Free Custom «Are Video Games Hurting Our Youth» Essay Paper

It is clearly evident since time immemorial that, a huge percentage of what children learn emanates from playing. It is therefore important to take caution on the type of games that we expose our children to. Attesting to the increase in crime and personal degradation related to video games over the past decade, it is therefore worth putting forward a thesis statement to clarify that video gaming has many effects on youth such as decrease in school performance, depression and anxiety, and social problems.

In the recent past research has continuously depicted video games as a major factor influencing the above disorders and other behavioral modifications amongst our children. With children dedicating lots of their time to playing these games addiction becomes the most available condition likely to creep into their lives. This has been proven to cause depression, poor social ability and anxiety, and a drop in school performance. When addiction is put in check the opposite is true. Further into a research by Gentile Douglas (2009), it is clear that cases of addiction in 8 out of 10 addicts remained prevalent during the 2year period of research, therefore implying that it is a long term complication in children that is unfortunately beyond the rationale of many parents who view video games as mere forms of entertainment.

 

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As time goes by, game experts are having a field day as evident in the amount of improvement invested in the games especially on the violent scenario. Nowadays bloody scenes and different modes of executions have been perfected and in turn attract a more passionate sense of engagement in the player's mind. This interaction alongside a continued view of these violent scenes are obviously bound to alter the perception of the reality of violent scenes as seen by children and subsequently leading to participation in real life (Douglas, 2007).

With most kids spending not less than 20 hours behind the screens in just a week, researchers are advising parents to regulate that time to about only 2 hours a day to minimize the mental miseries associated with the games. Out of these cases boys display greatest amounts of addiction with a percentage of 9 to 12 as compared to girls' percentage of 3 to 5. In addition there is evidence pointing towards the over indulgence of boys in the games and television, and their likeliness to experience aggression, and concentration problems alongside carefully woven tendencies of resulting to violence against other children. Playing violent games also leads to most boys being socially weak as friendships are overruled and all attention and care is shifted towards the computer (Douglas, 2007).

Contrary to the negative impacts of video games, some researchers have tried to explain the possibility of video games having a positive effect on users. But in order to achieve this impact, parents are tasked with monitoring every movement of their child. Apart from their being educative games, it is important for users to follow the experts' advice as pertains to the distance kept from the screen and not having to play while feeling worn out. It is true that a positive side exists but then, the idea of being encouraged to normalize acts of violence, reckless driving, stealing cars and torture is bound to subliminally affect the perceptions of reality in the users (Carelse, 2010).

Apart from dropping grades at school and the mental challenges involved, research points towards most youths dodging their responsibilities at home and also seeking a refuge from bad feelings in video games. In conclusion, it is being argued that children exposed to addiction are a minority and can be matched with the statistics of hardcore gamblers amongst us. But due to the rising wave of crimes by the youth said to be ardent fans of video games we therefore qualify the thesis statement clarifying that video gaming has many effects on youth such as decrease in school performance, depression and anxiety, and social problems.