Loretta Zanger
Baker College
Video gaming is good for everyone because it is useful for rehabilitation, relieves stress, and helps the elderly. Have you ever played a video game? Did you get totally immersed in it, and it made you feel wonderful afterwards? There have been recent studies and tons of articles written which show that, indeed, video games are good for everyone! Not just your usual young players (ages 10-17), and not just the more hard-core gamers (ages 18 – 25), but now these studies link video games to success in more than just fun times, and show that these type of games can be beneficial for all types of people, from young to elderly, and from healthy to the impaired. Yes, video gaming is good for everyone! It used to be that only young people were associated with playing video games. That is no longer the norm, as studies are now seeing a surge of middle-aged people and even the elderly benefiting from these types of games. Interactive gaming is a hot topic of course, with the introduction of games like “Words With Friends” available on various platforms such as a smart phone or Facebook. This game is readily available to download as a stand-alone game on tablet computers and regular PC’s also. Households can get the whole family involved in this, just like playing the old-fashioned Scrabble game around your kitchen table. There is a whole source of video games that people of all ages can enjoy together (Weed, 2012)! Even stay-at-home mothers are getting into the gaming world more easily, with simple games that they can use to interact with their toddlers on their PC’s or video game systems to help them learn rudimentary things such as reading, writing and arithmetic. These type of games are great attention-getters to keep toddlers entertained while in line at stores (via cell phone apps), or just to keep them entertained while a mother
References: Weed, J. (2012, April 20). There are loads of video games that all ages can enjoy together. Retrieved from http://seattletimes.com/html/businesstechnology/2018025676_ptteentween21.html Lopez, L. (2012, March 15). More moms turn to video games. Retrieved from http://www.nbclosangeles.com/news/tech/Video-Game-Moms-142869815.html Zafar, A. (2011, February 13). Physical video games may help the elderly psychologically. Retrieved from http://www.theatlantic.com/technology/archive/2011/02/physical-video-games-may-help-the-elderly-psychologically/71184/ Ross, K. (2010, July 01). Video games helping seniors stay young and healthy. Retrieved from http://assisted-living.benchmarkseniorliving.com/video-games-helping-seniors-stay-young-and-healthy/ Potter, N. (2008, October 27). Video games help elderly drivers. Retrieved from http://abcnews.go.com/Technology/story?id=6121775&page=1 Anderson, P. (2011, September 14). Video games may help stroke rehabilitation. Retrieved from http://www.medscape.com/viewarticle/749703 ( you have to belong to this website to view – or just google the title name ! I belong to it ! ) Earnshaw, R. (2011, April 17). Wii video games help rehabilitation patients. Retrieved from http://www.nwitimes.com/niche/get-healthy/fitness/wii-video-games-help-rehabilitation-patients/article_2bad04b4-313b-53d7-97c0-ac2f7b5d7257.html Nauert, R. P. (2007 , October 24). Video games lower stress hormone. Retrieved from http://psychcentral.com/news/2007/10/24/video-game-lowers-stress-hormone/1446.html News Staff, S. 2. 0. (2007, July 2). Violent video games help kids manage stress. Retrieved from http://www.science20.com/news_articles/violent_video_games_help_kids_manage_stress-2511