Video Games Effects on Children
Video games started their media conquest in the late 1940's and early 50's with games such as Missile Defense and OXO( a version of tic-tac-toe) on a cathode ray tube display(US patient 2455992). Over the years video games grew massively in popularity with the invention of consoles like Atari and VES (Video Entertainment System) it seemed that video games were to be the next media giant to sweep the world. The 80's brought different genre's for video games. Video game companies flourished and started pumping out games like Street Fighter developed by Capcom and Mario Bros. developed by Nintendo. Now, sales of consoles and video games are in the millions per year with companies competing with each other for popularity.
Despite how popular video games are there are a few contingencies that come with them. The NPD reported that Households with kid's 12 and under make up 45% of the total video game industry sales. They also suggested targeting these youths saying, "Overall, the NPD Group suggests that game publishers and developers would be wise to more aggressively target these specific kid and tween(ages 10-14) groups, as there is still significant room for growth. And this could be a huge help during such a recession where the overall industry is trending downward sales-wise("Video Game Blogger")." That being said, it's obvious the problems that arise when targeting kids as your marketplace. The problem is video games might have an adverse effect on children and teens; programming them making them more aggressive or prone to violence. However not all research suggest this. Research conducted by Anne D. Walling M.D stated, "It can develop many skills, for example, positive effects on divided attention performance, developmental issues and spatial and coordination skills(Walling 1)”.
Thesis
In short, the purpose of this study is to see whether video games, as a whole, have an adverse or positive effect on children. We will explore each individual aspect when they relate to children and how the video games effect them.
Child Psychology
People are subject to their environment. Things that people experience influence them in many different ways. In example, soldiers sometimes suffer PSD (Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder) when returning from war. However, most would agree that children are the most susceptible to influence psychologically than other age ranges. But how do video games affect children psychologically?
A study that took place in 2004 reported increases of aggression in children when they played violent video games saying, " Playing violent games increases aggressive behaviors, increases aggressive cognitions, increases aggressive emotions, increases physiological arousal, and decreases prosocial behaviors." (Douglas) The increase in these emotions are not only found in children, but are also reported in adults. The results of the case study reported the longer the children played the video games that had violence in them, the more they showed hostile qualities. Increasing at an average of 50%. This study shows how prolonged exposure to violent video games can have a negative effect on peoples aggression.
Another study done at Toledo, OH showed a desensitization in children. The study stated, "The present findings suggest that, over the long term, exposure to violent video games may be associated with lower empathy in some children, a possible indication of desensitization." (Funk) The desensitization was to things that would normally disturb a human being, but the children, being exposed to more at an earlier age thanks to video games, became less empathetic. Within their discussion cessions they recommend parents to carefully monitor their children's free time at least into early adolescence.
Although the majority of studies dealt with the negative effects on "prosocial" behavior, the next study was with children and them playing the Nintendo DS game Nintendogs. The study was to see if there was an increase in empathy in children, who have never had a pet or played Nintendogs, while they played with their virtual pet. All of the children used in this study had some increase in empathy. The children, who had never owned a pet or played this game prior to the study, showed increases in empathy showing a prosocial effect of video games.
Biology
This section will cover the effects of video games biologically on children. Sandra Hofferth monitored the years between 1997 and 2003 where video game play sky-rocketed and other non-media activities went down. Obviously, the more time you spend playing video game or watching video games will take away from your time being able to do the other various activities. The study did conclude that media, such as video games, were having a negative effect on other activities described above because time spent in one area takes away from another.
However, once again someone researched the pro-health effects of video games while studying children and the games. This is actually a case study concerning the video games DDR(Dance Dance Revolutio)n and Wii Boxing. This study was formulated to see if kids would prefer these games to other physical activity to become more active. The study concludes in saying that these games are a healthy, fun, interactive way to exercise by monitoring several (23 kids, 14 boys 9 girls) while gaming (Short, Kevin R.). The study was also successful in saying that for kids who are particularly fond of video games to increase their energy expenditure two or three times that of a child just watching TV.
