Zach+O.+-+POSITION+PAPER


 * How can we inform parents and children about the harms of video game addiction? **

** Put warning labels on video games and trailers to inform parents and their addicted kids about the dangers of video game addiction, and to have parents motivate their kids to start exercising their bodies instead of their fingers. **

With technology constantly advancing, few people today are satisfied with reading books or playing board games for fun. Instead, people today are involved in electronic activities that include online social networking, watching TV, or sharing music and photos through online media. One of the most popular types of electronic entertainment is video games. Children, teenagers, and adults love them, and they can be played alone, or with a group online or in person. Society understands that street drugs can be addictive, but few people are aware that video games can also be just as addicting, and also be just as damaging as drugs. Video game addicts develop several problems that can lead to dysfunctional social relationships, stress, depression and low productivity in jobs and school. "An addiction is a condition in which individuals engage in habitual behaviors or use of substances in a way that is maladaptive and causes them harm or distress" (Wynn). Gaming companies hook people into playing video games by thinking of new ways to make them more entertaining, which attracts a bigger audience and expands the number of people who play. Some popular games that most teens are addicted to are the violent shooting games like Call of Duty, Halo, or Battlefield, and younger kids are more into the family E and E10 rated games. Children cannot stop this addiction on their own. They need their parents to guide them in the right direction, since parents are the strongest influence over children. The parents should not completely take away the games, but have more strict time limits and find other activities for their kids to that exercise their body and mind. Also, the parents need to be more aware of the content of the game, which is why the government should require warning labels on all video game packaging, and on the trailers promoting the games.

Video games only keep getting better which is making it more difficult for kids and adults to get away from them. The problem with video games is that many people spend too much time on them, which can lead to bigger problems like having a negative attitude and becoming more defensive, having bad personal hygiene, and doing poorly in school. These behaviors are most likely negative since the video game addicts are angry when they are not playing the game. Just like any other drug, the person will react completely different if they do not have it, and when they do have it, they are happy. The goal here is to create an awareness that video game addiction does exist. According to a study at Iowa State University and the National Institute on Media and Family, a survey of 1,178 gamers found that 8.5% of them exhibit multiple symptoms of addiction (Vivo). Ninety percent of American children play video games and 15% of them are said to be addicted (Young). Someone with video game addiction does not know how to act like a regular happy person because most of their time is spent playing video games. They probably do not have a good social life, struggle in school, not spend as much time with their family, or lose interest in the old hobbies they used to normally do (Rauh). Video games eliminate physical activity, which can lead to obesity. Just one out of three children is considered obese. The brain overstimulates through the graphics of the games, and this can lead to ADD or ADHD. Children will become more violent and will bully others from their influences of the violent M rated games (AACAP). The anger that people would most likely get is from losing a game or not being able to beat a game. Some incidents have resulted in throwing the controller across the room or getting mad at the person whom they are playing with. Another reason is that the person may get upset when they are forced to turn off the game and do something else instead, which can be difficult because all they are thinking about is the game. The consequences of video game addiction are that kids can become obsessed with the game, instead of friendships and school.

The world's first video game was called “Tennis for Two” created by a man named William A. Higinbotham in 1958, when television was still pretty new. The game was simple. Two people would control their side, as a ball would bounce over a small bar, indicating the net. In 1961, a group of computer experts, called the Tech Model Railroad Club, created Spacewar, the world's first fully interactive video game. The three members were Wayne Witanen, J. Martin Graetz and Steve Russell. In 1972, Ralph Baer was credited for developing the first home video game, which was named the Odyssey (Hunter). One of the first gaming companies was Atari, founded by Nolan Bushnell, who was a genius at making games addictive. A popular game that he created was PONG, which appeared at a bar in Sunnyvale, California in1972. It was so popular that machine filled up with coins and was jammed from so many people playing it. In 1989, Nintendo released the Game Boy and Atari came out with the Lynx, both hand held devices that people could carry around wherever they went. Tetris was a very popular game on these devices since some people would play it nonstop claiming it to be a “Tetris Trance". In 1997, Ultima Online was released making it the first MMORPG (Massively Multiplayer Online Role-Playing Game). People could now play online with other people instead of always having to verse the computer (Popper). The video games of the 21st century were struck to be the top selling and most entertaining. Two new gaming systems came to existence. The PlayStation, created in 1994, and the Xbox, created in 2001. These were the two big gaming consoles that were, and still are, competing with each other today. They have now improved to The Playstation3 and Xbox 360, which are the two main gaming systems that millions of people are playing nowadays. We have now improved to smart phones that people play games on, much like the Game Boys, since they are portable. Many people are getting addicted to video games because there are so many of them and are easy to access.

