Video Games: Entertainment Or Threat?

Video Games: Entertainment Or Threat? 

Krishnam Daga, 16 May 2020 

“Bro, I like this gun a lot!”, “ I killed him, huh, easy clap!” or “You are trash! Go Die”... 

You must have heard your kids saying these sentences while playing video games, but have you ever

imagined what impact could it have on your child? Video games are getting more popular day by day with

games such as Fortnite and PUBG which are played by more than 250 million players. This industry has

taken a huge leap in the last 5 years targeting their potential customers, which are kids. According to a

survey taken by “gamecrate.com”, playing video games is the most popular activity for teenagers(age: 8-

16). Even though kids enjoy playing video games and find it fun, it can also be a threat to their developing

mindset. Also, don’t consider this as just factful data, it is coming from a teenager itself who was addicted

to video games i.e. me. 

These are some of the harmful impacts of playing video games on children:

Violence: According to a survey taken by “healthline.com”, 91% of the popular games played by
teenagers and children contain some sort of violence. The most popular game right now is Fortnite
which is rated for children above the age of 12 contains information about different kinds of guns and
players killing each other in the game. It was proven that some of the most popular games such as “Grand Theft Auto 5” and “PUBG” are rated 18+ but the age group they are most played by is 10-15. These games contain graphic content that is not suitable for the targeted age group.

Health: Sitting and staring at a screen constantly can affect your body. The blue light present in digital
screens such as laptops and mobile phones comes straight to your eye and damages it. It weakens the
visibility and can even result in eye strain. Looking at a screen daily for a long time can cause a severe
eye problem. 

 Also, sitting at a place for a long time without moving that much can make your body stiff and body
movements tougher. It can also cause epilepsy which can give the person(children) seizures and sudden
shocks. It may also negatively impact the overall participation in physical sports. 

Addiction: Because of their young and growing minds, children tend to easily get addicted to video games
. If someone doesn’t stop them, they could play for hours without stopping. According to “daily.co.uk”,
children at an average spend 15 hours a week playing games which could be extremely harmful to them.

Cyber Bullying: Teenagers and children tend to get very toxic while playing games with their friends or
with random people. As mentioned earlier, “ You are trash! Just quit this game and sit in a corner”, the
sentence is an example of this. They get very verbal and aggressive while playing the game and always
want to be superior which could result in cyberbullying.

Electronic games are an emerging industry that is very attractive to children. It has some negative
impacts on children such as Cyber Bullying, Way of Spending, Addiction, Health, Violence etc., but only if it is abused. Gaming is not bad, but anything done at an excess is harmful which is what is
happening right now. If the following points are controlled, children balance everything and do not
abuse it, it would be perfectly suitable for everybody making it advantageous for everybody.