The Essay

Explanation

I wrote 2 essays that contain a broader topic. I argued children playing video games. One essay states the benefits of young children playing video games and the other argues against it. Some parent's are completely against their children playing video games while other's want them to play to get them out of their hair. The view on this is so split, I decided to look more into the topic. Below are the two essays.

Rated Helpful

            In today’s society, video games have become one of the most influential inventions in the world. For some, it is a fun hobby to do when they’re bored, and for others it’s a lifestyle. Ask yourself when was the first time (if at all) you ever played video games? Your answer probably lands at an age around 10. Young children elementary aged play video games more and more. On any holiday involving presents, a lot of children ask for a new video game that has just hit the market. Video games are becoming a habit with the younger generation rather than an exciting escape from reality. They receive a new game and crave to play it the second they have time. Even with video game ratings on maturity, parents are still allowing their children to play teen, mature or even adult rated video games. Are video games really that influential on the younger generation? The answer is yes; social media, video games and technology will always impact children. But the real question is should the law restrict under aged children from playing video games? No. At such a young age, they are learning hand-eye coordination, how to be imaginative, and how to take out their aggression in a virtual, safer way.

            Learning something as a child will most likely stick with you for the rest of your life. Something like reading or writing or even riding a bike are just some of the things you learn as a child and use forever. Hand-eye coordination is just another example of one of those things, and surprisingly, you can thank video games. Every child should play video games because they help develop skills used in every day life. “Playing just 20 minutes of video games can improve your hand-eye coordination, says a study published in the journal Communication Research” (Haller). Multi tasking is something we, as Americans need to do every day and learning hand eye coordination early on, really comes in handy. In a study at the University of York, they tested college students who were video gamers verse non video gamers. “The study showed that the participants who did not play video games relied mostly on a part of the brain that controls hand eye coordination. On the other hand, the experienced gamers had high levels of activity in the prefrontal cortex, a part of the brain involved in high-level decision making” (Dependable Games). The decision making was a lot more important than the hand-eye coordination. The non gamers didn’t know how to use hand-eye coordination as well as the gamers. If children were to play video games, their hand-eye coordination would be advanced, especially as they go out in the world.

            Video games have certainly advanced since the 1900’s and the graphics, details and decision making of the player have advanced as well. Because of this, we are opened up to a new and improved virtual world. Kids are able to play the games and get ideas in their heads to stimulate their imaginations. While playing the video game, children are able to make decisions and create the world they want. Without video games, children would have no crazy ideas unless they come from their dreams. “The study of 491 12-year-olds was conducted by lead researcher Linda Jackson, a professor of psychology at Michigan State University, as part of the Children and Technology Project. It found that the more kids played video games, the more creative they were in tasks like writing stories and drawing pictures, as gauged by the figural version of the Torrance Test of Creativity” (Gray) Being creative with an extravagant imagination is not frowned upon in society, as we encourage it to the youth every day. As children play video games, they are learning new ideas and taking in the details to shape their own imaginations. Why ever take away that ability to advance in creativity and learning?

            Even with violent video games becoming more and more popular, surprisingly the aggressiveness of individuals has declined. One may think that video games would have a negative influence on the youth, but in actuality it’s allowing them to take out their aggression in the game rather than on a person or thing. It’s just a healthy and safer way of getting their anger out by blowing things up or shooting things in a video game.  According to The New York Times, “High sales of violent video games do not result in spikes in crime rates, instead correlating with a decrease in violent youth activity” (Corriea). The games are keeping kids off the street and putting them in their bedrooms playing video games. If it’s keeping the public safe, give them their video games, no questions asked.

            The older generation might not understand, but children need video games in order to advance in many skills. Technology is becoming part of American life whether we like it or not, so the sooner children learn to use it, the better. Video games are not all bad, some are made for learning or exercise. They are the status quo so why change it with all the benefits they are giving that are shaping the minds of Americans? Children are the future, and something as fun as video games can also teach them a thing or two. Video games are an outlet for stress and anger little harm behind it. Starting off our kids learning hand-eye coordination, creativity and self control is not a bad thing at all. You might as well call video games the virtual teacher because they are teaching children skills you never could have imagined. Don’t be the evil villain to take video games away from the children who have potential greatness. Encourage parent’s to allow younger aged children to play video games because in the long run, they will improve their capabilities.

           

 

Works Cited

 

 

Corriea, Alexa. "Violent video game sales coincide with drop in violent youth crimes, according to study." Polygon. N.p., 13 Feb. 2013. Web. 8 Nov. 2013.

Gray, Katherine. "New research shows video games stimulate kids’ imaginations." Yahoo! News. Yahoo! 2 Nov. 2011. Web. 7 Nov. 2013.

Haller, Madeline. "The Easiest Ways to Improve Your Hand-Eye Coordination Men's Health News." Mens Health News How Video Games Help You at Sports Comments. N.p., 15 May 2012. Web. 7 Nov. 2013.

"Main menu." Dependable Video Games. N.p., 19 Sept. 2012. Web. 7 Nov. 2013.  

