Play has always been a part of childhood. We all gone through the stage wherein we spend a lot of our time playing with our friends. Some experts say that playing is an integral part of children’s growth and development. It reinforces the holistic development of a child. For example, playing with other children helps develop the child’s social and communication skills that enable them to interact well with other people. It also develops some aspects of child’s attitude and behavior.
However, some parents has been alarmed by the reported facts and statistics about the increasing number of youth addicted to video games. video game is an electronic device that involves the interaction with a user interface in order to create visual feedback on the video device.
playing video games can be rewarding in many ways and at the same time, entertaining. It is also a form of stress reliever for some people. However, addictiveness to video games, especially of the youth can pose major effects on the health and behavior of children.
Youth Addictiveness on Video Games
Video games is one of the fastest growing industries in the field of media entertainment. Due to the rapid advancement of technology used in video games, it created games that are realistic and highly appealing, not to mention, potentially addictive.
Video Games Affecting Children
... each day by youths playing these games, but are they really good for them? Are they educational? Games which educate a child’s mind exist but ... Violent video games affecting children Video games around the world have become immensely popular, a multi-billion ... son or daughter to be entertained by these types of video games? The answer is up to you, as parents. It is ...
For years, many parents claimed that their child is addicted to video games. Due to this claims, a psychology professor of the Iowa State University, Douglas Gentile, reported an actual pathological patterns of video games addiction in youth that ages 8 to 18. He significantly found out that 1 out 10 youth or about 8.5 percent that play video games is highly addicted to video games or a pathological gamer (Iowa State University, 2009).
The criteria for the video games addiction utilized in the study is if the child possessed symptoms of pathological gaming such as “spending increasing time behind a controller, irritability when playtime is reduced, “escaping problems through play,” skipping homework in favor of gaming, and stealing money with which to purchase additional games.” (McElroy, 2009, n.p.).
Furthermore, another basis for the result is when playing video games is causing either family, school, social or psychological effect to the child (Iowa State University, 2009).
Some of the common attributes exhibited by the respondents are they play more than 24 hours per week that is twice than the non-pathological youth gamers. The respondents also claimed that they have video game set in their bedrooms that allow them to have more time to play.
The respondents also exhibited poor performance in school and diagnosed with more health problems due to their video game addiction. Also, pathological youth gamers are more likely to be diagnosed with attention disorders such as Attention Deficit Disorder or Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (National Institute on Media and the Family, 2007).
Causes and Effects of Video Games Addiction
Nowadays, we innovate the traditional video games into a more complex and exciting online games. Many experts believed that online games are more addictive than the normal video games as it is equipped with chat rooms and other interactive features that makes the player feel he belonged in an interactive virtual community (“Video Game Addiction”, 2009).
Some online games employ the built-in reward system that is intended to keep the player playing the game is believed to one of the causes of the video games addiction. The reward system are bonuses and perks that a gamer gets if he or she will continue playing the game. This is a form of motivation for gamers to pursue the game until the end. Also, the feeling derived from completing a game is a rewarding experience for some of the youth gamers (“Video Game Addiction Causes”, n.d.) .
The Essay on Addiction is a problem
Addiction is a problem that affects many people and not only those who are addicted to a substance but also the friends and family of the person that abuses the particular substance. Because of this there are lessons that we all can learn when analysing addiction and reasons why people are addicted to particular substances and ways in which the abusers end up kicking the habit. Crazy/beautiful ...
Up to the present, the ultimate cause of video games addiction is still unknown. However, this particular phenomenon occurs commonly in young male players. More extensive research is needed to establish a cause on this phenomenon that is threatening our children. Video games addiction may be a sign of an underlying problem such as depression or other familial problems (Blanchard, 2009).
