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Negative Effects Of Video Games

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Video games are a rather new pastime; the first video game was released in the early 1970’s and, since then, a new video game seems to come out almost everyday (Tyson). With the new rise of video games, one may begin to worry: how does this affect our children? In a study of one-hundred kids from ages twelve to seventeen, it was said that ninety-seven of them play video games (“Violent Video Games and Young People”). While eighty-six of the teens often play games on a TV console such as an Xbox, PlayStation, or Wii, seventy-three often play on computers. Though it is known that screen time for children is increasing, it may be shocking to hear that fifty of the one-hundred teens claim to have played a video game yesterday (Lenhart et al.). This newfound obsession with video games perhaps could be manageable when games are played in moderation, but as the obsession grows into an addiction, parents must begin to combat the issue. Video games, when played in excess, cause adverse psychological health effects, such as sacrificing real relationships and avoiding face-to-face socialization, which are commonly believed to lead to an increase in aggression (Kuss; Redmond 19). Game play can also cause an increase of seizures in patients with video-game induced epilepsy, which leads to an overall decrease in their cognitive health (Griffiths). In excess, video game use can also cause harmful physical consequences: wrist pain, neck pain, and elbow pain (Griffiths). The combination of

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