Effects Of Video Games and Young Adults

Effects of Video Games


Almost every few years a new gaming system comes out in hopes that it will attract new viewers and players, and the target audiences are kids between the ages of 7 years old to about 18 years old. With every new gaming system, the nation is introduced to a new a new game that is supposed to be the next big thing in the video game industry. Although this holds true for some games, the big picture of video game sis that it keeps our kids inside for hours out of the day and out of the sun. With many physical and mental health risks that are associated with gaming systems, one has to wonder how this business is a multi-billion dollar empire. For some it’s hard to swallow on the idea that there are actually some great benefits that come from playing video games and can be helpful for later in a child’s life.

Better Vision

“The ability, called contrast sensitivity function, allows people to discern even subtle changes in shades of gray against a uniformly colored backdrop. That’s why a regular regimen of action video game training can provide long-lasting visual power”, according to the work led by Daphne Bavelier. What she means by this is that when a young adult or child is playing a video game that includes a lot of movement it can really strengthen the eyes because you are constantly moving them in keeping up with the video game play. For an example, let’s say you are playing NBA Live, one of the most popular and profitable video games for X-Box 360, you constantly have to adjust your eyes throughout the game because like a basketball game, the ball is getting passed to different players. Also on has to consider the different camera angle that video games are capable of putting in a game. In NBA Live, the game constantly is changing angles, and in some parts zoom in more to the game but seconds later can zoom out of the game. This really helps your eyes because it is teaching them how to adjust in different situations.
Since the eyes are very important when playing the video game you want to be sure that you are getting full use out of them. For some people with eye trouble this could be a problem but if you really want to go to the extreme, you can get eye surgery that will actually help your game play. “Once you’ve had eye surgery or get corrective lenses, exposing yourself to these games should help the optical system to recover faster and better”, Bavelier said. This is a little intense for some but if I had to bet there is someone out there that has probably had this done in order to enhance their gaming experience.
As mentioned before, the best video games for strengthen your eye sight is any type of action game because you are constantly moving them back and forth and adjusting to different angle. Some of the more slow play video games, say for instance, The Sims, the eyes will not have to work as hard because it is more of a slow play and not very strenuous on the eyes. “It may be that locating enemies and aiming accurately is a strenuous, strength-building workout for the eyes… fast changing environment of the typical game requires players to constantly monitor landscapes and analyze optical data quickly”. Bavelier adds.

Increasing Brain Power

Another perk to video games is it will enhance a person’s motor skills, logical thinking, and problems solving. Let’s not forget that when we think of a video game, we are not just talking about fast paced simulation or constant gunfire games. There are games that have educational purposes. “Educational games, like the one where letters are printed in cereals and players are prompted to think as many words as possible before the cereal gets too soggy, obviously increases human thinking relating words and letters. Other games are concerned on number and puzzles. Such games aim to improve arithmetic and logical thinking of the human brain” EbookRoute says. This is a very good point because if one has a young child who really likes video games then this could help. As a personal opinion, I feel that the child would want to learn more because they get to play on the gaming system and for all they know he/she might think it is a video game and will want to continue learning this way instead of the traditional and old fashion way, like note cards or chalkboards.
Fast paced games also have a way of helping the motor skills of a gamer. In a face paced game, during play, especially in a war game the user will need simultaneous mission execution; this will help the gamer improve on concentration, cognition, and the overall view or the perception of players, whether they are teammates or the enemy. Today, almost every single game has an online application that can be programmed into the game and allow the user to pay with other users across the entire world. This is a helpful tool because it will make the users share ideas in forming the best strategic plan on executing a mission and will lead to discussion amongst a group and virtual interaction. In almost all war games, your motor skills will be vastly improved because it puts you in “real life” war situation and makes the user use multi-task skills, and focus on the goals of this mission.
When playing a video game the user is constantly having to use his/her brain but the best part is, in most cases you don’t even know that you are doing it. In a lot of ways this has become an effective way to help build the motor skills and strengthen the brain into becoming stronger but at the same time be more interactive with the help of a gaming console.

Exercise Video Game

In a fight to battle child obesity, a company in Japan thought of a new way to attract kids to burn some of those calories but not be outside in the hot heat. Dance Dance Revolution, or D.D.R has become one of the most influential and highest grossing game system in the last decade. What make this game so unique is that it incorporates both video game usage and physical activity. The purpose of the game is to keep up with the arrows that point in different directions and the user has to perform these same movements on a dance pad in the same order. There are all types of levels that a user can choose from. For a new user to D.D.R one would most likely choose the easy application and the more advanced dancers will compete on the expert stage. There have been many studies on this video game system and in almost all of them it has showed that this really helps with the weight loss among young children.
“ Traditionally, physical education was about team sports and was very skills oriented,” said Chad Fenwick, who oversees physical education for the Los Angeles Unified School District, where about 40 schools now use the DDR. “What you’re seeing is a move toward activities where you don’t need to be so great at catching and throwing and things like that, so we can appeal to a wider range of kids.”
As noted earlier there have been many studies done throughout the nation on how DDR has really helped a child’s health. In a study done by the Mayo Clinic in Minnesota, studies found that children playing DDR used more energy than kids watching TV or laying traditional video games. This only has to make sense because; these kids are burning energy by dancing, but also playing a video game. This differs from a traditional video game because with a regular video game you can just sit and relax and have to use hand and eye coordination to achieve of beating a level. With Dance Dance Revolution, the player actually has to get up and be in ready position to play the video game, and to top it off kind of has to be in some shape to keep up with the arrows because the arrows are slow but not slow enough where the player has time to relax during game play.
In the same article one lady said this of Dance Dance Revolution. “My oldest son, Sean, used to have love handles; he was kind of pudgy, and I’ll be honest: we were worried about it,” she said. “We had heard of D.D.R., and I got it for him for his birthday. We put limits on the other video games he plays, but we told him he could play D.D.R. as much as he wanted. And now it’s like he’s a different kid. He’s playing sports and running, and we see D.D.R. as like his bridge to a more active lifestyle.”
This gaming system has made such a huge impact on youth health that a bunch of elementary and middle schools are beginning to install Dance Dance Revolution in the gym. It only makes sense because kids today wan to be interactive with some type of technology based system and if this gaming system can remove them off a couch and onto the dance floor, let them play all they want.

