Author Paul Lavin, Ph.D. POSTED: Thursday September 2, 2010 GUEST COLUMNIST ______________________ The Problem with Video Games
(www.RemnantNewspaper.com) Currently, there is an ongoing debate in the medical community as to whether the compulsive habit of playing video games is addictive. Any astute adult, parent, teacher, or observer of children’s behavior can easily recognize that the excessive use of video games and the electronic devises accompanying them have become a dominant force, negatively impacting the lives of our young people. Time and energy that would be better spent engaging in productive activity is being siphoned off in prodigious quantities into a never ending black hole called “gaming.”
The Wikipedia Free Encyclopedia reported that the American Academy of Pediatrics and the Council on Science and Public Health have indicated that any more than two hours per day spent playing video games should be considered “gaming overuse.” If we use that figure as a cut-off point, a youngster who plays up to the limit would be engaging in video game playing of fourteen hours per week. This means that nearly two working days a week would be used for gaming—a substantial amount of time indeed. And this would fall within the normal range!
What about the many youngsters who exceed this number? And what about those young people who spend their other leisure hours glued to a cell-phone, watching television, or entertaining themselves by “surfing the net” on their personal lap tops or family computers? As one can see, a good deal of a modern child’s life can become devoted to “screen time,” which goes far beyond just playing video games. As noted earlier, one does not have to be a rocket scientist to recognize that this is not only a problem for our children but for those of us who are responsible for parenting and educating them.
The attraction to electronic devises has become so pronounced that people intently focus upon them even while driving, walking, or attending social events. How often, for example, do we see children and adults alike chatting on a cell-phone, tending to an iPod, or texting while walking or driving on a busy street. They are so engaged in their electronically-charged activities that they are only marginally attending to what is going on around them. Obviously, this is a prescription for a disaster that could even lead to an accident or serious injury.
Or how about the child or adolescent who is intently absorbed in playing a video or computer game to such an extent that he loses touch with reality around him? If you are a parent and insist that the youngster stop the game in order to attend to more important tasks this often leads to a “meltdown”. As a psychologist who works with families, I have found this to be a common problem for kids who are hooked on “gaming.” So much for the Fourth Commandment!
Is video game addiction corrupting our youth?
ReplyDeleteAuthor Paul Lavin, Ph.D. POSTED: Thursday September 2, 2010
GUEST COLUMNIST
______________________
The Problem with Video Games
(www.RemnantNewspaper.com) Currently, there is an ongoing debate in the medical community as to whether the compulsive habit of playing video games is addictive. Any astute adult, parent, teacher, or observer of children’s behavior can easily recognize that the excessive use of video games and the electronic devises accompanying them have become a dominant force, negatively impacting the lives of our young people. Time and energy that would be better spent engaging in productive activity is being siphoned off in prodigious quantities into a never ending black hole called “gaming.”
The Wikipedia Free Encyclopedia reported that the American Academy of Pediatrics and the Council on Science and Public Health have indicated that any more than two hours per day spent playing video games should be considered “gaming overuse.” If we use that figure as a cut-off point, a youngster who plays up to the limit would be engaging in video game playing of fourteen hours per week. This means that nearly two working days a week would be used for gaming—a substantial amount of time indeed. And this would fall within the normal range!
What about the many youngsters who exceed this number? And what about those young people who spend their other leisure hours glued to a cell-phone, watching television, or entertaining themselves by “surfing the net” on their personal lap tops or family computers? As one can see, a good deal of a modern child’s life can become devoted to “screen time,” which goes far beyond just playing video games. As noted earlier, one does not have to be a rocket scientist to recognize that this is not only a problem for our children but for those of us who are responsible for parenting and educating them.
The attraction to electronic devises has become so pronounced that people intently focus upon them even while driving, walking, or attending social events. How often, for example, do we see children and adults alike chatting on a cell-phone, tending to an iPod, or texting while walking or driving on a busy street. They are so engaged in their electronically-charged activities that they are only marginally attending to what is going on around them. Obviously, this is a prescription for a disaster that could even lead to an accident or serious injury.
Or how about the child or adolescent who is intently absorbed in playing a video or computer game to such an extent that he loses touch with reality around him? If you are a parent and insist that the youngster stop the game in order to attend to more important tasks this often leads to a “meltdown”. As a psychologist who works with families, I have found this to be a common problem for kids who are hooked on “gaming.” So much for the Fourth Commandment!