William A. Higinbotham created the first video game that changed history, but did he know that he would potentially be changing it in a bad way? Probably not, because many video game companies have been and are continuing to make their games much more fun and entertaining for everyone, which is why so many people are getting addicted to them. The thing that needs to change is to have parents enforce shorter time limits for their children to play video games. Most parents do not have a strict rule on this, which explains why kids spend so many hours on them. The problem is no one can really change the time limits that parents put on their kids. We do not have laws that enforce time on video games and it would be interfering with people's freedom of choice. A first step to stopping this addiction is to have warning labels on the case of the games. Not the label that says what the content of the game is, but a label saying that the game may be addictive. Much like a label on an alcoholic beverage that says pregnant women should not drink, or drink while driving. Most people would hardly pay attention to the video game warning at first since they are so excited about playing it, but later on, someone like a parent might see the game lying on the counter, see that warning label and start to discuss this with other people, creating awareness. Most people may hear about new video games from trailers of them on TV or You Tube, which is why the video game companies need to say something at the beginning of the trailer about the addiction and harms it may cause. Some people may ignore those warnings, therefore the American Academy of Pediatrics could educate parents during well-child visits, create posters put around schools and public, and service announcements that explain video game addiction and how it can affect someone's social and academic performance, as well as their health. The overall goal is to not prevent people from playing video games, but to motivate kids and adults to do other activities like playing outside, reading a book, or spending more family time. If parents can stop kids from being addicted to video games at an early age, then the kids will become more successful in the long run.

There are many experts that say video games can be a good thing. ABC posted an article describing the many benefits of video games for adults and children. These benefits include improving one’s social life, education, their career, and much more. A study was performed on young children to play video games and they showed an increasing ability for recognizing certain sounds, letters, and stories. Surprisingly enough, violent games can have a positive impact on children. For example, in “World of Warcraft”, you have to show teamwork and responsibility to succeed. Video games can also help adults because an ONR study showed more improvements on a gamer’s perceptual and cognitive ability than non-game players. Studies show that video games can also improve multitasking because when you play a game, there are many things going on that you have to pay attention to, so it gets your brain thinking more. Multiplayer family games such as Wii sports, Madden or Mario Kart, can put people in better moods and will benefit them more socially (Steinberg). Even though this evidence is accurate, Steinberg is missing the fact that everybody has a different reaction to video games and many people play them for several hours a day. This is what leads to video game addiction. Sure video games can be good for you if you limit your time with them, but a 'non-addicted' gamer should be on the lookout for their time spent on video games.

Video games in general cannot necessarily be profound as being “bad” for someone, because every game is different. There are family – based games that allow you to move like Wii or Kinect games, and there are your typical ‘sit-on-the-couch’ multiplayer shooting games like Halo or Call of Duty. The reaction to these games all depends on the person and the game, since there are both positive and negative expert opinions on this issue. Keith Garret is a writer and a grown man who also plays video games. He plays them with his son and has not seen a change in poor, aggressive behavior in either of them. Many surgeons can agree that video games improve cognitive and perceptual skills, along with helping one's scientific thinking. Douglas Gentile, a co-author of one of the papers that supports video games said, “This means that games are not 'good' or 'bad,' but are powerful educational tools and have many effects we might not have expected they could” (Garrett). PBS also supports learning from video games and has released almost 40 educational games for young children. It’s not just kids, “both the U.S. Defense Intelligence Agency and the U.S. Army Intelligence Center have used video games for training personnel in critical thinking skills” (Garrett). Garrett says that the worst that thing that happens while playing video games is that he knows that he could have been doing something else more important.

