Video Games and Children

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Video Games and Children
A report released in 2003 by the Kaiser Family Foundation shows that even the youngest children have experience with video games. The report indicated that 49 percent of children aged 0 to 6 years have a video game player in their home, while 10 per cent have a video game console in their bedroom (Vorderer and Bryant 23). Thirty percent of young children have played video games, including 35 per cent of children aged less than two years. Although game playing is less common among children this age than using other media, 50 percent of children aged 4 to 6 years play video games, and on a typical day, 16 percent of these children play video games for not less than an hour (Vorderer and Bryant 23). Among boys this age, 9 per cent play video games on a daily basis (Vorderer and Bryant 23). Playing video games has become a popular leisure activity. Most importantly, children across the globe have abandoned traditional outdoor games and have resorted to playing video games. A number of children sociologists and developmental biologists argue that the shift from traditional outdoor game to video games in children has various negative effects on the development of children. Children should not be allowed to spend too much time playing video games for many reasons, three of which are that it affects their health, their behavior, and their life.
According to Griffiths, playing video games has significant negative health effects on young children and adolescents (122). Various case studies have indicated that epileptic individuals who are photosensitive are likely to suffer epileptic seizures when playing video games (Griffiths 123). These studies have highlighted that seizures are likely to occur in games that have rapid scene changes and those with patterns of highly intense repetition and flickering. In addition, other studies have revealed that video game playing can cause “auditory hallucinations, enuresis, encopresis, wrist pain, neck pain, elbow pain, tenosynovitis, hand arm vibration syndrome, repetitive strain injuries, peripheral neuropathy, and obesity” (Griffiths 23). Another study conducted by Vandewater, Shim and Caplovitz endeavored to determine the relationship between playing videogames and obesity (73). The study conducted by these researchers found out that there is a strong connection between playing video games and the development of obesity in those children who played video games frequently. The study noted that children who spend more time in sedentary activities lead to increased weight status (Vandewater, Shim and Caplovitz 73).
Not only do video games affect children’s health, but they may also affect children’s behavior. Griffiths notes that prolonged playing of video games can lead to increased aggressiveness and addiction (Griffiths 123). Ferguson highlights that increased aggressiveness has serious effects (310). Ferguson states that he wrote his article at the time when a student at Virginia State University shot dead his fellow students and several faculty members. Sociologists argue that such aggressiveness can be as a result of prolonged playing of violent video games. A recent study indicated that 978.7% of adolescents play video games (Griffiths 123). The study also indicated that boys tend to play video games for longer hours than girls and playing violent video games is common in boys than in girls. In addition, Ward notes that “playing video games is associated with makers from violent and antisocial attitudes” (261). On the other hand, Sternheimer argues that since its release in 1993, Doom, a very popular video game, has had significant negative effects on its audience (13).
A number of criminal incidences have been linked to playing Doom. Criminals who took part in school shootings which occurred in Paducah, Kentucky; Springfield, Oregon; and Littleton, Colorado were reported to have played Doom. Ferguson indicates that previous studies that investigate the role of violent video games in determining the behaviors of children have provided significant statistics (13). “Results from Meta analyses of video game violence studies and visuospatial cognition suggest that the raw summed effect for violent video game exposure and visuospatial cognition has a correlation factor of 0. 49” (Ferguson 311). These statistics are an indication of a 24 per net overlap between visuospatial cognition and playing violent video games. Sternheimer indicates that more aggressive people have been found to engage in violent entertainment than less aggressive people (15). According to Sternheimer, aggression involves a broad range of emotions and behaviors, and violent video games have been found to aggravate these emotions an...