Preview

Video Games: Good or Bad?

Good Essays
Open Document
Open Document
724 Words
Grammar
Grammar
Plagiarism
Plagiarism
Writing
Writing
Score
Score
Video Games: Good or Bad?
Video games! Good or bad - video games are games you can play on electronic screens such as computers, TVs and even portable devices like iPods and cell phones. Many of you are already aware that games were made for bored people to pass the time. You might have noticed that a lot of games include shooting, fighting, racist or themes and plots. Video games have become extremely popular in recent years. They are played all over the world not only in homes, workplaces, and clubs, but even schools.

Since video games are such a popular activity for children of all ages, we would like to think that they have many benefits. But the truth is that video games actually have many more bads than goods.

The biggest problem, video game addiction, has become a social issue. Playing video games for more than 2 hours per day is considered overuse by the American Medical Association. When this happens, children can easily get addicted. Once addicted, they use almost all their free time playing video games and not having many person to person conversations in the real world. That is a huge waste of time! According to a University of Michigan study, the average teen plays for an hour a day but does not learn anything useful. That is like 15 days wasted each year! This would have negative effects not only on relationships with family and friends, but also on their behavior in school. Addicts will find it hard to concentrate as they will often find themselves drifting back to a video game in class. Watching the screen too much often causes eye problems for them as well.

Even worse, many video games have fighting and shooting in them. Playing these violent video games actually creates real world violence. In 2003, two teenagers aged 14 and 16, used rifles to shoot at cars on a highway.They were inspired by Grand Theft Auto, a violent video game. Also, when kids play these violent games for a long time, they start thinking that the acts of violence in the game are actually

You May Also Find These Documents Helpful

  • Satisfactory Essays

    Un Nintended Benefits

    • 311 Words
    • 2 Pages

    Is it true that video games are bad? Anti-social, aggressive behavior, and even health risks? Not all the time, as Dave Barry would say. Many video games such as, sports, adventure and strategy games, can all improve mental skills. It may also improve a better process of thinking, problem solving, and cognitive skills and also reduce stress. They provide a unique, interactive and complex activity, at low cost and zero…

    • 311 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Satisfactory Essays
  • Good Essays

    Linda Bernstein’s article “Gaming the Console” addresses the possible effects that video gaming has on teenagers and children. The article supports both sides of the debate: whether or not video gaming has negative consequences. Ultimately, Bernstein lets the reader form his or her own opinion on the subject. Some scientists and experts claim that video gaming is harmful as it may negatively affect areas of the brain, academic and social skills, and can become highly addictive. Other experts argue that some video games are educational and have positive physical benefits.…

    • 617 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Satisfactory Essays

    Video games are one of the greatest invetions ever created by man. they have givin years of happieness to our youth and have helped the U.S economy substansially. I cant even count how many times I have gone home from a rough day at school or work just to be happily greeted by my computer. Video games also allowed me to talk to, and have fun with some of my friends that have moved halfway across the world. some people like to say that video games will rot your brain, I dont think so, there are hundreds of games that will place you into history or make you solve puzzles to enhance brain activity.…

    • 449 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Satisfactory Essays
  • Powerful Essays

    I grew up in a household where video games were a privilege that I had to earn. When I had done all my homework and chores, I was allowed to play video games for an hour a day. As I grew older my parents thought I could make my own choices and did not limit the amount of time I spent playing video games. Many people today think that video games cause children to become couch potatoes, act dumb, and be rude. As a young child, my parents taught me that responsibilities come before the reward. That is why I have a different opinion of video games. I believe that video games can be beneficial to individuals; however, there are limitations. They help children deal with cancer, improve literacy skills, gain educational skills, and stay fit, but individuals should be cautious about the genre of the game and the amount of play time. When these precautions are taken, video games can be a helpful tool for many.…

    • 2619 Words
    • 11 Pages
    Powerful Essays
  • Powerful Essays

    Video games are basically known as a staple among American teenagers. Many teenage boys and even some girls spend hours of their day staring at the TV screen and rapidly pushing buttons on a controller. Many of the top selling games in America strongly involve violence in their gameplay. These types of games raise many questions about how they affect the people playing the games. Are there negative consequences or are these claims just made up? There is research to back up both claims but the negative effects of violent video games seem to overpower the positives of recreational violent video game play. Manufacturers should enforce their own policy towards people who play their games in a more efficient way. Video games have multiple severe problems associated with the violence that is so heavily incorporated into them. Video games can give a false sense of reality and allow gamers to become so immersed into their game play that lines between real life situations and game play situations begin to blend together. Playing video games can also become an addictive distraction. Many avid gamers can spend hours at a time glued to their TVs playing on their Xboxes, PS3s, and other gaming consoles. This time spent playing games can take away from other activities. Important things like schoolwork and grades can be affected by spending all one’s time playing games instead of focusing on more important things. It can cause people that play the games to go to sleep super late in the night. The students then have to wake up early and go to school tired and will not be able to focus and stay awake to learn the material being taught. Video games also spur a sedimentary lifestyle. Obviously, not getting enough daily exercise leads to weight gain and other health issues. Violent video games also cause behavioral and social problems. These games desensitize people towards killing and steer them in the direction that killing is…

