Computer Games impact on Children’s Growth

Computer games and videos have various effects on a child's development. Depending on how well the consumer is monitored, there are both positive and negative consequences. Its importance extends to the social, physical, and moral aspects of a child's life, such as health, behavior, and schooling. Several ideas have sought to understand those results and also to address issues associated with computer games and recordings. Even after all that has been completed, the problems associated with it continue to escalate, necessitating further studies and debates in order to keep computer use by children as healthy as possible. Because of this stalemate, the thesis above, video games are the most severe problem that affects child's development and still call for much more discussions. Based on this, it has been found out that its influence is both positive and negative depending on how exposed the child is. It causes health problems, behavioral disconnects. It at the same time leads to the improved education system, proper talent management and so forth. The final result mostly depends on the individual user.

Impact of Computer Games on Children’s Growth

Introduction

The main difference between human beings and other animals is that man thinks, reasons out and always work hard to better his living standard. The urge to live a better life has pushed for various innovations in many fields such as aviation, telecommunication, agriculture and much more. Such changes affect our lives in different ways, both positively and negatively. A case like in the telecommunication sector.

So many innovations have been done in this industry that somehow we get confused whether the results are of good or bad to us and the future generation. Computer games and videos, for example, are some of the significant innovations in the information and technology sector. They have met mixed reactions from the public, some people praising while others are cursing the whole idea. The latter group says so basing their arguments on the impacts it has on a child’s development process. The lousy feeling against it has led to people reasoning that computer video games are the most severe problem that affects children’s development because it impacts on social life, causes health problems and makes them somehow violent.

Disadvantages

One of the disadvantages of computer video games is poor health among children. It affects their growth in different ways, both benefits and adverse effects can be seen almost everywhere. Some of the harmful effects include health problems such as the pain of the back born, eye problem and obesity. According to Leifer (2012), prolonged watching of computer screens exposes the child’s eyes to too much light that causes problems during the development of the child’s eyes. Sitting for a long time watching such videos cause backbone pain. Effects on the back born can lead to malfunction of various brain nerves that may finally lead to brain deformation.

Watching computer videos and games may be very addictive hence children will tend to sit for a long time with minimal physical exercise. If this continues over an extended period, it may lead to the child being overweight, hence obesity. Many families go through a lot of financial strain solving such health problems, yet they can be avoided by not watching such videos for a long time.

Another disadvantage of video games is that it contributes to acquiring of bad culture. Children can learn some bad behavior from the videos they watch from the computers. Some children are exposed to videos that are meant for adults. Such games make them learn some habits that later on impair their thinking in future. Children may also learn some cultures from other parts of the world that may not be acceptable in their society Clauss-Ehlers (2010). Such absorbed culture do affect child's growth because they may end up doing some things contrary to their societal norms, yet the behavior is normal to them. Such scenario happens mostly because some cultures permit what other societies don't allow. A given community may feel offended by some action that is very normal in others.

Computer games are also addictive. The addictive nature of the computer videos and games make children lazy and have a negative attitude towards physical house chores. The child's body and mentality become so used to sitting down; this makes them malinger and start avoiding their regular duties in the house. Blumberg and Fisch (2013). These lead to much tension and bad blood between parents and their children hence family breakups.

Some computer games make children very violent in their real life. Games that imitate warriors have such effects on children. They watch some horrifying scenes that are very violent. As a child, these scenes may seem reasonable but have very deep-rooted influence in their reasoning and how they handle their day to day activities. Such games also affect how children relate to themselves, how they solve their problems Blumberg (2013).  The approach a child takes when wronged is greatly affected, the child may mostly end up taking actions like the ones in the games. So if exposed mostly to games with violent scenes, the child may end up taking very violent action against whoever wronged him or her.

Many children start watching these games at very tender age hence form part of their development, this is a problem on its own. Whatever a child learns at this age is always very difficult to unlearn. If a child acquires a lousy habit from computer games at an early stage, it may be part and parcel of his behavior the rest of his life even if it was not his behavior genetically.

