North America has spiraled into an unhealthy obsession with video games. The value of the video game industry in 2015 was over seventy-one billion dollars in the United States alone, and its worth has only increased. Polls show that 63% of American households have persons who play video games for a minimum of three hours a day. But do exposure to those games affect the brain in a negative way? Video games are shown to be more influential to the brain than television and movies, and research shows that video games shrink essential parts of the brain, such as the hippocampus. This diminution influences cognitive functions, whose effects will carry on into later life.
A study was conducted at Indiana University, where young adult males were
Playing video games will affect your decisions in one way or another. Will your perceptions change due to the type of game you are playing? There are two answers to this question, yes and no. Researching the effect of video games on the brain provides detail results that show my thoughts.
The impact video games have on the brain can differ by the opinions of others. Some may argue that it is a disadvantage and others may say it is the total opposite, an advantage. I will be exploring the viewpoints on both ends of the spectrum. Looking into documented research on the topic, I will be discussing the benefits of gaming, why people correlate excessive playing time to negative behaviors, and the long term effects that video games cause to the brain.
Have you ever played the Game of Life before? The game that’s similar to Monopoly but it's about a (pretend) life you play and what would happen to it as you continue and make choices in the game. Emotional Intelligence gives you choices for your everyday scenario, where you can choose to calm down or impulsively react to the situation. However, those who lack emotional intelligence don't have a choice. In the article, “Video Games Affect the Brain – for Better and Worse” by Douglas A. Gentile from the DANA Foundation states that video games may affect the brain in five unnoticeable ways. Gentile mentioned that what players learn from video games can be transferred over to the real world. He later says that video games desensitize
Regardless of the positive or negative effects on the brain, People from all walks of life have benefited from the use of video game simulation. Video games have been very instrumental in providing both Physicians, Airplane Pilots, and Air Controllers simulated training scenarios in their perspective fields.
Based on Han’s study on university students, he found that there were some differences in brain activity between video game addition players and normal players. Excessive video game players’ brain activity in the anterior cingulate and orbitofrontal cortex was higher than normal players. It was meant that the different form of brain activation will distinguish the addicted player and the non-addicted player. In the study, researchers took fMRI scans of the brains of 78 teenage boys who were addicted to video games and the other 73 were in common condition. The results showed that video game addiction players had stronger connections between several different regions of the brain. It declared that excessive video gaming would lead the player response faster to some events.
People often mistake video games to only be bad for your health, but what if they all weren’t? While playing video games, there is an improvement found in the brain’s many regions (Pellissier). Playing video games isn’t completely bad for you, and can actually help the brain. Actually, video games can be beneficial to the human brain and even to the point of life changing ways. Games can change your lifestyle by changing the way the brain processes information, affecting the brain's functionality, giving an addiction to playing video games, and affecting the brain academically, which gives people the choice of whether or not play video games.
Showing the positive effects with video games on the brain and cognitive function associated with high intensive action games and how they can help to increase motor skills, attentiveness and learning capabilities of those who play video games.
Videogames have had a major technological impact on our culture today. Many people play videogames on a daily basis, and playing has become part of their daily routine. Many people believe that videogames have plagued the younger generation of gamers with violence, less life skills and stupidity. People have become biased about believing videogames are unorthodox and say things like all gamers brains rot when they play. They say we are mindless zombies. Unlike many say, videogames don’t decrease intelligence, life skills or violent behavior but rather the opposite.
Video games are usually thought to be bad for you, but certain games help with you with many different skills. Also, violent games don’t always have negative effects on kids as most people suppose. Lastly, people who are worried of injuries from video games there are ways to prevent that besides getting rid of the game system all together. Most people usually think video games can be bad for the brain because they don’t typically provide any educational value. Except a lot of games have some good effects for the brain proven by a father Doug Bakshis and his son Noah Bakshis.
Video games can ruin your eyes and your brain. For instance, Rebuildyourvision.com states that back then, kids loved to do their thing. But in the current days, kids are now staying home, playing video games, which will cause addiction,and playing video games too much will ruin your eyes and brain. According to WebMD, you can be nearsighted or blind if you play too much videogames. If you play too much video games, it can cause headaches.
Video games are generally viewed as a leisure activity at best and a mental deterioration activity at worse. Games provide an immersive experience to the gamer, so one is left to wonder what exactly is going on inside the mind of the gamer. Burnt corneas, brain damage, and even increased risk of dementia are all concerns associated with long exposure to video games. Researchers at UMontreal found that young adults who played “shooter” games possessed depleted levels of white matter in their hippocampus, the part of the brain responsible for awareness, orientation, and the
The effects of video games on the brain was a topic chosen to explain the negative effects of gaming on a person’s overall health. The research on the effects of video games on the brain was captivating and made me want to learn more about the negative effects due to extended periods of gaming. Research from scholarly articles, written by different credible sources associated in this field, denotes that video gaming can cause negative when played. Evidence includes how gaming can affect people(a) how video games affect a person’s overall health, (b) how to negate the negative effects of video games, and (c) how video games can affect your overall education. Focusing on these points help support the claim that video gaming can negatively affect the brain.
In today’s society, the concerns for the effects of video games have acquired quite a terrible reputation. Worried parents around the world assume video games make their children do poorly in school, and create violent, desensitized, antisocial children. The increase in violent games, usually get the blame for aggressive behavior, shootings and violence in schools and young individuals. Most beliefs about video games effect on the brain and emotions are very common misconceptions. I strongly believe that video games are an essential tool to learning and gaining much-needed skills. When people look at the studies that have been done on video games and the brain, it will be apparent that some myths about video games have been blown out of proportion. It has come to my attention that there are studies that prove the negative effects of video games may only last the duration of game play. Kids can improve in general knowledge with educational video games like Leap Frog. Video games can train specific areas of the brain as well as increase brain flexibility and memory. Gaming actually has more beneficial effects than negative effects. Video games are excellent educational implement used in elementary schools. It is extremely helpful in brain development and helping kids with trouble reading improve. Memory retention can be improved and increased with the use of strategic, thinking games. Video games, as funny as it might sound, even promote
Playing video games is among one of the favorite pastimes of many people around the world. Some play games to kill time with simple tasks found most commonly on the phone, while others play them to challenge their mind in the form of complex puzzles or to practice management skills, some play them to experience a sense of adventure that they just can’t find anywhere else, and many use them as a way to communicate or have fun with friends both near and far. Whatever the reason someone may have for playing video games, they may not think that games can have an effect on their brains. Some would say that playing video games can lead to negative effects such as harming the player’s cognitive skills or causing them to become much more violent than normal. Others would argue that playing video games quickens the minds of their players, leading to higher mental performance or an increased attention to detail. Thanks to this hotly debated controversy many studies have been conducted over the past years in order to settle the debate once and for all. So what effect can playing video games have on the cognitive skills of their players, and are these effects positive, negative, or somewhere in the middle?
“Life is a video game. No matter how good you get, you are always zapped in the end” (“Video Game Quotes” 1). Over time researchers, psychiatrists, and parents have often wondered how damaging violent video games can be to the youth in society. This is an important matter to people with children in their personal lives or work environment. These games have become a large risk factor for aggressive behavior in children. Researchers have been saying that video games do affect adults as well; however, they have even more effect on younger brains in early development. Video games have negative effects on childrens’ behavior. Some effects that video games have are reduced academic performance, aggression, obesity, and emotional disorder.