Almost all parents can agree that video games addiction in young and adolescent children has become a significant problem in modern society. The reason why we can phrase it as an addiction is that most children cannot limit themselves and have no control over their habits.

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Children are too young to develop the discipline in moderating their leisure and can sometimes find the appeal too overpowering. Its quite obvious that video games can damage and have a significant on the growth of our children, but are they as bad as people say?

And are the effects so tremendous that we can label video game addiction as a crisis?

Negative Effects of Video Games for Children

video games for children

1. Explicit Content

One of the biggest concerns to parents is what young children are learning from when playing video games. A lot of video games contain violent and harmful content.

Young children and teenagers can be extremely impressionable, and so the type of content they consume in video games may affect their outlook and behavior in real life.

2. Stranger Danger

Unlike in real life social activities, you can’t see the person you’re playing with. Whether it’s speaking with a fellow player online via live chat or audio call, you never really know who you’re talking with.

If you’re not monitoring your child’s video game time and are not sure who they are socializing with, then you need to stop them as soon as possible until you can get to the bottom of what they are playing, and who they are talking to.

As children are incredibly impressionable, it’s important to remind them why they should never talk to strangers.

3. Lack of physical activity

Video games often lead to a sedentary lifestyle. By not being able to moderate their playing time, children will be staring at a screen for too long and be either sitting out laying down for long periods.

The lack of physical activity can lead to weight gain, joint problems as well as long term spinal issues if they slouch too much.

4. Difficulty with prioritization

A lack of discipline is a lack of prioritization. By being addicted to video games or not being able to control themselves, children will neglect all other aspects of their lives including social life, physical activity as well as education.

By lacking self-control over video games, your child may develop poor judgment and prioritization as they continue to get older.

Positive Effects of Video Games for Children

video games for children

1. Communication skill

Video games a way for children to communicate with other people who have shared interests. It also promotes them to develop trust and team working skills. Particularly for children who are shy or have low. Video games can help them to learn to communicate and converse with others without having to be intimidated.

It may just be the push they need to socialize more. On the other hand, it is essential you are monitoring your child’s leisure time and ensuring they are not speaking with direct strangers.

2. Improved memory

Many games will put children in situations where they need to memorize specific patterns, routines, and codes. It will help keep children’s brains active and help them with their memory skills.

Memory is only improved when people put an effort and have a desire to memorize something, and this applies to children playing video games.

3. Hand-eye coordination

This is one of the main benefits people can get from playing video games. Just like playing physical sports, video games encourage individuals to think quick, while being able to be physically responsive.

4. Problem-solving skills

There is a large variety of video games. Some focus on memory, hand-eye – coordination, problem-solving or all of them put together. However, problem-solving skills is something children can benefit in by playing video games.

5. Stress relief

Playing video games will always be a form of leisure. Some play it professionally, some play it very seriously, but gaming, for most people is leisure nonetheless.

If it is a medium for them to relieve stress, get into a relaxed mood and to calm them down from the stresses and tensions of the day, then so be it. As long as it helps to relieve stress and not cause it, gaming is an excellent way to escape stress.

So, Are Video Games Good or Bad?

video games for children

The debate regarding whether video games are good or bad will always continue and for many years to come, and whether they’re good or bad, the answer will depend on who you ask.

Based on the above points, it seems the pros and cons are well balanced. But the real key here is moderation. Playing video games has its pros and cons, and the same does for not playing them.

Control over your kid’s daily habits is the real measure of how good or bad video games are.

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