Watch Out For The Health Hazards Of Video Games
Watch Out For The Health Hazards Of Video Games
It’s been more than 35 years since the game Pong first bounced digital tennis balls across our TV screens. In the decades since, video games have become a ubiquitous entertainment phenomenon. Adults, especially parents, worry about the health effects, and there are lots of debate on the social and cultural ramifications of video games. ( apple a1185 laptop battery)
The stereotypical video player is the solitary teenage boy. While teens are the most avid players, more than half of adults in developed countries also play video games, according to some surveys, although the likelihood of being a gamer decreases with age. More women and girls are playing. And while people do play games alone, often gaming has a social element to it, either with people in the same room or over the Internet.
Part of the reason gaming has become so popular is that the games can be played on such a wide range of devices: not only computers and gaming consoles (PlayStation, Xbox, Wii), but also handheld devices (Game Boy, Nintendo, DS, PSP) and, increasingly, cell phones. The games themselves are equally varied. Many are as benign as Pong. Not surprisingly, the violent games are the most controversial. The bloodshed is often graphic and the content unsavory. In the best-selling Grand Theft Auto series, players adopt the personae of violent criminals as they roam city streets dealing drugs, shooting rival gang members, and soliciting prostitutes. ( dell CF623 battery )
Over 30 years of research have shown that exposure to movie and TV violence increases aggressive behavior in children. But violent behavior is influenced by so many factors — innate personality, abusive parents, substance abuse, cultural beliefs — that it’s difficult to tease out media violence, of any sort, as a cause. Some experts are skeptical that any kind of direct connection can be made between exposure to media violence and the real thing.
Although fewer studies have looked specifically at video games, results seem to follow a similar pattern. A number of randomized experiments have shown that playing violent games reliably produces short-term increases in aggressive behavior. A study of children and teens in the United States and Japan, published in Pediatrics in 2008, found a correlation between heavy violent video game playing and acts of physical aggression (hitting and kicking). It would be quite a stretch, though, to cite that result as proof of cause and effect.
Many adults worry in particular about the effects of bloody “first-person shooter” games like Halo and Doom, which are played from the perspective of someone shooting a gun. Although the direct link to real-world violent acts has yet to be proved, brain scan research has shown that aggressive thoughts and violent scenes in shooter games activate similar parts of the brain.( dell PD946 laptop battery )
On the other hand, some researchers say action games may have some real benefits, including improved spatial reasoning and sharper attention skills. Others feel that since adolescence is a time when aggression normally spikes, especially among boys, some researchers posit that violent games may have a useful cathartic effect.
Addictive?
Today, the average elementary schoolchild in developed countries plays video games between nine and 11 hours a week; boys in their young teens top the list at about 13 hours of weekly play. Reports of video game addiction have been surfacing since the 1980s, leading to the creation of “detox” facilities for gamers and an Online Gamers Anonymous 12-step program.
A study published in the May 2009 issue of Psychological Science surveyed over 1,100 children and teens about their level of involvement with video games. Researchers asked not only about the amount of play, but also if gaming was used to avoid problems in life, caused them to shirk schoolwork or household chores, or led to spending too much money on games. Their results revealed that about one in 12 of young video game players showed signs of addiction.
But addiction is a loaded, inflammatory term in many contexts. It’s been said that all activities can be viewed as having addictive qualities, at least in the way psychiatrists define behavioral addiction.
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