 

 

Rated Violence

            In today’s society, video games have become one of the most influential inventions in the world bringing in a “$10.5 billion revenue” (Entertainment). For some, it is a fun hobby to do when they’re bored, and for others it’s a lifestyle. Ask yourself when was the first time (if at all) you ever played video games? Your answer probably lands at an age around 10. Young children elementary aged play video games more and more. On any holiday involving presents, a lot of children ask for a new video game that has just hit the market. Video games are becoming a habit with the younger generation rather than an exciting escape from reality. They receive a new game and crave to play it the second they have time. Even with video game ratings on maturity, parents are still allowing their children to play teen, mature or even adult rated video games. Are video games really that influential on the younger generation? The answer is yes; social media, video games and technology will always impact children. But the real question is should the law restrict under aged children from playing video games? Yes. Video games are a parasite to society because they encourage inactive, antisocial, and violent children at a young age.

            The virtual world of video games can sometimes take a greater effect on a child than we may think. Children become addicted and begin to play it hours and hours every day. Parents’ may think that video games give their child something to do, and gets them out of their way, but really it’s harming their child. The hours a day they spend playing video games, could be the hours they spend outside getting exercise. Statistics from the Entertainment Software Rating Board state that “ in 2010, the average gamer spends 8 hours a week playing video games”. There is an uprising issue of obesity in America, and we blame it on fast food, when really, there is an underlying laziness factor. People search for things to do that involve the least amount of effort, so what could that be? That’s right; video games. With the wide range of video games in the world, anyone these days can play. Whether it’s X Box, Playstation, DS, Wii or computer games, children will find a way to play them. “David Haslam, chair of the National Obesity Forum said ‘It means that not only are kids getting less exercise, they are eating more, causing the weight to pile on’” (Borland). By playing video games at a young age, they are starting a habit of laziness that is not easy to shake. The more they sit around playing video games, the less likely they will be to want to join in any physical activity. The parental supervision is not always there so by taking away the video games all together, we are preventing a world of inactive lazy people.

            Video games are truly an escape from reality, almost so much that they take the child away from school, life and people. While playing, you don’t necessarily need to be interacting with real people. How are they helping your social skills whatsoever? Instead of interacting with a computer in the game, they should be interacting with people around them. Video games are pushing children to be antisocial, because you don’t need anyone but yourself to play a video game. For the future of our children, shouldn’t we be pushing them to go out in the world and interact with people to improve their social skills, and give them real life experience? Every child is losing this opportunity because all they want to do is play video games. In a study at Brigham Young University, the researchers found that “As the students spent more time playing videogames, the quality of their relationships with peers and family declined” (Silverman). They are mind controlled by an unrealistic game that is so addicting, they are isolating themselves from society to play it.

            As children grow up playing video games, there is a change in behavior whether we see it or not. Video games have been categorized as a boy only kind of hobby (which is not always true) and we tend to notice a difference in boy versus girl behavior. Young girls are seen as quiet, proper and sweet, but when we look at young boys, they are loud, aggressive and inappropriate. The connection between aggressive behavior and video games is apparent. Young boys tend to play video games as a way to get their aggression out and portray acts of violence that they normally couldn’t do. We say that video games aren’t real but for some, it’s allowing them to play teen or mature rated video games is allowing them to see bad behavior and language for them to use in the real world. If it’s okay for someone to shoot another human being in Call of Duty, who’s to say a child won’t think the same way out in the real world? We are seeing more and more shootings and mass murders in society today. Take for example, the Columbine shooting, Virginia Tech shooting and the movie theatre in Colorado. “Two studies published in the Journal of Personality and Social Psychology confirmed that violent video games negatively affect behavior.” (Scientists explore) The studies found that violent video games influence the players’ thoughts and behavior to be aggressive, and will affect their long- term behavior as well. Majority of the top selling games out in the industry are rated mature yet somehow kids are still playing them, encouraged to like violence, weapons and murder. We are misguiding children by allowing them to play such games at such a young age where their brains have yet to fully develop.

            Video games are not just for young children but people of all ages. They are a type of entertainment for one to sit back, relax and enjoy the virtual world. Now this is certainly not a problem in the world today, but what is a problem is the amount of underage children playing them. For a late teen or adult, they are capable of playing video games with well enough morals to understand that that cannot happen in the real world. Children under the age of 15 should not be allowed to play video games, especially violent ones, for they put on bad habits that will be hard to break at a young age. They are still learning about the world and who they are, they do not need an unrealistic or violent video game to teach them lessons; that’s what parents are for. We see young children every day behaving aggressively and where do you think they learned it from? “67% of U.S. households play video games” (Entertainment). Majority of that percent might not be children, but who are we to sit back and watch the young generation flush their good morals and behavior down the toilet due to video games?

           

           

Works Cited

Borland, Sophie. “Playing computer games increases obesity risk in teens by making them hungry.” Health. Mail Online, 20 May, 2011. Web. 5, 2013.

Silverman, Emma. “Xbox to Exile? Videogames Linked to Antisocial Behavior.” The Wall Street Journal. The Juggle, 23 Jan. 2009. Web. 5 Nov. 2013.

"Scientists explore how violent video games are exemplary aggression teachers." Video Game Research. N.p., n.d. Web. 6 Nov. 2013.

“Video Game Industry Statistics.” Entertainment Software Rating Board. N.p., n.d. Web. 4 Nov. 2013.