The Negative Effect of Games

“I see MW2 more as a part of my training-simulation than anything else … You can more or less completely simulate actual operations”(Anders Behring Breivik). Anders Behring Breivik referred to the computer game Modern Warfare 2 in a 1500-page essay written just hours before he was responsible for the deaths of 76 of his fellow Norwegians (Moses, 2011; Shah, 2011; Townsend & Tisdall, 2011). The 32-year-old male was also behind the infamous bombing of government buildings in Oslo and the shooting massacre on Utoya island on July 22nd, 2011. Although people are well aware of the dangers of video and computer games, people still play them anyway. Some of the disadvantages are that they are bad for one’s health, they distract one from school, they create frustration, and they are addicting. Games interfere with learning, health, and emotion.
One of unfortunate outcomes of playing computer games is that they cause damage to health if they are played for long periods of time. The computer causes ocular fatigue, eye discomfort, headaches, and obesity. Video games have been named as a main cause of obesity in the young by a World Health Organization study. Extended periods of reduces the amount of blinking, which keeps the eyes moist, so dry and irritated eyes occur when exposed to the computer screen. Games distract people from other activities that would improve their health such as exercise and sports. A lack of exercise can lead to obesity, which causes diabetes. About twenty-three million people in the United States have diabetes. There is no point in playing games when it affects one’s health negatively.
Games not only make people miss out on exercise, they distract one from their real priorities, like school. Hours spent playing video games eats into time that would normally be spent studying and reading. “In a study of 1491 youth between 10 and 19, gamers spent 30 percent less time reading and 34 percent less time doing homework” (Cummings & Vandewater, 2007). The games most people play are not educational, but even educational games do not provide as much information as homework. Furthermore, schoolwork uses the front half of the brain where higher mental functions take place. Where addicting computer games destroy, other activities also develops language skills such as vocabulary, spelling, and grammar. By reading instead of playing games, one learns much more.
Playing video games may create negative emotional reactions such as frustration over losing. One situation would be a player losing a very hard game. The player may become very frustrated and continue to try winning. Continuing to try winning is a problem because it maximizes the bad effects of the screen. Some negative effects could be yelling and screaming at the television or computer. The player might be more prone to say bad words, too. These emotional reactions become habits and may slowly develop into immoral behavior.
Addiction and violence make games even worse. The causes of addiction could be the action, the length, or triumph over winning. The action of games creates suspense, which makes the player keep on playing. The length of games causes the player to be deeply involved for a long time. Triumph makes players play more because it motivates them. “Video game addiction is now taken so seriously by psychologists that it was recently considered for inclusion in the fifth edition of the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual for Mental Disorders as a psychiatric disorder and has been lodged in its appendix to encourage further research”(Warburton, 58). “For example, it has been found that 8.5 per cent of 8–18-year-old US video game players play at pathological levels” (Gentile 2009).
Even worse, violence in video games increases aggressive behavior such as confrontation with teachers and physical fighting. In violent games, killing people in video games is not “real life”. Players usually come back to life. In real life, this is different, but video games have become their “reality”. “In 2003 William Buckner, 16, and his step-brother Joshua, 14, killed a man and seriously wounded a woman shooting at cars in Tennessee” (Calvert, 2003). The boys claimed they were acting out the game Grand Theft Auto III. Addiction also causes players to spend too much time playing and not enough time doing homework. “In one representative sample of American adolescents, aged 10 to 19, kids who played video games spent 30% less time reading and 34% less time doing homework” (Cummings and Vandewater 2007).Therefore, they may get lower grades in school. These effects are harmful.
Games can have negative impacts such as diabetes, aggravation, or frustration. It may distract people from their learning and affect their state of fitness. Even though games are fun and entertaining, sometimes there are harmful effects when one is not careful. As shown, this can be very dangerous in real life situations, and could potentially lead to massacre.