Is Playing Video Games a Bad Habit and Dangerous for a Child?
A lot of parents are worried that their kids play video games too often on a console, the PC, or even on smartphones. As you probably already know, the popularity of mobile gaming has gone up tremendously in recent years, and it will continue likewise.
Numerous children, from the youngest ages, are playing games night and day, such as Minecraft, Fortnite, PUBG, FIFA, Call of Duty, and a lot more. Parents are usually concerned that gaming will make a child more aggressive. At the same time, these parents believe that being addicted to video games will also make their children skip classes or not pay too much attention at school. But is all that really true?
Is gaming bad for a child? Well, it depends
No game developer or publisher on the planet tells a child to neglect school because of gaming. No developer or publisher will tell someone that it’s okay to mimic in real life the kind of aggressive behaviors they will see in video games such as GTA 5, PPUBG, Mortal Kombat, and many more. On the contrary, many developers and publishers say openly that they don’t encourage such kind of behavior at all.
A well-educated child should never engage in any kind of aggressive behavior just because that’s what he has seen in a video game. Parents play a huge role in educating their children correctly. No video game on the planet tells the player to become aggressive in real life.
How gaming can be fun and educational
Games based on World War I, for instance, are teeming with information about what happened in the history of the world in those times. Children can learn about military ranks, weapons, tanks, countries that existed 100 years ago, the political leaders of those times, and so on. Games from the Mafia series, on the other hand, although they often show violent aspects of the world, can teach the player about the cars that roamed the streets decades ago, about what interests and hobbies people had, how they liked to dress, and so on. That’s why gaming can also be highly educational.
Sports games such as those from the FIFA or Pro Evolution Soccer (PES) series can also obviously teach a child about the wonders of football, as whether you’re a fan of the sport or not, we all have to admit that it plays a huge role in our society. Any other sport out there on the planet has been recreated in video games as well. Doctors always tell us that practicing sports can help us maintain a good and healthy life.
You might also be aware that gaming can be a load of fun for a child since it stimulates his ambition, attention, as well as other cognitive abilities.
When gaming can be bad for a child
We’re not here to say that all of those who say that gaming is bad for a child are wrong. If a child is spending countless hours playing video games while he has much more important activities to do, such as learning and homework, it’s clear that playing video games for such kids is not a good idea. On the other hand, it shouldn’t be a problem for a child to play video games as long as he doesn’t neglect his education and school.
It’s no secret that a lot of video games out there, regardless of what platform is needed to run them, are teeming with violence. However, that doesn’t mean an invitation for the player himself to become violent in the real world. Just like movies, violent video games may portray violent behaviors for the public to understand that it is wrong to behave in such a way. How could Superman fight for the salvation of the world, for instance, if there’s no evildoer there to try to impose his own diabolical will, meaning to be violent?
Tommy’s hobby has always been playing video games. He enjoys competing in video games tournaments and writing about his experience. It’s not a big surprise that he mostly covers the latest trends from the gaming industry.
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