame the parents. All video games are rated to their corresponding audience and the responsibility to heed these labels falls to the parent. Although playing games can be a learning experience, give your child a variety of entertaining things to learn from. Make them read, play sports, and interact with others. Parents should monitor the effects of video games on their child and observe their behavior. If the child appears to be more aggressive with siblings or peers during that time, stop them from playing the games. Limit game time if their grades start to fall behind or if they start to interact less with others. According to Queensland University of Technology Games Research and Interaction Design Lab for young children, it’s best if children play with parental interaction and supervision. The reason video games are suspect in these incidents is obviously due to the violence and gore represented. Studies show children who play violent video games are more likely to have aggressive thoughts, behavior, and feelings. Many of these kids are also withdrawn from society and are looked at by others as outcasts. These games worsen when they interact with the child by rewarding them for their extreme acts of violence in the game. Many studies indicate that violent games may be related to aggressive behavior but the evidence is inconsistent and the issue is not yet settled. Experts including Henry Jenkins of Massachusetts Institute of Technology have noted that there is a decreased rate of juvenile crime which coincides with the popularity of games such as Death Race, Mortal Kombat, Doom, and Grand Theft Auto. He concludes that teenage players are able to leave the emotional effects of the game behind when the game is over. Today new research is clarifying what are and what are not the effects of video gaming. Studies show that games can stir up hostile urges and aggressive behavior in the short-term. It is still not clear whether a person will commit a violent crime after playing over a long period of time. “I don't know that a psychological study can ever answer that question definitively,” said Michael R. Ward, an economist at the University of Texas, Arlington. “We are left to glean what we can from the data and research on video game use that we have.” The research collected so far falls into three categories: short-term lab experiments, long-term studies, and correlation studies. Correlation studies range from game playing times and aggression to between video game sales and trends in violent crime. This research shows that playing games like Call of Duty, Killzone 3, or Battlefield 3 stirs a gamer's blood. A study performed by Christopher Barlett, a psychologist at Iowa State University, show that a group of people who played a violent game reacted more aggressively for around fifteen minutes compared to the group who played a nonviolent game. This study shows what many other studies have, that after playing a violent game people act a little less polite for a few minutes after playing. “None of these extreme acts, like a school shooting, occurs because of only one risk factor; there are many factors, including feeling socially isolated, being bullied, and so on,” said Craig A. Anderson, a psychologist at Iowa State University. “But if you look at the literature, I think it's clear that violent media is one factor: it's not the largest factor, but it's also not the smallest.” After several decades of study the topic of video games and their effects has produced a lot of data. However the verdict of bad versus good is still out. To say video games cannot encourage young people to act violently is untrue. Still where’s the justification in blaming video games for reasons people kill other people. These games of violence are rated and it is the responsibility of the parent to keep mature content away from their children. Perhaps if we focus on an individual’s mental state and the negative stimuli that create it, we can prevent these incidents from ever taking place. It is these individuals and not the video games that create violence in our society. These acts of violence are caused by something more potent and video games are just fuel to feed their fire.