Video Games: Helpful Or Harmful?

Video games are everywhere: computers, smart phones, televisions, and even at schools. “U.S. gaming revenue is forecast to reach $23.5 billion in 2017” making it one of the largest industries in the world. The question is are video games harmful? The answer is yes. Video games are causing a number of different health problems that include aches and pains, obesity, and even seizures. Games are altering the behavior of teens, causing them to be more aggressive and perform poorly in school. Above all they are taking away from what could be a very successful and happy life and making it into a life of missing out on beautiful experiences. However, some people may look at video games as a positive way to deal with mental illness, chronic illnesses,

Parents with children that play violent games are noticing that their personalities are altering. They are becoming more accepting of violence which could cause them to act as they would if they were playing the game. The NYU Child Study Center’s Parenting Institute states, “players who become engrossed in first-person shooter-style video games, for example, may adopt a detached view of society or develop aggressive thoughts and tendencies.” To much time in front of a screen is also causing problems paying attention. Issues in Mental Health Nursing states that “Results revealed that time spent playing games was related...to aggression and...to school competence.” Violent video games have been proved to be directly correlated with decrease in attention spans, a low attention span can cause for grades to go down causing gamers to do worse in school. Video games are changing the way teenagers are behaving and

Some studies show that people that suffer from mental health that play video games were able to get out their frustrations in a way that doesn’t harm anyone. However, there are many ways to let out anger that don’t include sitting on the couch in front of a screen for hours at a time some ways include, working out, being outside, spending time with people you love, and meditation. Researchers from North Carolina State University looked for a connection between playing video games at a young age to happiness in old age. They found that people that didn’t play video games, “Reported more negative emotions.” There are many ways to stay happy in old age and playing video games doesn’t have to be one of those ways. Happiness doesn’t come from a game it comes from being with the people that you love and doing activities that make getting up in the morning worthwhile, but that can’t happen if all important relationships are destroyed because video games were more important. Video games can be beneficial in moderate amounts but once the time in front of a screen exceeds two hours video games start to have a negative