Gamers Beware

Every year hundreds of thousands of kids and young adults get hooked into the gaming world and for some never get out of it. In some cases many players will become so attached to their gaming system that he/she will forget what the “outside” world is like and forget how to be social with other kids their age. Along with having social anxiety too much gaming can lead to more problems than one can imagine. Some of these include tendonitis, nerve or muscle damage, ad physical pains as well just to name a few. Today, there are more overweight young adults and kids ever before and this all comes from minimal outside activities and mostly from in home activities such as video game play.

Obesity

As we all know a video game console can be well addicting for young kids but it is also hurting their physical health. While playing a video game, the majority of kids will not be eating very healthy and just add fuel to the fire while sitting in front of the TV. A recent study out of the Buffalo University suggested some reason on how video games affect a child’s health. ““Video games promote inactivity: Playing video games usually does not involve any physical activity. While playing video games, children for the most part yell or use their hands. Hence, inactivity while playing video games can result in obesity. Video games involve unhealthy eating: Most kids while playing video games go for quick high-calorie snacks, junk food. These foods add up the calories and may lead to obesity. Video games may replace outdoor games: Kids may prefer video games which has lots of action, graphic content to outdoor games which promote healthy physical activity. Also, kids can play video games for hours together leaving no time for any other activity.” Another reason why kids are becoming more overweight is because the amount of time one spends at the video game console. In a 2005 sample from the Kaiser Family Foundation, over 2000 children between the grades of 3rd thru 12th about how much of their days are based on media use. This includes anything from a game console, had held gaming, or the computer and the research found that this age group of kids are spending almost an hour in front of the TV playing games and another nineteen minutes on the computer playing more games.
In order for a kid to play these game systems, most are influenced by someone or something. Whether it be an advertisement, magazine, kids in school, and even their parents. Yes, the parents are single handily the biggest influence on how much time a child is going to play his/her game console. Consider this, in a recent survey done by Pew Internet & American Life Project, adults over the age of 65 who play video games are spending nearly a third of their day on a gaming system. This can compare to the twenty percent that young adults are playing. Also, conducted in the research, the study found gaming consoles are the most popular amongst 18 to 29 years old, and from this age group, seventy five percent are saying they play on a gaming console.
Let a child have his/her fun on a video game but the guardian should regulate the amount of time the child spending ion the console. The parents need to help their kids also by encouraging them to get outside more and have some type of physical activity that will retrieve them away from the television set. For parents or young adults, he/she needs to set an example by also not playing video games as much as they do, because when a child sees this it will influence them that it is okay and further lead them to an unhealthy lifestyle.
Grand Theft Auto
It is one of the most popular games to ever get released on gaming consoles. It has produced more money than almost any other game in the past decade. Most importantly, it portrays the lifestyle that should not be taken as a joke, but a serious matter. During game play the user has the capability to shoot cops, rape women, set things on fire and with the right cheat code, and the player can even perform sexual acts on women. So how does this game keep attracting so many users? Its fast paced, violent, and the user can do just about anything he/she wants to do and get away with it, including murder. There has been much fight over this popular video game and it has even brought the attention to Hillary Clinton, who back in 2005 took it to the FCC and demanded that if video game retailers were to sell this game to minors that a five thousand dollar fine would be assessed on the store. There have been many complaints from parents and adults on how this game portrays evil and violence to such a young age group and how the game should be banned from stores and not sold at all.
Back in 2005 a young man by the name of Kevin Moore was accused of killing police officers in a small town in Alabama, some officials say the cause was because of the video game Grand Theft Auto. CBS News reported the story and correspondent Ed Bradley covered the story. In his piece, he interviewed many people that were involved in the shooting including David Walsh, a child psychologist who has done much work on the relationship between video game violence and the influence it has on children. “ And so when a young man with a developing brain, already angry, spends hours and hours and hours rehearsing violent acts, and then, he’s put in this situation of emotional stress, there’s a likelihood that he will literally go to that familiar pattern that’s been wired repeatedly, perhaps thousands and thousands of times”, Walsh says.
This particular video game does not at all have a purpose like most video games and encourages the gamer to partake in illegal activities such as stealing cars, robbing stores, and running from the cops. In no way does a parent want this game to help mold their child whenever he/she is encountered with some type of disagreement with another person.

Future of Video Games
There is no telling on what the future holds for the video game industry because it is so competitive and innovative. What we do know is that the industry is headed in the right direction with more real life game play as shown by the Nintendo Wii, which allows the users to actually perform the movements of the character he/she is playing. Along with new systems, there has become a better knowledge on how to rate games that do not need to be viewed by everyone and only for a certain age group. If this could be the future of gaming systems then expect video games to be around for a long time.

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Impact of video games on children