Essay Sample on Video Game Addiction

A game is a type of play mainly meant for entertainment. They require specific skills or talents for them to be interesting otherwise they become a burden. Games can either be manual or electronic. Electronic games are referred to as video games. Games were purposely invented for entertainment. The video game was set up in 1958 by a physicist by the name William Higginbotham. The game had poor graphics and sound quality but still managed to achieve its purpose. With increasing technology, video games have been modified in terms of graphics, sound, and quality. Due to this new specifications, video games have become increasingly popular, not only among children but also adults. People are get too hooked up to the games and end up losing their focus on other important aspects of their lives. This paper takes a look at the various ways in which video games addiction has affected peoples lives and most importantly, on coming up with the solutions to these problems.

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Any game that is played on the computer is called a video game. Since every aspect of life incorporated the use of technology, scientists thought that it would be a splendid idea if games could also be played with technology. Consequently, the first video game was created. The first video game was set up in October 1958 by a physicist by the name William Higginbotham (Marcovitz, Hal 67). The game was similar to modern day tennis. He created the game with the intention of diverting from studies and work. The game had poor graphics and sound but still managed to achieve its purpose (Marcovitz, Hal 67). Nevertheless, manual games were still popular. Furthermore, back then, people who had access to computers were countable.

As time passed by, more video games were developed. The purpose of the new games was to entertain kids. However, the games would just be played as part-time. The rest of the time children were expected to play with each other, interact and also get exercise. With time, video game revolutionized especially in terms of graphics and sound. To date, several games have been developed which have better graphics and sound systems. With the improved qualities, more people are getting hooked on the games. The games are no longer just for children but also for adults. Both male and female play video games. However, the percentage of men who play video games is higher than that of females. Most people end up spending a whole day in front of a computer only playing video games and hence become unproductive to the society.

Video game addiction is among the worlds leading addiction (Jozefowicz, Chris 39). It has been rated the 5th most common addiction after drugs, alcohol, gambling, and food (Jozefowicz, Chris 41). This type of addiction is common among adults as well as children. Most people never want to admit that they are addicts until the situation gets out of hand. Addiction is characterized by restlessness whenever one is not playing the games, being dishonest to friends so as to spend time isolated playing video games and literal isolation from people (Jozefowicz, Chris 42). The primary language game addicts speak is games. All their conversations entail how to get past various levels, asking help regarding different levels and trying to find cheat codes that will help them proceed to the next level faster.

According to research, 44% of gamers are above the age of 18 years with the average gamer being approximately 35 years (Sturm, Jeanne 48). 56% of the gamers are men while 44% are women.15% of the gamers are under 18 years while 9% of the females are under 18 years (Sturm, Jeanne 48). The average gamer will spend around 20 hours in a day on video games. This is a clear indication of reduced productivity. The time dedicated to video game could have been spent on other productive activities such as working and studying. In America alone, 72% of the households have access to video games.

Other than decreased productivity, video game addiction has vast effects on human beings. The effects are positive and negative, but the negative outweigh the positive effects. The effects can be physical, emotional, psychological, behavioral, or social.

According to Springer Link Research Study, 40% of the people who play video games have conceded the fact that they mainly play video games to escape reality (Willis, Laurie 31). Such people have been disappointed in life by various things. You find that the individual may have been turned down on several job applications. The feeling may make one view himself or herself as s looser. When this person embarks on a video game, they excel and forget the fact that they have lost some opportunities in their real life. In a way, video game gives such a person a sense of self-worth whenever they start playing the games. Such people need a lot of motivation. They need to be constantly reminded that one must fail several times in order to succeed. If they do not have friends who can help them, they need to visit specialists who will know the appropriate advice to give them.

Studies have shown that children who play brutal video games have a tendency of being vicious whenever they interact with other kids (Willis, Laurie 44). As such, parents are strongly advised to monitor the type of games their children play. Unlike adults, children are easily influenced by what they interact with in their day to day lives. An adult has a developed conscience that enables him or her know how to control how various things influence them. To ensure that children do not play violent games, their gaming systems should be strictly supervised by their caregivers. Each parent has a responsibility of knowing the type of games their children play. They must ensure no game that is played has negative repercussion on the youngsters.

