Video games are not too bad after all

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As a child, parents tried to protect you from the violence and horrible rage of video games. Some also have this idea that it will rot your brain or that it is completely worthless. It is mind-boggling that some parents are absolutely against letting their children come close to PC games or a controller, because of these reasons. Video games are more than late nights, tired eyes and a waste of time.   

As a child, parents tried to protect you from the violence and horrible rage of video games. Some also have this idea that it will rot your brain or that it is completely worthless. It is mind-boggling that some parents are absolutely against letting their children come close to PC games or a controller, because of these reasons. Video games are more than late nights, tired eyes and a waste of time.   

“Stop playing too many video games! It’s bad for you,” said by a good amount of parents while growing up.   

A study conducted by Matthew W.G. Dye, C. Shawn Green, and Daphne Bavelier at the Department of Brain and Cognitive Sciences, University of Rochester show that video games improve hand-eye coordination, increase visual processing in the periphery, greater divided attention, and enhances mental rotation skills and visuospatial memory.  

Gamers know that you cannot jump right into a game and expect to be the best. It takes time and patience to build the skill required to obtain the objective of a game, with strategy and high-level thinking. Allowing children to exercise these skills while multitasking is quite rewarding in the end.   

Children also practice management, mapping, pattern recognition, reading comprehension and make quantitative calculations. These abilities that children are developing from playing video games could be useful for real-life situations. It could help with their accuracy, reaction time, decision-making and creativity.  

Even though video games could benefit children, this should not get in the way of school, responsibilities, and sleep. Unfortunately, some of the worries parents have about video games are true. Video games will open curtains to the unwelcome such as exposing the children’s minds to the world of violence, putting them at risk for obesity and stealing time from their day. In the end, parents are able to steer clear of the dilemmas and rule out the negatives of gaming by monitoring what kind of games their children are playing, and the duration they are able to play. 

Nonetheless we must not forget. There is a fine line between a healthy amount of gaming and an extreme amount of gaming, which could be easily crossed. Video games are similar to junk food- it is acceptable in moderation, but too much could result in negative side effects.   

Allowing your child to play video games is not the worst thing in the world. Though, completely dismissing the entire hobby in the 21st century could be a kids’ worst nightmare.