The Negative Impact Of Video Games On Children

Video games are the games played by electronically manipulating images produced by a computer program on a monitor or other display (Oxford advance learner’s dictionary, 1948). The Scholars mentioned that violent video games cause short-term or long-term increases in aggression and violent behavior of children with different degrees of effects on individuals. Violent video games include players acting out killing and mutilating other human characters. 

Children are more exposed to the negative effects of playing violent video games as compared to older adults. Video gaming is a very popular leisure activity amongst the youth as well as adults. “It’s likely that video games have both positive (on attention, visual and motor skills) and negative aspects (risk of addiction), and it is essential we embrace this complexity.” (Palaus, 2017). It is a widespread concern that violent video games promote aggression, reduce pro-social behavior, and increase interfere with the understanding as well as the mood of its players. (Gallinat, 2018). Violent video gamers like teenagers love to focus on more action games rather than on intellectual games that increase your brain power. So, the children collect information to develop cruelty, ego, harshness, and anxiety and show ill-mannered behavior in society after they are addicted to violent games. 

The child who spends most of the time playing video games which is more violent can lead to negative effects on their socialization with other equals, leading to a lack of sense of belonging and social justice. (Hernandze, 2006). The concern that violent video games may promote aggression or reduce empathy in their players is pervasive and given the popularity of these games, their psychological impact is an urgent issue for society at large. (Simone, 2019). 

A violent game like PUBG developed by the Chinese technology giant called TENCENT Company has brought many negative issues in society across the world. This virtual game has more than one billion active gamers across the globe and it became one of the most populist violent video games amongst teenagers. An 18-year-old boy from Mumbai city who allegedly committed suicide a few weeks ago because he could not get a smartphone supported the popular game PUBG, while other stories tell of bullying, theft, and self-harm. (BBC, 2019). 

Violent video games also cause mental disturbances in the brains of children. The children who spend more time on video games tend to display negative results in daily school works. In this age of technology, we could see children the age of one or two years holding smartphones and busy with video games. They have developed the behavior of living in a virtual world where they build the tendency to repel the love, care, compassion, and empathy of their parents, siblings, and society at large. After the diversion of attention by the children in violent video games, their connection to the informative and intellectual source depletes. “When children became addicted, their depression, anxiety, and social phobias got worse, and their grades dropped.” (Gentile, 2011). “Many violent video games celebrate the slaughter of people, they have dese nsitized people to the value of human life, to the dignity of women, to the dignity of human decency. We are reaping what we have sown here.” (Bevin, 2018). 

Violent video games also cause psychosocial problems. When children always play video games, then they will get little time to interact with their parents which will make children psychosocially isolated. Psychosocial problem is caused by the use of the internet and addiction use such as loneliness, low self-esteem, depression, anxiety, social phobias, and stress. Playing video game show increase aggressive behavior which leads to aggressive responses in children. (The parliamentary office of science and technology, 2012) Empathy, trust, and concern for others, which should develop as teenagers grow up, were found to be delayed. It was the combinations of the contents of games and the amount of time that seemed to affect children’s attitudes. Spending too much time within the virtual world of violence may prevent gamers from getting involved in different positive social experiences in real life, and in developing a positive sense of what is right and wrong.” (Coughlan, 2014). 

So, it is the risk of accumulation that tends to lead to aggressive or violent behavior in children who develop peer pressure to react to their parents and teachers. The time children spend on video games is correlated to the attention they get from their parents and family members. If there is a twist of family violence, parenting style, and other informalities factors that disturb the mentality of children, they will pay more attention to games to cope with depression, anxiety, ill-treatment,nt and aggression which is proportional to the cause of the mental disturbance. So, exposure to violent video games is positively correlated to aggression and cruelty development in children. The researchers concluded, that if children are engaged in violent video gaming, there is diminishing their sense of empathy. They have stated that most of the children prefer violent video games, most of them are not empathetic and they do not have a charity attitude in society. So, their parents should be updated about the negative impact of excessive video game playing on health, psycho-social and the behavior of the children. Hence, exposure to violent video games could not up- bring our children to the normative behavior our society demands at this time. Therefore, excessive playing of violent video games by youth is not good and must be discouraged by the parents.                                                                                 

References               

1. BBC, n. (2019, March 15). PUBG arrests. Retrieved from The Fortnite rival taking India by storm: https://www.bbc.com
2. Bevin, M. (2018, February 23). Trump says violent video games shape young minds. Retrieved from BBCS news: https://www.bbc.com               Coughlan, S. (2014, February 4). Violent video games delay the development of moral judgment in teens. Retrieved from Science Daily: https://www.sciencedaily.com
3. Gallinat, J. (2018, March 13). Does playing violent video games cause aggression. Retrieved from longitudinal intervention study: https://www.nature.com
4. Gentile, D. A. (2011, January 18). Do video games fuel mental health problems. Retrieved from Stuff. co.nz: https://stuff.co.nz
5. Hernandze. (2006). Video games and children. Retrieved from playing with violence: https://www.aacap.org
6. Palaus, M. (2017, January 23). Video games may change brain and behavior. Retrieved from Neuroscience: https://sci-news.com
7. Simone, k. (2019). Does playing violent video games cause aggression. Retrieved from Longitudinal intervention study: https://www.nature.com
8. The parliamentary office of science and technology. (2012, March 5). Retrieved from the post. parliament.UK: https://post.parliament.uk