On a semi-related note, Optometric Education states that video game play can increase cognitive skill and ability. Video game play, as stated in this journal, "In a study at the University of Rochester, it was noted that video games containing high levels of action may substantially increase spatial resolution abilities. This resulted in improved visual acuity and other visual skills."(Goodfellow) Visual skills such as hand eye coordination and an increase in visual sensitivity to movement.
Education
According to some of the research I've done, video games can be a potential source for educating our youth. This study was conducted to test video game play and educational instruction. The result of this study was concluded that video game play to teach was actually better than computer-aided assistance. This indicates that the students using video games to teach themselves remembered the information and/or learned more than the computer aided students. "This finding indicated that computer-based video game playing not only can improve participants’ fact differentiation/recall processes, but also promotes problem-solving skills by recognizing multiple solutions for problems. Additionally, more precise effects were detected by breaking the post-test scores into three sub-categories. When the researchers developed the items in Part 1, the objectives were to make the participants recall key facts, definitions, and concepts. As the results of Part 1 indicate, the participants in the experimental group have a better understanding of factual materials and concepts. Consequently, for finishing their mission, the participants in the experimental group know they have to memorize the key facts or concepts even if they were just playing a game." (Tsung-Yen, Chuang)
Conclusion
Overall, it seems there are some healthy, interactive things you can do with video games. They can be constructive, develop cognitive skill, and reinforce pro-social behavior. However, there are two sides to this coin. Video games and children can be a road to disaster. Mostly it depends on the household a child grows up in and how video games are used inside that household. When parents are attentive and watch their child's behavior when responding to video games, they can sensor what seems detrimental to their children. Video games are not the enemy of this study, but this study does show the effects of this media giant. So, be weary of what you put in front of children, other than that, it's no more harmful than TV.
Bibliography
US patient 2455992
"Video Game Blogger." Video Game Blogger. 12 09 2009. Video Game Blogger, Web. 24 Oct 2009.
Walling, Anna. "Do Video Games Lead to Violent Behavior in Children." Do Video Games Lead to Violent Behavor in Children 65.7 (2007): 1. Web. 24 Oct 2009.
Gentile, Douglas A., Paul J. Lynch, Jennifer Ruh Linder, and David A. Walsh. "The effects of violent video game habits on adolescent hostility, aggressive behaviors, and school performance.." Journal of Adolescence 27.1 (2004): 5-23. Web. 1 Nov 2009.
Short, Kevin R., Diana L. Graf, Casey N. Hester, and Lauren V. Pratt. "Playing Active Video Games Increases Energy Expenditure in Children." Pediatrics 124.2 (2009): 534-40. Web. 1 Nov 2009.
Funk, Jeanne B., Buchman, Debra D. Jenks, Jennifer, and Bechtoldt, Heidi." Playing violent video games, desensitization, and moral evaluation in children." Journal of Applied Developmental Psychology24.4 (2004):, p413, 24p Web. 1 Nov2009
Yueh-Feng, Tsai Lily, and David M. Kaufman. "The Socioemotional Effects of a Computer- Simulated Animal on Children's Empathy and Humane Attitudes.." Journal of Educational Computing Research 41.1 (2009): 103-22. Web. 1 Nov 2009.
Hofferth, Sandra." Media Use vs. Work and Play in Middle Childhood." Social Indicators Research 93.1 (2009): 127-29. Web. 1 Nov 2009
Tsung-Yen, Chuang, and Chen Wei-Fan. "Effect of Computer-Based Video Games on Children: An Experimental Study.." Journal of Educational Technology & Society 12.2 (2009): 1- 10. Web. 1 Nov 2009.
Goodfellow, Geoffrey, and Dominick Maino. "Just Fun and Games?." Optometric Education 32.3 (2007): 69. Web. 1 Nov 2009.
Good... but I want you to work on writing new words for us. Get busy. Hopefully everyone will get some good writing done over the break. Good luck!
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