The Good and Bad Of Video Games
Video games are not just a want in everyday life, it is now a need/necessity. I have grown up playing games since I was seven years old; I'm twenty four now; and I can safely say that video games do nothing but help me. Whether it be suppressing ADHD, helping with school work, helping all age groups, escaping from reality, or just as a tool to de-stress. Yes, I have played games for a long time now so I have what you would call a biased opinion. But I do know that video games have been linked to violence, and some mental health issues that I will get into later.
Only Good Things
I remember those days when I was stuck in my head or just feeling completely overwhelmed and I would look over at my good old PlayStation waiting for me right there. My ADHD would take over when I got home usually and the one thing I always found that would help me would be getting on a video game and forgetting about everything else for an hour or two. I remember after I would be done playing, I would just feel the weight off my shoulders and I could think clearly. I know it's the same for many other people including my gaming group regardless of age. Video games help different age groups in so many ways one being with school. In school technology has taken over now, with that happening teachers have looked to different ways to teach their students. Many teachers now are using educational games to teach kids. Growing up I had the start of that but now I have seen it like never before. Whenever I go to parent teacher conferences they talk about how kindergarten and first graders are using computer programs/games to teach math and reading. This article is the perfect example of how gaming is truly becoming a teaching tool https://penntoday.upenn.edu/
The Ugly of Gaming
While video games can be a positive outlet for people to relax at the end of the day, some believe video games are the root of violence and cause more harm than good. In 2019, Donald Trump, our current president, stated that an "early warning sign" of future mass shooting being committed is if kids of teens plays violent video games; there is little research and evidence to support this claim. Though I'm sure some video games can contribute to some mental illnesses in people, there are age restrictions on every video game that need to be enforced more by parents and other family members of young gamers. Parents should be monitoring the type of video games their kids are playing and who they are playing with. The ratings for games are not there to just be pretty, they are there so that we don't have to use video games as a crutch to blame our society's problems. I believe that as a society as a whole we have to be better parents for our kids and understand that we have to regulate and be cautious of what our children are learning in video games.
A Little Wrap Up.
Video games are more than the stereotype they once were. While yes you still have people, like Mr. Trump, that seem to want to blame video games for being violent and causing mental illness in people. I understand where this comes from as video games can be extremely violent but we need to hold parents accountable for what they allow their child to indulge in. Video games just bring the world too much for them to go away for something that has no evidence against it. Without video games I know I wouldn't be the person I am today without them. Schools are even using them as a teaching tool now but according to some people we need to take them away. Video games help every age group with something, wether that be learning, using it to de-stress, escaping from reality, or using it to help a neurodevelopmental disorder. Video games were never the problem bad parenting was.