Kids who spend most of their time on video games tend to perform poorly in school. A childs mind is not wired to several things and perform well. Consuming a lot of time on video games means that a kid is left with little or no time to study. Since their mind is still developing, it is virtually impossible for a child to comprehend a lot of study work within a few minutes, do an exam and pass. Psychologists highly recommend that the level at which children play video games be monitored so that they may also do other activities such as learning. It is the responsibility of parents to ensure their kids play just enough video games so as not to interfere with their performance in school. Parents should learn to keep track of the performance of their kids and limit the length of time spent on video games. They can as well set a schedule as too when the children are allowed to play the games. It is very important that parents monitor both their kids performance and how the children spend their leisure. Kids are naturally curious and do not know how to monitor their personal schedule. It is then the duty of the parents to teach children to play video games responsibly and also take their studies seriously.

Other than studying, video games highly interfere with the social life of a child. This effect also applies to adults. A person who is always hooked up on video games may find it difficult to socialize with people, even in a social gathering (Parks, Peggy 56). Whenever such a person is not playing video games, they become sad and dull and as such, not able to interact appropriately with people. Children must be encouraged to build on their social life. A responsible parent ensures that their kids participate in fun activities that will enable them to socialize with other kids and in turn strengthen their self-confidence. Parents can organize fun weekends or play weekends for their children to get them to socialize with other children.

An individual who is always hooked on video games cannot afford to be clean. Most time is spent playing, and they are not able to partake in even the simplest activity. Most gamers are untidy. Either they cannot afford the time to clean at all, or they do it hastily so that they can quickly go back to playing (Howard, Geoff 33). As expected, anything that is done hastily has been done shabbily. Because of doing things in haste, the health of a gamer will deteriorate. Gamers have no time to cook proper food for themselves. So when they get the time, they will prepare some mediocre food that is not balanced (Howard, Geoff 38). For those who happen to order food, it is rare for them to finish eating. They only want to eat as fast as possible so that they go back to playing. Gamers also do not exercise and as such are very unfit. Dealing with addicts who are adults may be quite challenging compared to children. Adult believe they know it all and as such it may be quite challenging trying to give them advice. Most of them will shut off anyone who will try to assist them. It is better for family members to intervene into the situation as they will tend to listen to them. If intervention does not work, advise them to visit a psychiatrist who will give them the appropriate advice. Psychiatrists are specialists are trained to read human behavior and thus know the appropriate advice to give people.

Another major thing that gamers do not pay attention about, which interferes with their health, is the rays from computer monitors and screens. Any type of screen produces a vast amount of electromagnetic radiation, both low frequency and radio frequency. According to the world health organization, contact with electromagnetic radiation is the leading cause of cancer. The rays contain substances called carcinogens which alter the normal functioning of the body cells causing abnormal growth. Other than cancer, these rays are a cause of many other defects in the human body. They may cause headaches, heart diseases, asthma, and hormonal imbalance and damage the nervous, reproductive and immune systems. In addition to these conditions, gamers suffer from high anxiety issues.

Whenever something becomes interesting to a kid, they tend to do it continuous. As such, they need supervision. Parents must ensure they are extremely strict when it comes to the length of time a child spends on playing video games. However, when it comes to adult video game addicts, the issue becomes quite complicated to deal with. Adults consider themselves to be aware of everything they are doing and as such never want to get advice from anyone. For such cases, their fellow adults should consider enticing them into other activities other than video games.

Other than effects of the electromagnetic rays, staring at screens for long periods of time has other effects on health (Sturm, Jeanne 79). An individual will strain their eyes when they stare at screens for long periods. Straining the eyes a lot may lead to headaches and in turn lead to migraines. Any interference with the human body leads to decreased productivity. Most gamers also suffer from carpal tunnel syndrome. Carpal tunnel syndrome is a condition that affects the hands and wrists (Sturm, Jeanne 83). This state is characterized by numbness of the fingers, hand weakness, burning sensation on the finger tips and swollen fingers. As such if gaming gets out of hand, the healt...