Advantages

To start with, computer games are educative. According to Dunckley (2015), computer games are also full of positive impacts on a child's growth. Children who are exposed to a computer at early stages of the life tend to be several steps ahead of their counterparts who are unexposed. Benefits attached to computer games cover a vast area, ranging from education, health to even socioeconomic behavior. Children who are exposed to video games learn so much from them Blumberg (2014). Some games are very educative; some have primary introductory materials to their studies. Games that have songs and plays that help a child learn counting are of great help. Some games teach children polite words to use in different situations, such as greetings and how to behave in case they are in the wrong. Such materials have a lot of impacts on defining how the child interacts with fellow children and even their elders Blumberg and Fisch (2013).  When they practice such instructions, they end being responsible people in the society.

Another benefit is that it leads to economic relief. The use of computer videos is a tremendous economic relief, as children can access information in some books in online libraries. Some of these books are very expensive, and if the parents were to buy them, they would incur a lot of expenses. The free access to such online materials also helps them improve their reading culture. Economically, this helps in saving resources that could otherwise be used in purchasing such expensive books Potter (2011). 

Computer games enable children to learn foreign education systems. According to Clauss-Ehlers (2010), the idea of computer games also helps children learn the learning system in other parts of the world. It helps the child be open-minded as they not only learned things within their locality but also from other areas. A child will always develop a balanced reasoning on how to handle circumstances surrounding him, improve their relationship with other children, elders, and even foreigners. Learning of foreign cultures also reduce culture shock in future if in any case, the child visits them. It helps the child in future during job searching process as the child shall be having some clue on the new culture.

It also contributes to children’s good health. Children's health gets a lot of boost for children who use computer videos. It is because some games have physical exercise materials that if well practiced can significantly improve their well-being. Some games have healthy feeding programs that educate children on proper feeding habits, balanced diet, and even table manners. From this such children are always several steps ahead of their fellows who don’t use computer videos Leifer (2012). 

Another advantage of computer games is that it helps in nurturing children’s talents. According to Wannemacker, Vandercruysse and Clarebout (2012), the use of computer videos and games has profoundly improved the ability of children to identify and nurture their talents at an early stage. Computers have games from various fields of study. With this kind of exposure, a child's skill can be easily identified and nurtured at that tender age. If this kind of early exposure is done correctly, the education system will improve significantly, hence young, energetic professionals.

Conclusion

From above we learn that computer games and videos have both different impacts on the growth of a child. It can be the most severe problem that affects child's development as it affects the child's social life, causes health problems and can also make them violent. But at the same time, its use is excellent benefits as it reduces the cost of education, helps in early identification and nurturing of talents. It allows children in understanding other cultures hence improving how children relate to other people of different cultures. We, therefore, learn that computer games and videos are of great importance if used well and can be very harmful to children’s growth if not well used as explained above.

References

Blumberg, F. C., & Fisch, S. M. (2013). Digital Games: A Context for Cognitive Development: New Directions for Child and Adolescent Development, Number 139. New York, NY: John Wiley & Sons.

Blumberg, F. (2014). Learning by playing: Video gaming in education. Oxford: Oxford University Press.

Clauss-Ehlers, C. S. (2010). Encyclopedia of cross-cultural school psychology: Vol. 1-. New York: Springer.

Dunckley, V. L. (2015). Reset your child's brain: A four-week plan to end meltdowns, raise grades, and boost social skills by reversing the effects of electronic screen-time.likj

Leifer, G. (2012). Growth and development across the lifespan: A health promotion focus. Elsevier Saunders.

In Capuzzi, D., & In Stauffer, M. D. (2016). Human growth and development across the lifespan: Applications for counselors.

Potter, W. J. (2011). Media literacy. Los Angeles: SAGE.

Wannemacker, S., Vandercruysse, S., & Clarebout, G. (2012). Serious Games: The Challenge [recurso electrónico]: ITEC/CIP and T 2011: Joint Conference of the Interdisciplinary Research Group on Technology, Education, and Communication, and the Scientific Network on Critical and Flexible Thinking Ghent, Belgium, October 19-21, 2011, Revised Selected Papers.