A list of 10 benefits was posted on BestOnlineColleges.com, which was tested from different colleges in the U.S., and they are all beneficial for everyone. Benefits like eyesight improvement, anger management, better social skills, and can even reduce stress. " A study conducted by psychologists at the University of Rochester found that video game-playing surgical residents and surgeons who were tasked with performing a procedure were 24% faster, made 32% fewer errors and scored 26% better overall" (BestOnlineColleges.com). There have also been games that are designed to improve someone's self-esteem. Most people would stereotype a gamer as the kid or adult that spends most of the day alone in his room playing video games, with no social involvement. Most gamers are playing with their friends either online or in person, which makes it more fun. Most multiplayer games require teamwork and communicate with other people in order to succeed in a game.

The previous information is all true; however, they are missing the other parts. Even though educational games can help with learning, it can also damage other parts of the brain. Games can be good for you only if you limit your time with them. All of these people with addictions probably know that what they are doing is bad, but they cannot stop because is just like any other drug or alcohol addiction, when they are off of it, their body does not function properly. Once they become really engaged in the game, they are hooked and lose interest in the important things like school, family, or jobs. These video game addicts mostly play violent M rated games, because they are the most entertaining out of all. Many of them are between the ages of 8 and 18. They all include drug references, explicit and sexual content that young kids should not be involved in. This is a result of bad parenting because the legal age to buy an M rated game is 17, meaning a parent has to be present when a child is buying a game. The parent may not even know that the game is bad, which is why they should look into it before buying it. The game content is obviously not a problem with adults, but it is the amount of time spent on them. They lose their social life and become an outcast. The way we are headed, our economy will not be as strong because of the lack of education from education.

It is agreed that video games are beneficial in some ways, but these benefits do not happen to everyone. There are some people that can play maybe 1-2 hours at a time and not feel an urge to play anymore, and there are others that may play 30-40 hours a week and cannot stop. If commercials, ads, or articles informed their audiences that video games can be good for someone, then kids would be naive enough to play them even more than usual. This is where they would become addicted. Video game addiction is much more serious than most people think it is. "Hospitals and clinics have emerged with outpatient treatment services for Internet addiction, addiction rehabilitation centers have admitted new cases of Internet addicts, and college campuses have started support groups to help students who are addicted" (Young). Someone can become addicted to video games just like any other drug. The solution is to have parents become more involved. Most parents do not care how long their child plays video games, or are unaware of what their child is playing, which is why video game addiction is mostly caused by bad parenting. The government does not see this addiction as a problem but it is ruining teens' and kids' lives. They are struggling socially and in school, they are becoming obese, and are more aggressive. Putting warning labels on games and trailers would be a start to putting out awareness to parents in order for their kids live even more healthier and living better lives.

//**ANNOTATED BIBLIOGRAPHY **//

1. Cash, Hilarie, Dr., et al. “Compulsive Video Gaming: Addiction or Vice?.” Interview by Neal Conan. // Talk of the Nation //. National Public Radio. NPR, Washington, 10 July 2007. Print. Transcript. This was an interview on NPR hosted by Neal Conan. He interviewed many experts, authors and callers that had a relation to video games, and gave an in depth idea of the whole concept.

2. “Children and Video Games: Playing with Violence.” // American Academy of Child & Adolescent Psychiatry //. American Academy of Child Adolescent Psychiatry, 2010. Web. 4 Apr. 2012. This article was posted by the American Academy of Child & Adolescent Psychiatry. It includes the dangers of too much video games and that the type of game can affect how someone acts. It includes advice for parents of how to protect their children from this addiction.