    • 1933 Words
    • 8 Pages
    Powerful Essays
  • Good Essays

    A video game is an interactive computer that displays a video signal, allowing you to play thousands of games on your television or handheld video game device. (Wikipedia, Video Game) We have came a very long way since the very first type of video game console was invented by Ralph Baer in 1967. From the very first console, the "Brown Box" to the more interactive video game consoles such as the Wii, Playstation, XBOX or the handheld Nintendo DS. Regardless of which video game is being used, it has made a huge impact in life 's of many children, as well as adults today. In the beginning, the games were user friendly and parents did not have much to worry about if they purchased a video game for their child. Take Pac Man for example, a very simple game where the player "Pac Man" eats dots and tries to avoid getting touched by an enemy. Now in 2012, we have games such as Call of Duty which focuses on killing members of the opposite team.…

    • 786 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Video Games are one of the main sources of entertainment throughout the entire world. With today's technology, video games are becoming more advance with their graphics and the way they are played. Many people have argued whether or not video games can be considered as an actual sport, but there is no way video games can fall under the category of being an actual sporting event. However, with the technology we are making, video games may one day become a sport.…

    • 455 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Video Game Violence

    • 1399 Words
    • 6 Pages

    “If video games do increase violent tendencies outside the laboratory, the explosion of gaming over the past decade from 3.2 billion in sales in 1995 to $7 billion in 2003, according to industry figures, would suggest a parallel trend in youth violence. Instead, youth violence has been decreasing.” (Hoerrner 49). A video game is a game played by electronically manipulating images produced by a computer program on a television screen or display. Violence is behavior involving physical force intended to hurt, damage, or kill someone or something. Some video games have violent and mature content in them. People claim that the violence in video games can cause aggression in people. Others claim that the violence in video games has nothing to do with aggression in people. It is also argued that violence in video games has nothing to do with the rage already existing inside of people. Video games do not cause violence because gamers understand that video games are not real, that video games release daily frustration and are inspiring.…

    • 1399 Words
    • 6 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Best Essays

    The ultimate gaming experience however, comes with consequence and is now finding itself in the midst of a controversial issue. The controversial issue suggests that video games are encouraging violent behaviours amongst youth. Video game violence was a subject heavily debated in the past. The primary concern was whether such exposure poses significant risk factors for aggressive and violent behaviours. On the contrary side many believed that the competitiveness in games caused such behaviours, not the game itself. Results back then were inconclusive, but more or less, violence in video games became more acceptable. However, improvements to modern day technology and the development of new generation video games reinvigorated the debate.…

    • 3153 Words
    • 13 Pages
    Best Essays
  • Good Essays

    Why Video Games Are Good

    • 686 Words
    • 3 Pages

    A kid plops down in front of the television and powers up his video game console. As he reaches for his controller, his mother has one point of view in her mind, more time wasted, another day wasted, video games rot my children’s brain. Or do they? Video games have a horrible stigma of “rotting our brain’s” because many believe that they are pumping our children’s minds with senseless violence and explicit content. Although many video games do include a substantial amount of violence, it comes second to the fact they can actually make you smarter according to many scientists and academics. They are seen to be good learning devices because of the problem solving and strategic thinking that is utilized to play video games. While there is obviously no substitute for classroom learning, video games can exercise the brain in many different ways.…

    • 686 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    For years, people have argued that there are no positive effects of video games, for they induce violence in people. Nevertheless, if supervised, playing video games can actually help in a child's development, giving to the child enormous potentials in various aspects such as psychological, health and social.…

    • 1575 Words
    • 7 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Best Essays

    Excessive playing of video games can cause decreased social interaction, psychological disturbances and increased aggressive behavior, deterioration in health and poor academic performance in children.…

    • 2197 Words
    • 9 Pages
    Best Essays
  • Satisfactory Essays

    However, some video games are made for the sake of mindless violence. Games that involve guns, fighting, or murder are particularly the ones that give video games a bad name. Many mass murderers have been noted as players of violent video games, in which video games are blamed.…

    • 295 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Satisfactory Essays
  • Satisfactory Essays

    Most video games children play nowadays are action games portraying violence such as shooting, and killing. Children should watch and played a violent video game with total submission and approval from a parent. The violent effect of video a game can easily change the behavior of children. For example, the US military uses a violent video game to train a soldier to kill, but civilians expose to these games lack the discipline and training from the armed forces and may trigger them to be violent.…

    • 474 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Satisfactory Essays
  • Good Essays

    Therefore, video games can have bad effects on children. We should direct our children to use diverse means of entertainment that could also be useful. Some computer games are designed to mingle education and entertainment in one package. Children should also practice other outdoor activities and socialise…

    • 302 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Good Essays