Introduction
The healthy and normal development of children is an issue that the scientific community has dedicated much effort to. This community seeks to ensure that hazards which threaten the development of children are eliminated. Video games are among the tools that have been found to present some negative impacts on child development. It is argued that video games, particularly those which feature violence, impede the healthy development of children. There lacks consensus about the general impact of video games. There are those who hold that video games are generally beneficial and others who argue that video games have destructive effects. The Supreme Court has even been drawn into this debate. The court found that the claims made by the scientific community about the negative impacts of video games are not sufficiently persuasive (Ferguson, 2013). This ruling underscores the division in opinion regarding the impacts of video games on children. This paper seeks to set the records straight. It sheds light on both the positive and negative effects of video games on child development and offers recommendations for further research which will settle the debate on the real impacts of video games.
Positive impacts
It is the desire of most parents that their children develop reading skills. Despite this desire, there are parents who are simply unable to help their children gain these skills. Children with dyslexia are among those who grapple with challenges in their efforts to read. Their academic performance suffers as a result. Video games present some promise for this children. Sandro Franceschini and his team carried out a study in which they set out to determine the effects that video games have on the reading skills of dyslexic children. The results of their findings indicate that there is a strong link between video games and improvement in reading skills (Franceschini et al., 2013). They observed that when dyslexic children play video games for twelve hours in a day, they report an improved ability to read. Franceschini and his team attribute the improved reading skills to the attentiveness that the dyslexic children gain as they play video games (Franceschini et al., 2013). These children are able to remain alert for longer and this translates to improved reading ability. In addition to improvements in the ability to dyslexic children to read, the researchers also noted that playing video games enhanced the temporal and spatial attention of the children (Franceschini et al., 2013). This benefit can be extended beyond reading as the children can use the enhanced attention to perform better in such other spheres as sports. Overall, this study confirms that video games present benefits and enhance the development of children, especially those with learning disabilities.
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The findings that Franceschini and his team arrived at are echoed in another study conducted by Ralph Maddison and his colleagues. They reviewed previous research that explored the impacts of video games on the health and general development of children. Their findings suggest that video games are largely beneficial. They observed that previous research indicates that video games offer benefits for the health of children. Improved agility, fitness and flexibility are some of these benefits. These benefits raise questions about the argument that video games promote sedentary lifestyles. While it is true that players of video games tend to be sedentary, the health benefits that video games present outweigh the negative impacts that could result from sedentary lifestyles. Additionally, Maddison and his team noted that thanks to video games which involve physical activity, children are able to learn with much ease (Maddison et al., 2013). They offer the examples of schools that have integrated video games into learning. These schools are able to spare students the boredom and routine that characterize traditional learning. The ultimate impact is that there is significant improvement in attention and learning.
Video games come in a wide range of formats. There are those which emphasize single playing where an individual player tackles the tasks in the game alone. There is another variety of video games where focus is given to cooperation. These games are designed such that players are able to cooperate with others for the completion of given tasks. It has been established that such games with are pro-social tend to promote empathy (Harrington & O’Connell, 2016). Brian Harrington and Michael O’Connell examined the effects of pro-social video games on the social development of players. They observed that such social issues as empathy and cooperation were enhanced thanks to pro-social games (Harrington & O’Connell, 2016). Harrington and O’Connell also observed that children and young people who played pro-social video games were able to develop warm and positive relations with their peers. They observed further that the enhanced relations were found in schools comprised of children from both advantaged and disadvantaged backgrounds (Harrington & O’Connell, 2016). This observation suggests that the benefits of video games are not limited by social or economic background. Therefore, it can conclusively and confidently be argued that video games enhance the social skills of children thereby allowing them to create and maintain friendships.
While examining the positive impacts of video games on children, it is important to examine the supposed negative impacts that have been established to be untrue. For years, it had been believed that playing violent video games made children more aggressive and turned them into bullies. Whereas there is some truth in this belief, scientific research has made it clear that there is no link between violent video games and bullying. Christopher Ferguson and Cherly Olson set out to examine whether violent video games promote bullying and other delinquent behaviors. They determined that the games have no such effect (Ferguson & Olson, 2014). Their study focused on a group of children with mental health problems. Even within this group, no link between video games and delinquency was established (Ferguson & Olson, 2014). Therefore, parents can rest assured that violent video games or other types of video games for that matter will not turn their children into bullies. Instead, as it has been mentioned in the discussion above, the video games will promote reading ability and enhance the fitness of their children.
Negative impacts
It has been mentioned earlier that that there lacks consensus on the overall impact of video games on the development of children. This means that video games present positive and negative effects as well. In the discussion that follows some of the negative effects of video games on the development of children are examined.
