Are Video games good for Children?

The number of children who play video games has gone up quite considerably during the past decade. Every year, video game companies try to outdo each other by coming up with new ideas and innovations in gaming in order to lure children to buy their games. Most video game companies pay very little attention to the fact that whether the games that they create are educational or help the players in some form or not. Most of them tend to be more concerned about the revenues, sales and profit margins alone. They thus only identify the demands of adolescents, teenagers and children and cater to it by producing games that these children ask for. This is quite an unhealthy trend with no firm measures in place to ensure that children play video games that are appropriate for their particular level of mental development.

At least ninety percent of all video games in the market today contain elements that directly or indirectly showcase incidents of violence. Studies have shown that children at this tender age in their lives can get heavily influenced by violent or pornographic images and end up suffering from psycho social problems as a result. They can have adjustment problems when they grow up and find it difficult to function in adult relationships.

A sedentary lifestyle that may result in obesity and other eating disorders among children can also be traced back to video games. Addiction to video games can completely disrupt the life of individuals and encourage them to completely ignore all other aspects of their lives.

However, there is another side to the argument as well. There are certain video games that do not promote violence and instead encourage imagination and creativity among children. They promote thinking and formulation of ideas among those who play them on a regular basis. In some cases, video games can also help to develop multi tasking skills. Hand eye coordination and other important motor skills can also be developed by playing certain video games.

Moreover, it has also been found that when young children play education video games that are specifically aimed at providing learning experiences, they are able to grasp concepts much quicker than they would through books or other sources. Playing games instills a sense of initiative among them and allows them to gain knowledge first hand. Children feel like they are actively and directly participating in the process of learning which in turn helps concepts to firmly form and take root in their minds.

There are two sides to the coin and we can conclude that video games have both positive and negative impact on children. If the games that children play are carefully selected by parents and proper systems are in place to ensure that video game companies do not target violent games to young children, playing video games can become a great and valuable experience. Children should not be able to access games meant for mature audiences and there should be careful supervision on the part of their parents to ensure the same.