Violence In Video Games: Addiction And Hazards

Video games have been spreading worldwide lately and especially among kids, and they are games developed by profit international companies and they can be played either online or offline. Many kids can get addicted to it, and video gaming addiction is defined as a pattern of continuous and non-stop gaming behavior. This gaming behavior causes impairments in social life, functioning, and education. Usually, it can affect kids around any age and it can harm them physically and mentally. For instance, kids who spend hours in front of the tv playing video games were found to have issues with their vision and headaches.

It was also found that it can affect the memory and the development of the child. Kids who play for more than 2 hours were found to forget a lot and have trouble focusing and this also may lead to aggressive behaviors which is another main issue that parents suffer from. Kids who spend hours on video games are more aggressive than others, studies have shown that they learn from what they see as violence in video games which teaches them violence and unacceptable behaviors.

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Those kids also suffer from sleep deprivation, because of how much time they spent on video games, their bodies are in constant arousal and they can’t fall asleep easily. Not having enough sleep also leads to another problem which is impairments in social life and functional life.

-What causes video gaming addiction and its hazards:

One of the main reasons for video gaming addiction and hazards is that the games are designed to be that way.

For instance, the game makers always try to create challenging games to make kids want to try again and again to succeed in it.

-Signs of video gaming addiction:

1-Isolation: from social and family engagement.

2- Angry and irritability: when not playing the game.

3-Mind controller: dreaming and thinking about how to finish the game.

4- Loss of self-control and personality changes: when they become over-excited and feel they have the personality characteristic of the character/avatar

5-Personal hygiene and food intake: decrease their interest to maintain personal hygiene and usually have unhealthy food.

- Evidence-based on how videogames affect the brain:

There was researcher conduct on how violent games affect the brain. they found that after the first week of playing video games, the group who played video games daily have less emotional control, and are more impulsive than those who were not allowed to play video games (control group).

Effect of video games on vision:

Video game playing is associated with vision problems, continuing playing in front of the screen can lead to eye strain, cornea, and pupil problems. Using video games for a long time will cause also headaches and dizziness.

One solution is to use the 20 20 20 rule, which may help to damage the eyes. It states that every 20 minutes, look at anything 20 feet far for 20 seconds.

Effect of video games on musculoskeletal system:

Evidence shows that videogames have a significant effect on:

• Postural problems

• Tendon injuries

• Numbness, caused by friction between the thumb and the controller by rapid gameplay.

• Lower back pain

- Effect of video gaming on obesity:

Video games have a strong relationship with obesity. Several studies state that there is an association between television and video games and increased BMI (Body Mass Index). Moreover, studies show an association between playing video games and increase food intake in teenagers, regardless of their appetite. So, the advice is to use more active video games such as Wii and Xbox which might help to reduce physical inactivity rather than offline video games. In our life, we saw that children and teens who spend most hours on video games tend to be overweight.

- Appropriate management to decrease the hazards of video gaming.:

- Set a limit. Decide to have one hour per day to play. Stick to it, and avoid choosing games that need more than one hour to spend.

- Identify the impact. Ask yourself how many hours spend playing games? Do you go out on the weekend? When was the last time you engaged in your favorite sport? Is video gaming impact your school performance?

- Keep your games outside your bedroom, so you can’t easily access them and play all night.

- Engage in other activities that you like most, so you can reduce the health risks of both playing and sitting for a long time.

- Gentle advice!

Too much of anything can cause problems. Playing video games within normal range it's OK. Therefore, choose a quality game, and limit the time to a reasonable range. If you choose the one that can cause benefit you it's even better. So be smart and aware during choosing!

Everything has pros and cons as well as video games, if you can balance the time, you will achieve a greater amount of benefits. Have fun with video games, but do not beyond the limits, without violence in video games. In conclusion, video gaming addiction and hazards are spreading among children and adolescents and we discussed what it is and how it can interfere with their everyday lives, and how it can affect negatively their health.