Video Games and children<\/h3>\n
We may never know whether this folktale is true or not, but it certainly makes for a great story about the birth of phenomenon that has changed childhood forever.<\/p>\n
Video games are everywhere. From their birth in the early 1970s, it is now estimated<\/a> <\/strong>that 88% of households have a ready and accessible means of playing video games.<\/p>\n Such astronomical growth of any social phenomena will always raise community concern regarding health effects on children in particular.<\/p>\n (Cast your mind back to the hullaballoo when rock-and-roll \u2013 or, more accurately, Elvis Presley\u2019s hips \u2013 first popped up).<\/p>\n So, how much do we know about how video games affect child development?<\/p>\n Certainly, \u201cgaming\u201d has received its fair share of bad press, having being blamed for any number of events, ranging from the Columbine shooting tragedy, to the epidemic of child obesity and \u201cpoor performances\u201d by elite athletes.<\/p>\n But what does the science say?<\/p>\n (My own declaration here is that I have never been much of a \u201cgamer\u201d. In fact, it was a colleague of mine who had the idea for this column, after watching her usually articulate, 30-something fianc\u00e9 become spellbound by a video game on an otherwise romantic getaway).<\/p>\n The first thing to be made clear is that the question of \u201cwhether video games are bad for children\u201d is somewhat of an inappropriate line of enquiry.<\/p>\n The effects of video games on children run no more along a dichotomy of good and bad, than the effects of television, sport or parenting.<\/p>\n The rather unsatisfying answer to such a broad question is that it depends.<\/p>\n A key researcher in this field is Douglas Gentile<\/a><\/strong>, who has suggested that the effects of video games on children \u2013 good or bad \u2013 vary according to five factors<\/a><\/strong>: amount, content, context, structure, and mechanics.<\/p>\n So, whereas increased amount<\/em> of game play can have negative effects such as poorer school performance and risk of obesity, the structure<\/em> of a game may actually improve cognitive skills, such as visual attention.<\/p>\n Perhaps the greatest area of public concern is the effect that violence in video games may have on gamers.<\/p>\n Certainly, one could imagine that obliterating a baddie on a computer screen with a pump-action shotgun, may have greater effects on a child than \u201cshooting\u201d one\u2019s sibling in the backyard with a conveniently-shaped stick during a game of \u201ccops and robbers\u201d.<\/p>\n But, again, what does the science say?<\/p>\n To answer this question, I went straight to a recent meta-analysis<\/a><\/strong>, which combined the findings of 136 studies (yes, 136!) – including over 130,000 participants \u2013 to come to some consensus.<\/p>\n To my mind, the meta-analysis revealed four important findings: This was quite sobering reading, particularly given the clarity of the findings, and how forcefully they were conveyed by the authors, e.g., \u201cThe evidence strongly suggests that exposure to violent video games is a causal risk factor for increased aggressive behaviour\u2026\u201d. Ouch!<\/p>\n Of course, one play on a violent video game does not a Charlie Sheen make. Far from it!<\/p>\n And it is important to remember that there are many factors that can influence this relationship: gender, personality, family background and various aspects of game-play (not least of which is the time spent playing the game).<\/p>\n Nevertheless, there is clear evidence that violent video games can promote aggression among players, with children being particularly susceptible.<\/p>\n The third point above gave me particular cause to ponder. Prosocial behaviour \u2013 voluntary behaviour intended to help another \u2013 is crucial to the functioning of human communities.<\/p>\n The findings of this meta-analysis indicate that not only can violent games lead to increased aggression, they can also make us less likely to help one another.<\/p>\n But before we get all doom and gloom, I came across a terrifically exciting area of research.<\/p>\n It seems that just as playing violent video games can lead to worse behaviour in some<\/em> people, so can playing prosocial games promote prosocial behaviours!<\/p>\n A nice study here is again by Gentile and colleagues<\/a><\/strong>, who asked some students to play violent video games for 20 minutes, and other students to play video games more \u201cprosocial\u201d in nature for the same amount of time.<\/p>\n After playing each game, the students were told that they were to choose a range of puzzles for another to solve (the \u201cpartner\u201d).<\/p>\n Gamers were told that some of the puzzles were easy, some were sort of difficult, and some were difficult, and that if their partner gets a certain number of puzzles correct they (the partner) would get a $10 gift certificate (lucky ducks!).<\/p>\n What did they find?