NEW COMMUNICATION TECHNOLOGIES : Maree
Miller s2850075
Topic Two
Topic Two
The large entertainment and software
industry is continuously creating and updating an extensive array of video and
computer games to comply/ satisfy the expectations, tastes and demands of an
audience as diverse as the world’s population. With today’s video games
advancing dramatically at a rapid pace in an aim to connect with current social
trends, they are becoming more graphic and much like ‘virtual realities’. The
ongoing debate regarding the health effects of gaming on young people is one
with such diverse opinions and evidence, that it has experts divided about the
potential harm. A thorough analysis on the well-being of young generations
physical, mental and social behaviors in response to video games will be
undertaken, to determine whether gaming is in fact a potential risk to
societies current and future generations.
‘Health is a state of complete physical,
mental and social well-being and not merely the absence of disease or infirmity’
(Official Records of the World Health Organization, no. 2, p.100)
Negative
Effects
Converging evidence shows that the
interaction of violence in media is a significant contributing risk to the
violent and aggressive behavior in young people. Adolescents whom play
electronic games for an extended period of time exert aggressive, agitated
behavior, teacher confrontation, a decline in academic success, and an increase
in fights and disputes. Studies have found an evident link between the exposure
of high-leveled violent video games to children and the fighting within
schools, delinquency, and violent criminal offences. Although often perceived
as harmless and safe, tests demonstrate that even violent unrealistic, fantasy
video games have caused a consistent increase in a child’s aggressive behavior.
The question of what degree of harmful effects video games have on a child’s
health, is one that will forever play on a parents mind. ‘Meta-analysis reveal
that violent video game effect sizes are larger than the effect of second hand
tobacco smoke on lunge cancer, the effect of lead exposure to I.Q. scores in
children, and calcium intake on bone mass’.
The symptoms of a gamer’s addiction can be
seen as closely related to those of alcohol and drug dependencies. They
encounter an inability to seize playing once started, a deep craving to
experience more, consumed thoughts about the game when performing other tasks,
and withdrawal symptoms after periods without access to the game. Engaging all too frequently in these virtual
realities can so easily consume the mind of a young person. It has been
reported that gamers find escape and release in playing games, avoiding
personal problems and stress. The more dependent a child is on their video
games, the more secluded they become from their social and family lives. Being
so consumed within an artificial world results in a lack of interaction and
interest in their own real lives. This can significantly have an effect on the
social, communicative and acceptance qualities of the young individual,
potentially causing risk to their future career and personal relations.
Positive
Effects
Although the negative results of research
is clear, some recent papers have suggested that positive mental effects can be
found on young gamers, with a growth of cognitive skills. The evidence found
within recent laboratory examinations has unveiled a variety of cognitive
benefits gained as a result of game playing, which has some experts even
suggesting that video games may be mentally enriching to young players. Some of
the benefits found include: system thinking, pattern recognition and patience.
An idea has surfaced that video games in fact exercise the brain in a similar
way that physical activity exercises the body. The reason behind their
addiction rates is simply due to its challenging properties.
Psychologist Dr. Kourosh Dini believes that
young people can be taught to empathize through video games. “One of the big things about many
games is you’re interacting with other people in such a way that you have to
actively think about what the other people are doing or thinking in order to
either play against them or play them cooperatively. Either way you’ve got to
be engaged in trying to think of how is this person learning and what’s this
person going to be doing next.”
The training structure of video games takes
the form of a progression process. As the player completes and progresses, the
puzzles and tasks become more advanced and complex. Until a certain level of
expertise is reached, the player can not move forward and progress.
Suggestions
There are a number of commonsense
strategies that a parent can undertake to ensure that their children are
protected from any potential harm to their health video games could very well
inflict. These can include:
·
Play the video games with your
children. This is to ensure you yourself know and understand the content of the
game and can also judge your child’s reaction.
·
Apply time limits and
restrictions to playing.
·
Thoroughly check the ESRB
rating of the game to determine its content and ‘appropriateness’ to the child.
·
Ensure consoles and devices are
kept out of the child’s room and in a monitored environment.
·
Encourage the interaction with
peers and other children, as well as the participation of physical activities.
If you are a parent and would like to find
out more about the basics of video games, follow the following link for
assistance: http://raisingchildren.net.au/articles/video_games_playing_it_safe.html
It can be noted that both sides of the
argument admit to the addiction qualities of video games. This ultimately
secludes the child from reality and real life interactions and challenges,
which is not beneficial in anyway. It is also obvious that the playing of video
games involves little to no physical exertion of any form, which again, has no
positive benefits, but likely to contribute to early fatigue, obesity and
laziness. The software industry is advancing rapidly, with video games become
more ‘real’, complex and addictive everyday. The results of frequent playing is
extensive and clear, concluding ultimately that young people are likely to
encounter negative health effects upon the frequent playing of video games. Although
there are proven mental advantages to the playing of video games, can the
skills gained in the virtual world really be translated to those in the real
world?
By Maree Miller
Anderson CA, Funk JB and Griffiths MD,
‘Video Games and Public Health’, Journal of Adolescence, 2004, 27:1-122
C. Anderson, 2003, ‘Violent Video Games:
Myths, facts and unanswered questions’, Psychological Science Agenda article,
Washington DC.
FYI: Video game statistics by the
Entertainment Software Association, 2010, Critical Gaming Project, viewed
September 1, 2012.
Official Records of the World Health
Organisation, WHO definition of Health 1948, no. 2, p.100
S.Johnson, 2005, ‘Your brain on video
games’, Discover Magazine, viewed 2 September 2012
T. Bissell, ‘Cultural impact of video games
greatly underestimated’, CBCnews, 2010, viewed 1 September 2012.
‘Violent video games and young people’,
Harvard Health Publications, 2003, viewed September 1, 2012.
‘Video games: playing it safe’, Raising
Children Network, 2010, viewed 1 September 2012.
