Friday, October 17, 2014

Are Video Games Affecting You?

Have you ever thought about what you’re playing is physically affecting you? Well I, for one, have not. Recent issues on video games, however, have sparked my interest to look deeper into the matter. Although video games aren’t typically known for bringing out the best of a person, most people don’t know what about video games affect them. Yes, you can have increased reflexes and yes, you can obtain great eye coordination but if you see it in a different perspective, will you still think video games are worth it?

According to an article, video games and one’s physical health have a pretty direct relationship with one another. Most people while playing video enjoy eating snacks or drinking soda and may not even notice it. This could lead to over eating if one’s not paying close attention and at the same time a way to empty your wallet faster in the desperation for more food. Distractions like this from video games can also lead to other mistakes such as forgetting a homework assignment or a date you and your friends made.

Playing video game is an easy way to lock someone up into their room for days on end. This could mean losing outside communication, but more importantly, outside physical exercise. Physical exercise is a necessity for almost every human to stay healthy and fit. What video games do is take that away from the individual as instead of spending time working out; the person would rather spend it sitting down on the coach doing nothing. The NPD Group revealed in their studies that there are over 34 million “core gamers” with an average of 22 hours a week spent on video games. This means 34 million people locked in their room for hours doing nothing but video games.

Video games can affect a person in other negative ways other than physically. According to this article on video games affecting students, they state that violent video games can cause violent people. In 2008, a study to see the correlation between violent video games and unhealthy behaviors was taken.  The study revealed that violent video games can cause increased aggressive thoughts, feelings, and behavior. In another article, however, through two years on study, it’s revealed that kids become less violent even while playing violent video games because the kids matured. However, these kids will still be slightly more aggressive than those kids who didn’t play the video games.

Although it’s fine for one to pick up on that last saved file every once and awhile, too much of a “good” thing can become bad. Don’t forget too that there is always more to life than what is inside your house.  So what do you think? Do you want to put that controller down and go for a jog?


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