<\/p>\n Yep, you guessed it: gamers who played violent games chose harder puzzles for their partners, while gamers who played a prosocial game tended to choose easier puzzles for their partner.<\/p>\n I hope their partner shared the gift certificate!<\/p>\n The answer is a resounding both.<\/p>\n Yes, there is accumulating science showing that video games can have a detrimental effect on gamers.<\/p>\n While I focused on evidence that aggression can be a byproduct of playing violent games, there is also considerable research on other potentially negative effects of long-term video game use, such as increased risk for obesity<\/a>.<\/p>\n But, video games can also provide valuable learning opportunities, both through the content of the games, and also through the social experiences that gaming can foster (playing video games isn\u2019t the socially isolating experience that it once was!).<\/p>\n What\u2019s more \u2013 and this is no small thing – video games give hundreds of millions of people around the world an enormous amount of joy.<\/p>\n It would be a terrible shame, indeed completely ludicrous, to forbid children to undertake an activity that can also have tremendously positive effects.<\/p>\n So, how can parents approach their children\u2019s use of video games? Here are my recommendations (and these have been pulled together with the help of numerous colleagues): I doubt that Nolan Bushnell and other video game pioneers knew the extent to which Pong<\/em> would change the world.<\/p>\n Video games aren\u2019t the root of all evil \u2013 far from it – but I do think society would be served well by monitoring game use in children (and 30-something fianc\u00e9s) with some interest.<\/p>\n This article was originally published on The Conversation<\/a><\/strong>. Read the original article<\/a><\/strong>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Perhaps the greatest area of public concern is the effect that violence in video games may have on gamers.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":220,"featured_media":108973,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_sma_x_autopost_enabled":true,"_sma_x_custom_text":"","_sma_x_autopost_status":"idle","_sma_x_autopost_error":"","_sma_x_post_id":"","_sma_x_attempts":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[9],"tags":[17704,765,22979,1886,22977],"class_list":["post-108971","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-entertainment","tag-conversation","tag-nostalgia","tag-ruin","tag-study","tag-vhildhoo"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/mygaming.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/108971","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/mygaming.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/mygaming.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mygaming.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/220"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mygaming.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=108971"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/mygaming.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/108971\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":109039,"href":"https:\/\/mygaming.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/108971\/revisions\/109039"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mygaming.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/108973"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/mygaming.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=108971"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mygaming.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=108971"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mygaming.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=108971"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}The science<\/h3>\n
![\"kids-02\"](\"http:\/\/mygaming.co.za\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/10\/KIDs-02.jpg\")
<\/a><\/p>\nViolent video games<\/h3>\n
\n1) The playing of violent video games was associated with an increased level of aggressive thoughts, feelings and behaviours among gamers.
\n2) Studies following individuals over time revealed that violent video games appear to be, at least in part, causal<\/em> of aggression problems in gamers;
\n3) These same studies found that violent games may also cause<\/em> a reduction in prosocial behaviours among gamers.
\n4) Children may be more susceptible to these effects than adults.<\/p>\nProsocial video games<\/h3>\n
So, video games: a force for good or bad?<\/h3>\n
\n1) Know your child<\/strong> Each child will respond to differently to different situations.
\n2) Know the game ratings\/classifications<\/strong> They are there for a reason.
\n3) Be mindful of the research<\/strong> and use it as one factor in your decision making.
\n4) Set time limits<\/strong> Everything in moderation.
\n5) Talk to other parents<\/strong> There is a wealth of knowledge standing right next to you at the school gates.<\/p>\n
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