Why do you think most children prioritize owning a laptop, smartphone, or tablet before admission to school? Usually, most learning institutions require every student to purchase one of these gadgets to benefit from online resources. However, almost every child perceives this admission requirement as an opportunity for him or her to play video games rather than to necessitate studying. Does this behavior suggest any benefit to them?
Despite some having educational content, video games perpetuate harmful vices among students. Most children would agree that their parents or caregivers were unhappy about them consuming online content or playing video games. However, students continue playing video games since they are thrilling, entertaining, and challenging, besides evolving to become realistic and sophisticated.
Why are video games bad for students in high schools and colleges?
Do you think it is possible to find a child who does not play video games? Definitely, it is rare, and if yes, the reason could be due to the inaccessibility of requisite resources such as electronics, power, or the Internet. Students play video games for various purposes. Some do it for relaxation while others for entertainment. So, why are video games bad for students? Due to addiction associated with too much playing, a school-going child or person is at high risk of experiencing the following health, socioeconomic, and psychological problems:
Highly Prone to Health Issues
What comes to your mind if you hear a school-going child has spent the entire night playing video games? Basically, it would probably be for him or her to sleep during the daytime. For that reason, the likelihood of such a child interacting with friends or family members would be minimal. It means that he or she can never learn how to fit in society, acquire new perspectives, and try other ideas, which are important parts of cognitive development. The academic performance of college students with this habit of playing video games the entire night tends to be lower than their counterparts.
How long does a child take to play a single video game? Regardless of age, the American Academy of Pediatrics recommends 2 hours or less and not more than an hour during non-school and school days, respectively. However, most students can even play for 12 hours, depicting their sedentary or inactive lifestyle. Since their bodies burn fewer calories per day, they are at high risk of developing over 30 chronic ailments and conditions such as hypertension, cardiovascular complications, and obesity. Therefore, video games cause school-going children to shun active lifestyles, predisposing them to life-threatening disorders.
Cause Aggressive Behaviors
How can you classify video games? You may categorize them on the basis of purpose or genre, among other aspects. However, a student can either play video games offline or online. In spite of this classification, research indicates that violent video games negatively impact children’s mood, increase impulsivity, reduce prosocial behaviors, and promote aggression. Considering these adverse effects, what are parents’ or caregivers’ thoughts? Most of them perceive playing video games as a substitute for comics, movies, and shows that expose children to violence.
Contemporary studies that aim to demonstrate the effects of video games on aggressive behaviors include children as participants. The researcher set up a video game with violent scenes, such as Grand Theft Auto, for them to play. In this case, the study can take 6 to 12 months, depending on the objectives and research questions. Based on the previous evidence-based findings, participants demonstrated prosocial behaviors and a lack of empathy at the end of the investigation. The underlying rationale concerns children trying to stimulate video game settings or characters in real-life scenarios. Ideally, this adverse effect is widespread among students at elementary levels.
Poor Academic Performance
After class or lecture, what activities do most students undertake? Due to mental exhaustion, a majority of them opt for leisure and entertainment. With electronics and free Internet at their disposal, they tend to play video games and even compete among themselves. Such students develop a routine with time until they become addicts. What does this mean? They will end up procrastinating on assignments, homework, and projects. After some time, such students skip classes and are unaware of legit online assistance for essays.
Individuals who are neither bright nor have access to learning materials but seek help from a custom essay writing service outperform those who play video games. In particular, such academic essay writing services enable the latter to meet strict deadlines in completing papers and assignments from scratch. Even if students who play video games become conversant about the availability of professional assistance from this company, they prefer purchasing or subscribing to online competition rather than hiring a quality expert. Such behavior depicts an aspect of misplaced priority in achieving academic excellence.
Reduce students’ participation in sports
What are some of the well-paid jobs in the United States and worldwide? Definitely, your first guess would be a career in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics. Yes, it is true, but have you thought about talent-based professions like music and sport? Athletes like Lionel Messi, LeBron James, Cristiano Ronaldo, Neymar Junior, and Stephen Curry earn approximately $130, $121.2, $115, $95, and $92.8 million per annum, respectively. However, the salary of a well-paid civil engineer in the United States is about $115,110 yearly. As you can see, a person who pursues a talent-based profession would earn 10 times or more than those directly benefiting from education. In this case, what are the specific bad effects of gaming on students?
Children who play video games hardly socialize with others in school. What does this mean in sports? Most athletics require collaboration and teamwork to win, even those requiring one contestant per team. However, students who play video games tend to display abusive behavior borrowed from different characters. Most individuals in a basketball team or any sport would hardly want such people to be part of or exercise with them. According to the National Institute for Media and the Family based in Minneapolis, students who play video games are unable to keep time because of addiction. For that reason, even if they become part of sports, such individuals often disappoint teammates in practice and even in actual competition. These students can neither take nor consider athletics a profitable career unless it is playing PS games.
This article illustrates the harmful effects of video games on students in learning institutions or at home. For instance, school children with these behaviors exhibit poor physical and mental health outcomes because of practicing sedentary lifestyles. They also underperform academically. In this case, the underlying reasons concern their preference for purchasing online video games to affordable expert assistance.
Source: https://www.psu.com/news/are-video-games-bad-for-students/