3. Garrett, Keith. “THE BENEFITS OF VIDEO GAMES.” // American Humanist Association //. N.p., n.d. Web. 26 Apr. 2012. This article is from Humanist Network News. It starts off saying that video games are not good or bad for you, but then he is biased about how video games are not harmful.

4. Hunter, William. “ the history of video games from ‘pong’ to ‘pac-man.” // designboom //. designboom, 2000-2008. Web. 12 Apr. 2012. This article includes all of the background history of video games from the very start up until now.

5. “The Impact of Video Games on Children.” // Palo Alto Medical Foundation //. PAMF, 2012. Web. 24 Apr. 2012. This article, found on PAMF talks about the dangers of video game addictions for children. It included adolescents and managing a child's time on video games.

6. Kardaras, Eleni. “The Effect of Video Games on the Brain.” // Serendip //. Serendip, 7 Jan. 2008. Web. 11 Apr. 2012. This article give a little bit more insight on video game addiction. Kardaras talks about how two young boys got angry over a video game because one was beating the other. This definitely shows how video game can affect someone's emotions and behavior.

8. Khor, Ing-Wei. “Media Exposure and Mental Health.” // Psychology and Mental Health // 5 (Apr. 2009): n. pag. Print. This is from Salem Health and it talks about the harms media can do to someone. It gives facts and statistics about how media can affect someone. The article talks about video games, cell phones, television, and computer usage.

9. Popper, Ben. “Sore Thumbs, Blood-Shot Eyes And Rehab: A History Of Video Game Addiction.” // MTV Clutch Blog //. MTV, 6 Aug. 2010. Web. 12 Apr. 2012. This is a blog on MTV and this post shows a brief history of video games from the start until now. It goes from small arcade games to present day multiplayer video and computer games.

10. Rauh, Sherry. “Video Game Addiction No Fun.” // WebMD //. WebMD, 2005-2012. Web. 9 Apr. 2012. I retrieved this credible article from WebMD, which was posted by Sherry Raugh. In this article, she explains the harm video games can do, and uses evidence to back that up. It includes signs of addiction and also give examples of real people and how their addiction has hurt them.

11. Steinberg, Scott, and ABC. “The Benefits of Video Games.” // ABC, Blogs //. ABC, 26 Dec. 2011. Web. 25 Apr. 2012. An article from ABC that gives scientific evidence that video games can be good for someone. Posted by Scott Steinberg.

12. “10 Surprising Health Benefits of Playing Video Games.” // Best Online Colleges //. BestOnlineColleges, 2010-2011. Web. 4 May 2012. This article was posted on BestOnlineColleges.com and it lists 10 positive affects on video games. It gives background information and supports each fact with scientific evidence.

13. Vivo, Meghan. “New Facts about Video Game Addiction: Problem More Widespread Than Expected.” //Video Game Addiction//. N.p., n.d. Web. 4 Apr. 2012. This article was written by Meghan Vivo, who is a web content writer at Elements Behavioral Health. She is talking about the dangers about video game addiction and provide evidence with recent studies in this article. The name of the web site is "Video Game addiction" so that is all that the site talks about since it is such a big problem.

14. Wynn, Fredric. “Addictive personality and behaviors.” // Psychology and Mental Health // (Apr. 2012): n. pag. Print. Retrieved from Salem Health, Frederic Wynn talks about addictions in general, such as symptoms, how to get off an addiction, and includes addiction treatments.

15. Young, Kimberly. “Understanding Online Gaming Addiction and Treatment Issues for Adolescents.” //The American Journal of Family Therapy//37 (2009): 355-372. PDF file. Copyright, Taylor & Frances Group, LLC. This lengthy, in depth journal talks all about online gaming and the harms it can do to someone.