Impact of Video Games on Children and Adolescents

Barbara Dafoe Whitehead, who is perhaps one of the most prolific writers on family matters and parenting has many points to put across, especially on video games. Besides the little good they may be having, there are many more pressing challenges that come with the addiction to video games. She comes out strongly against videos and has some pretty good points to support her claims.

The top effect of video games on children is the development of aggression habits that may eventually lead to antisocial behavior. This normally arises from the fact that most games have characters that act violently and willingly harm other actors in the video. By fourth grade, most children are said to be in love with violent games which further compromises the problem.

The fact that children become aggressive may spill over to their school environment and have devastating results. More disturbingly, the relationships with their peers and even teachers head south. Children addicted to video games are prone to fights with other students and even teachers. They are also more prone to spoiling school property and even their own belongings. This communicates the big problem that teachers have to contend with.

Drug and substance abuse is an enormous problem that has often been linked to the playing of video games and desire to identify with the characters in the videos. Youngsters who begin watching and playing videos as early as age four are likely to be abusing drugs by their teenage years. As soon as they start abusing this drugs, their find more solace in the videos and sink deeper into drug and substance abuse.

Since the rise of the video games popularity, violence against women and girls has hiked almost in equal measure. When boys, who play games more than girls, are asked to stop playing by their mothers, they tend to object and afterwards, resent the stance of their mothers. Later, they will have to look for a place to channel their anger and violent moves learnt from the videos. In most cases, girls and women are the victims. Acts of sexual exploitation especially among adolescents are experienced as well as violent acts like fights and beatings.

Racial discrimination also has roots I the content of the video that adolescents watch or play. In some videos, discriminatory acts are directed at a black, which sends a message that they are inferior. Another key element is the fact that sexual stereotypes are built in their minds especially if the content is sexually explicit. This will give a wrong impression of what a good relationship should be like when they eventually start dating. They will most definitely see their partners as sexual objects or tools of practicing sexual prowess as the videos suggest. A third common stereotype is that of gender myths. Women are communicated to be for home chores, babysitting and (or) being sexually submissive. Later in life, these thoughts may affect the way men relate with their girlfriends and even their wives. This eventually leads to strained relationships and marriages.

Did you know that foul language is influenced by excessive playing of video games and watching obscene shows or movies? Several studies have establishes that many obscenities that are seen in children and adolescents have their origin in the content and language used in the movies and videos they watch or play. More importantly, the fact that the actors are expressed as super humans and are influential worsens the situation. Even more painful, the frequent use makes them see it as a normal language which even affects their language score in class. Occasionally, the reprimand of teachers and parents of the language they use may have a positive impact but cannot be sustained if they keep watching still.

Social isolation can also be a big problem. By spending a lot of time on the gadgets, a lot of time for studies and socializing is wasted. The first and major result is a withdrawn person who cannot initiate and sustain relationship. Later in life, they have difficulties getting partners and normally have poor relationships. Another key effect is that the self esteem is ruined since they spend time away from their family which may have boosted their self esteem a great deal. Thirdly, they may not have time for their hobbies or any other activity that builds their capacity and skills. This results in a poorly skilled person who cannot tackle the realities of life constructively.

One can be wrong to conclude that obesity comes from consuming junk food only. Children who don’t engage in physical exercises by spending all their free time playing games can become obese or overweight. After accumulating a lot of weight, they develop weight related illnesses like diabetes, high blood pressure and other cardiac diseases. Later, they become unable to perform simple chores or even walking long distances. By the time they are in Middle Ages, their diseases cost them dearly in controlling them.

School grades are perhaps the most affected by the multi-billion dollar industry. Having discovered that the students love their games, they devise every way to make sure they access the video as much as they want. Spending a lot of time on the videos robs the students a chance to concentrate on their school work and even assignments given to them by their teachers. They also lack time to read. The overall effect is a generation that doesn’t have time to think of knowledge. The quality of education is thus compromised a great deal. As much as teachers may insist on having their work done, they have a challenge controlling what they do at home. Parents are thus very critical in determining how their children fair and score academically.

Parenting and violent entertainment are two interrelated things. When entertainment having violent messages is on a spiral increase, parenting becomes harder and harder. Worse still, messages passed from the videos make the youngsters more deviant to instruction and are prone to disobey their parents easily without care or worry. In light of this, parents need to be keener on the time their children spend on videos as well as the content. More importantly, a stricter supervision is also recommended to save their children from the monster of violent and explicit content in the videos. Also, parents should establish close relationships with their children so that they can be able to explain to them the need to study and avoid video game. A key point here is that the issue will be tackled from a more friendly and understanding platform. Teens and children listen and accept correction faster when they have an emotional connection with the person correction them.