Abdulaziz Aldossary Kathy L. Rowley English 201-16 October 3, 2012 “Why Games are Good for You” The article “Why Games are Good for You” by Steven Johnson presents reasons why electronic video games are not harmful. While other people have written and talked about the harm that video games bring to young people, Steven Johnson argues just the opposite. He says that video games have many benefits including making us smarter. Steven Johnson begins his article by describing what the critics say about video games. First, they are a great waste of time says Dr. Spock.
Parents should regulate the amount of video games their children play because if your child regularly plays games with plots based on violence and aggression, research shows children at risk for increased aggressive behavior, it inhibits social interaction, and it is not always intellectually stimulating. First, parents, not government, need to monitor video games. Laws don't go far enough to help parents, argues Craig Anderson, a professor at Iowa State University: "The results are really quite clear; regardless of gender... regardless of culture... we know that playing violent videogames increases the likelihood of aggressive behavior and aggressive thinking, decreases the likelihood of pro-social behavior, and increases what you might think of as desensitization... Probably the best solution is to educate parents... but we also need to give parents better tools and the current rating systems don't do that." "One study reveals that young men who are habitually aggressive may be especially vulnerable to the aggression-enhancing effects of repeated exposure to violent games," said psychologists Craig A. Anderson, Ph.D., and Karen E. Dill, Ph.D. "The other study reveals that even a brief exposure to violent video games can
However, you need to stop believing the gaming stereotypes the news puts out; gaming doesn't turn good people bad, it just gives people entertainment. In fact, tests show that gaming is more of a stress relief than most after school activities. People shoot up schools, rob people and such and then use gaming as a scapegoat just because they can. It is not gaming's fault; those people really are just bad people. The game was not the key master to unlock the beast within.
The generation gap is the basis for the video “Growing up Online.” In this video children and adults were asked to give their opinions about the internet. Most adults specifically parents feared for the safety of their children from internet predators and cyberbullies. The children weren’t as concerned about that kind of stuff though, in fact they felt as if the internet was a wonderful use for school and socializing. The producers noticed something, that maybe the parents and the children felt but, didn’t realize. They noticed something called a generation gap.
In a survey we conducted lately, 80% agreed that video games should be used for learning and academic purposes. Video games can grab the student attention towards the topic and make them emotionally involved. Brain researches have proved that emotional interest helps the brain to learn. So that means, whenever the topic is boring, this part of the brain won’t be active which would lead to decrease in the efficiency of learning. Not to mention the colorful visual and displays which increases the interaction towards the topic.
Addiction to Technology: Alienation among Children and Its Impact on Their Further Development as Individuals In a computer-driven society, technology is one of the main tools for shaping individuals’ personalities. Children are exposed to different kinds of technology and become literate to use it without big difficulties. They can handle almost any kind of gadgets. However, the question is whether this is good or bad for their further development as individuals. Unrestricted use of TV sets and computer games, game consoles and online networking games, along with Internet chat rooms, mobile phones and other kinds of technological devices can make children addicted to technology and socially alienated.
It will then explain some of the advantages and why it should not be banned by parents. It has been argued that the freedom of children and teenagers to use the internet may lead them to experience serious problems by accessing inappropriate content (Raising Children Network 2012, p4). There will be a possibility for children to unintentionally click harmful sites that contain violence, videos of naked people and vulgar materials that can affect their mental development. However, parents can control children’s online activity to address this problem. For instance, do not let them get online in a private room, such as their bedroom, so it will be easier to keep an eye on their activity.
By limiting the amount of time children watch television it is less aggression they may be viewing. Also a parent needs to be more involved in what shows are appropriate for their children to watch (163). Secondly, in a Diane Swanbrow article a study done by Psychological Science reports that, “People who play violent video games and watch violent movies are numb to the pain and suffering of other” (165). There was an article by Jon Bardin a writer for, Los Angeles Times that states, “Kids who play games like “Manhunt” and “Grand Theft Auto” are more likely to drive recklessly, according to a new study published in the academic journal Psychology of Popular Media Culture. On the other note, well-known author Gerard Jones states, “I am going to argue that it’s (violent entertainment) helped hundreds of people for everyone its hurt, and that it can help far more if we learn to use it well” (184).
Resulting in aggressive or violent behavior. “Playing a violent video game even for 20 minutes led individuals to become less sensitive to real violence” (Fournis, Abou, 2014, p. 1). The positive effects of playing video games are the mental skills required to play the games. If played correctly video games are used as leisure time entertainment but when people play video games that involve violence some people tend to forget the games aren’t real. Other positive effects are the ability to process knowledge to include reasoning, perception, and intuition.
A lot of people suggest that there are more than just negative outcomes to playing video games. Nicholas Carr is one of the people that think this but not in the way that most people do. He thinks that it helps but not that much because he thinks that it just helps the lower cognitive functions and not the higher ones. Though it is important to research the content of the video game, the research on cognition and video games should move beyond the content of the game. This is not to say the content does not play a role on the effects of video game play on the human mind, but rather there is another important piece to understand how cognition is affected by video games.