Violence and aggression are some of the documented impacts of video games on children and the larger population of video games. This was confirmed by Youssef Hassan and his team who examined if violent video games do indeed promote aggression. They required participants to play violent and non-violent video games over a couple of days (Hassan et al., 2013). The participants were thereafter asked to read stories that contained themes involving inter-personal conflicts. Hassan and his team observed that those who had played violent video games had hostile expectations regarding the actions of the characters in the stories that they read. They also noted that these participants blasted loud music (Hassan et al., 2013). Hassan and the team regarded the loud music as indication of aggressive behavior. They did not make these observations in the group made up of participants who played the non-violent video games. They conclude that violent video games do indeed promote aggression (Hassan et al., 2013). If these findings are anything to go by, then parents have reason to worry when their children play violent video games. There is some real and significant chance that the child could become more aggressive and violent.
Social isolation is another negative effect of video games (Ferguson & Olson, 2014). Childhood is the formative stage of any individual. It is at this stage that individuals interact with the world. Video games essentially deny children the opportunity to interact with others. These children are unable to develop the social skills that are gained through interaction with peers. The case of a child who spends much of his day playing video games can be considered as an illustration for this point. The child’s interaction with the outside world is severely limited. It can be expected that this child will face challenges as he attempts to engage with others. It has been noted earlier that pro-social video games enhance the social skills of children. This means that parents do not necessarily need to bar their children from playing video games entirely. They should exercise judgment and only provide their children with those video games that will not compromise the development of their social skills.
In an earlier discussion, it was mentioned that video games enhance the learning ability of children. This benefit is eroded when children play too much. It has been shown that excessive playing of video games negative impact the academic performance of children (Wolfe et al., 2014). As they spend too much time playing, children are unable to commit enough time to their studies. The ultimate impact of this is that their academic performance declines. If parents wish to ensure that children remain productive in the classroom, they should limit and supervise game play. This will allow the children to both enjoy the benefits of video games and remain attentive and productive in school.
Recommendation
From the discussion above, it should be clear that the scientific community appears divided on the effects of video games. On one hand, there is a group that insists that video games are beneficial. On the other hand is a group of other scientists who are convinced that video games are a menace that threaten the development of children. This rift underscores the need for further research. Scientists should join efforts and offer clarity on the overall effect of video games. Are they beneficial or do they present harmful consequences? Should parents allow their children to play the video games or should they discourage playing? These are the questions that the further research should strive to provide answers to.
In conclusion, video games remain a contentious issue. Scientific studies have revealed that the games have both positive and negative impacts. Since they are very impressionable, children are the group that is mostly affected by video games. Some of the positive impacts of the video games include improved learning ability and enhanced social skills. Video games also present negative impacts that include poor academic performance and aggression. Parents need to keep a close eye on their children to ensure that they do not suffer the negative impacts. The scientific community also needs to be more concerted in its efforts to clear the air on the real impacts of video games on the development of children.
References
Ferguson, C. J. (2013). Violent Video Games and the Supreme Court: Lessons for the Scientific Community in the Wake of Brown v. Entertainment Merchants Association. American Psychologist, 68 (2), 57-74.
Ferguson, C. J., & Olson, C. K. (2014). Video Game Use Among “Vulnerable” Populations: The Impact of Video Games on Delinquency and Bullying Among Children with Clinically Elevated Depression or Attention Deficit Symptoms. Journal of Youth and Adolescence, 43 (1), 127-136.
Franceschini, S., Gori, S., Ruffino, M., Viola, S., Molteni, M., & Facoetti, A. (2013). Action Video Games Make Dyslexic Children Read Better. Current Biology, 23 (6), 462-466.
Harrington, B., & O’Connell, M. (2016). Video Games as Virtual Teachers: Prosocial Video Game Use by Children and Adolescents from Different Socioeconomic Groups is Associated with Increased Empathy and Prosocial Behavior. Computers in Human Behavior, 63, 650-658.
Hassan, Y., Begue, L., Scharkow, M., & Bushman, B. J. (2013). The More You Play, the More Aggressive You Become: A Long-Term Experimental Study of Cumulative Violent Video Game Effects on Hostile Expectations and Aggressive Behavior. Journal of Experimental Social Psychology, 49(2), 224-227.
Maddison, R., Simons, M., Straker, L., Witherspoon, L., Palmeira, A., & Thin, A. G. (2013). Active Video Games: An Opportunity for Enhanced Learning and Positive Health Effects? Cognitive Technology Journal, 18 (1), 6-13.
Wolfe, J., Kar, K., Perry, A., Reynolds, C., Gradisar, M., & Short, M. A. (2014). Single Night Video-Game Use Leads to Sleep Loss and Attention Deficits in Older Adolescents. Journal of Adolescence, 37(7), 1003-1009.
