are video games bad for children at an early age

Accepted! Adil Muhammad from the State of Qatar When it comes to video game addiction, what are the disadvantages? Obviously this sounds like a ridiculous question. If something is considered an addiction isn"t it often associated as a negative? Does this video game addiction : internet addiction & wilderness therapy programassociation itself make it a disadvantage? The disadvantages lie in the specific qualities a video game addiction can conjure or impede. In recent years the interactive game has become an amazing development in the area of image quality, realism, interactivity, and the variety of games available to users. These advancements have led children and young adults to spend more of their time gaming and less time together sharing with one another. The following are a few of the disadvantages that can come with a video game addiction: Personal physical health can be seriously impacted from poor video gaming habits. Gamers become lazy and neglect necessary activities such as exercise, eating healthy and proper foods, damaged eyesight, headaches and the inability to sleep. Video games can negatively affect the mental health of gamers. Focussing one"s attention on video games requires all their attention and leads to a reduced contact with the environment around. This can also lead to a lack of interest in daily activities and hobbies. Furthermore, gamers become isolated in their addiction and lack the necessary social interaction with families and friends. Spending many hours in front of a screen and not enough social interaction can also cause social problems thus resulting in gamers becoming shy and introvert. Many of the games developed today are more violent, leading gamers with the tendency to lose control and become more aggressive. A new research has proved that excessive playing of video games can actually stunt the growth of a human brain. While there are games that can stimulate brain activity in both the left and right hemispheres of the frontal lobe. The frontal lobe of the brain is associated with learning, memory and emotion and continues to develop till the age of 20. This raises a level of concern as brain development is imperative during those crucial years. Too much of something can always harm you. This rule also applies to video games. Playing video games too often and for too long can harm you in more than one way. Many people argue that video games are ruining the lives of many children in today"s world. This is because they have no restrictions on what they play and how long they play it. Many video games these days include a lot of weaponry and, and an objective that involves killing or having to injure someone. Of course it would be terrible if a child killed someone in the real world, so why should killing them in the virtual world be any different? According to Violent Video Games (2010), "playing violent video games can make some adolescents more hostile, particularly those who are less agreeable, less conscientious and easily angered". The disadvantages that are so commonly packaged with the word "video game" only come out in a child with the excessive use of them. There are good and bad games, and good and bad ways to use them (Chatfield, 2010). Blake (2006) found that "When kids play these games and see their favorite character commit some type of violent action, they want to repeat it". Another negative affect that video games have on children is that they can put a bad image of women into their heads. Blake (2006) discovered that, "Women are not usually used in video games, and when they are, their purpose is usually sex appeal". This causes children to think of women as just good looking objects to have sexual relations with. Another disadvantage of video games is that it causes children to be isolated from the social world around them. Whenever they are at home the child will go straight to the gaming console or computer. Also, while they are at school or somewhere else outside of the house, all they can focus on is thinking about how they are going to beat that next level once they get home. According to Blake (2006), "It causes the student not to care about grades or learning and to want to stay as far away from the real world as possible because of how much the player likes the videogame world". Video games can have many bad affects if not limited. It is crucial for parents to limit their children"s video game intake, in order to avoid the horrible affects that it causes. irstly, let"s consider the health repercussions of video games. Sitting in one place, moving your fingers or thumbs around, cannot be good for health. According to research, playing video games increases the risk of various diseases including heart diseases, arthritis, diabetes and many more. In addition, usually when sitting in one place, one tends to munch on snacks, and these are not the healthy ones! Too many calories with too little exercise results in obesity. Obesity can increase your risk of heart attacks and diabetes, high blood pressure etc. So, a healthy life is out of the window and this is the main disadvantage of playing video games. Secondly, video games are addictive. All you care about is forging ahead to the next level. You sit and play for many hours and forget about everything else. All you care about is overcoming your obstacles in order to get to the next level. So, the moment you come home, you switch on your game and sit and play because you really cannot think of anything else. Your friends call you to go out, your term paper is due in a few weeks and all you that is on your mind is your video game. You are falling behind in your academic studies and you don"t care. This form of addiction is another disadvantage of video games. Computer vision syndrome is a condition many computer users get by staring at a computer screen the whole day. This is not a specific problem; rather it is a range of eyestrain and pain associated with frequent computer use. This is similar to carpal tunnel syndrome. Continued focus on one thing can strain the eye muscles. It is very different to the focus you give when reading because a computer screen has a glare in the background, the screen flickers from time to time etc. Most often, constant use of computers or video games can cause blurred vision, double vision, headaches and eye irritation all related to computer vision syndrome. Video games can have many disadvantages for children. For example, according to research, violent games produce aggressive children. Playing video games that have a lot of shooting and killing in them increases children"s anger and brings out aggressive behaviour. So, does this mean playing video games has to stop? No. It simply means that we must know when to stop and say "that"s it! I"m done for today". We must be able to get up and walk away, have a good social life and lead a healthy life. These are far more crucial than a game. https://www.google.com... https://sites.google.com... http://www.essaywow.com...