Video Games: Are They Beneficial Or Detrimental To Health
Video games are an outlet for people to channel their innermost demons. An outlet for goofing off, an outlet to break the law with no real-world consequences.
They are a simple form of entertainment giving you a variety of objectives to do within an enclosed world. From PC, mobile, to console games, people control visuals and characters on a screen using an interface. That interface is either a controller, mouse, remote, or joystick. Seems simple enough
But unless you’ve been living under the dead sea, you know what video games are. Video games have an acute — plus long-term emotional & psychological effects on our brain. In 2020, there were approximately 2.7 billion gamers online, that number is still heavily rising to this day.
Researchers say gaming can cause aggressive behavior, deter social skills, loss of jobs/obligations, etc. An article published by Harvard Medical School deeply delves into the debate about the negative effects of gaming.
The health effects of too much gaming — Harvard Health
The below excerpt from Harvard’s article helps to spread awareness of the effects of excessive gaming. Especially when there’s no breaks within gaming sessions.
“Repetitive stress injuries, or overuse injuries, are injuries that come from activities that involve repeated use of muscles and tendons, to the point that pain and inflammation develop”.
“If these injuries are allowed to progress, numbness and weakness can develop, and permanent injury can result. Overuse injuries of the hands and arms are rampant among gamers”.
This article will dive into the detrimental effects video games have on society, how it worsens over time & draw conclusions. The intention isn’t to 100% disprove of video games — but to show their enormous impact amongst society.
Oversexualization Of Females
Skimpy females have appeared as eye candy and trophies for completing missions, side quests, or at the game’s conclusion in many video games. This story reveals a shady side of gaming in which women are used as sexy backdrops to arouse the player. As a result, women will feel like materialistic possessions.
Controversial YouTuber — Anita Sarkeesian [AKA “Feminist Frequency”] uploaded a video in August 2015 where she explains the notion in long-winded detail. Her 30 minute video painted a narrative that video games, i.e. Far Cry, Grand Theft Auto, Metal Gear Solid, Sleeping Dogs, all have an agenda to use women for player satisfaction.
This is understandable given that the majority of players are men. However, the brutality of her video portrays her male competitors as dirty, depraved bastards. Meanwhile, we’ll look at some of the other harmful effects of gaming.
Anita Sarkeesian Controversial 2015 “Women As Reward” Video, Which In 2022 Still Holds Up Strong.
Aggressive Behaviors
Do video games make people angry? Yes, they do. The reason is the complexity of the game’s algorithms. Some games are addictive, and an addictive game that’s hard will enrage players.
The Healthy Gamer wrote a stellar post about this issue. They discuss the systematic way in which video games irritate players — and how video games aggravate Alexithymia. Could the aforementioned article educate gamers on the scary reality of gaming? Yes, people experiencing failures in their lives use video games as an outlet to escape. Whether they succeed or not within the game, they’ll be fixated on the game, and not fixated on improving themselves.
“Gamer Rage” isn’t new. Players will exhibit these emotions whilst facing calamity within game levels. Let’s face it, we all will eventually suffer from gamer rage. But if we have rage episodes due to game failures, who knows how people would respond to real-life failures?
Exhaustion
Pre-occupation with video games occurs when thinking about them 24/7, even if you’re busy with unrelated things. Therefore, this will elicit deep exhaustion. Your eyes will be strained — your entire body will get stiff for the lack of proper movement. This can cause chronic headaches and neck and back problems.
Too much of anything is not good. Exhaustion will settle in and a player could have a narcolepsy-type life if they play throughout the night.
Violence & Influencing People To Commit Crimes
Studies from the American Psychological Association say that violent media can result in aggressive attitudes and violent behavior in some children and adolescents. As stated before, video games can cause a multitude of aggressive behaviors in the community. Parents & critics have denounced games for their depiction of violent material.
Are these arguments pointless? Maybe, but there’s no doubt that people get influenced by the carefree nature in games. Many have this figment in their brain that makes them think you can be reckless in life and subsequently not face punishment.
Mass Shootings
School shootings throughout the 21st century quadrupled disturbingly. at such a swift pace. The United States of America has had over 1,316 school shootings since 1970. From Sandy Hook in 2012 to the 1999 Columbine Massacre, the trend of mass shootings as a whole has been partially blamed on video games.
In the aftermath of the February 2018 Stoneman Douglas High School shooting Kentucky Governor Matt Bevin declared that the nation should re-evaluate “the things being put in the hands of our young people” specifically “quote-unquote video games”. Then President Donald Trump called for several industry personnel and advocates to meet in Washington, D.C. to discuss the chronic impact of violent video games with him and his advisors.
As a result, certain violent games, such as Doom, Manhunt, Call of Duty, and Grand Theft Auto, have been pulled from store shelves or banned entirely in some countries. Every day, mass shootings occur around the world. There are numerous factors that contributed to these tragedies; blaming game publishers for publishing violent games is not the solution. These critics should hold the perpetrators accountable for their heinous motives in killing the innocent.
Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2’s “No Russian” (2009)
To date, the triple AAA game Modern Warfare 2 has been a global success. The mission in the game “No Russian” was inappropriately categorized for its terrorism deception (especially given that it occurred in the 2000s, the same decade as 9/11).
According to a Wikipedia post about video game violence…
This caused the publisher of the game Activision to enlighten journalists who were offended by the concept & mayhem of the mission. Activision defended the level’s inclusion at game launch, emphasizing that the mission was a solid representation of the rest of the game and that initial assessments had taken the level out of context.
Media outlets will always have an agenda to use entities to blame a mass casualty committed by human beings, evidence that supports these events should be directed at the shooter, rather than irrelevant claims.
Insufficient Motivation and Dopamine Addiction
Gaming is an activity that requires laser focus; take that into account when gamers play for hours & hours non-stop.
So the brain is forced to produce a substantial amount of the neurotransmitter known as Dopamine . When people play video for long periods of time, they’ll suffer from intense Dopamine rushes. This leads to no longer finding less stimulating activities fulfilling. When gaming becomes the only activity the brain finds pleasurable, the inadequate motivation to engage in other activities is a natural outcome.
I suggest you read more here about the above matter.
The simple way to counteract this symptom is to simply put down the controller and find other hobbies to fulfill your time. There’s a plethora of things to do in life & video games should engulf a tiny portion of your life.
Conclusion & Solutions
Will video games continue to cause drama in the world? They will, indeed. Everything has both good and bad. There is no such thing as a sinless world. People will continue to use their inventions to do nefarious things.
As a society, we must cling to some form of entertainment to keep us entertained throughout our lives. Sports, concerts, nightclubs, cinemas, peep shows, and so on. The idea that video games are the sole cause of violence is FUCKING ABSURD!!! Video games can be harmful, but as long as they are played responsibly, people will be fine.
Do you believe that video games are harmful? Please let me know in the comments section below.
