Introduction
The study of video games has become a popular pastime for many people. Many parents also play video games and enjoy them. However, some parents do not allow their children to play video games because they believe playing them can cause the child to be lazy or have no interest in doing any work. There has been an increase in the number of people who play video games regularly. This has led to many parents becoming concerned about their child’s interest in playing video games and how this could affect them later in life. Therefore, parents need to understand what video games entail and how they can help their children develop cognitive skills that will benefit them throughout life. This paper will discuss how gaming affects children and how it can benefit them in specific ways, such as improving their hand-eye coordination skills or giving them an outlet for their emotions.
Gaming and Its Child’s Development Features
Gaming is an activity that most people enjoy doing because it allows one to forget about one’s problems and focus on something else. Gaming helps one develop one’s attention span by concentrating on something other than reality (Dale et al., 2020). Video games also help people with disabilities improve their motor skills by using controllers such as a joystick or mouse. Some studies show that playing video games increases hand-eye coordination skills (Dale et al., 2020). Playing violent video games may cause aggression, but research shows that it does not lead to violence. According to Dale et al., playing violent video games doesn’t make players more likely to commit acts of violence toward others; instead, it makes those individuals less likely to commit crimes if they are already inclined toward criminal behavior” (2020). These studies cast doubt on many parents’ fears about video games.
Gaming and Attention Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder
Therefore, gaming does not cause aggression; gamers may be more aggressive before playing a game because they want to succeed and feel accomplished after beating the game’s level, boss, or enemy. Secondly, gaming can help children with ADHD symptoms due to its fast pace of action. In their article, Salerno et al. state that playing mechanical movement video games improves visual attention and working memory capacity, potentially improving ADHD symptoms through attentional training resources, which are deficient in patients with ADHD (2022). This shows us that kids who have trouble focusing or paying attention due to ADHD may benefit from playing mechanical action video games instead of just taking medication or going through psychotherapy sessions. This would improve both aspects of their cognitive abilities, such as visual attention and working memory capacity, while still benefiting from traditional treatments like medication or psychotherapy since these would target specific areas affecting the patient’s mental health.
Conclusion
In conclusion, gamers tend to lose track of time when they get absorbed into a game because they become so focused on completing each level without dying or making mistakes while still trying to avoid getting killed themselves by enemies within each group within the game itself. However, some studies show that losing track of time negatively impacts academic performance if one spends less time doing so instead of studying correctly. Gaming is beneficial, though, mainly when used responsibly, along with traditional methods like medication/psychotherapy. This helps treat underlying issues affecting mental health conditions while assisting young adults in developing better cognitive abilities needed for schoolwork and improving hand-eye coordination skills required for sports activities such as shooting.
References
Dale, G., Joessel, A., Bavelier, D., & Green, C. S. (2020). A new look at the Cognitive Neuroscience of video game play. Annals of the New York Academy of Sciences, 1464(1), 192–203. Web.
Salerno, L., Becheri, L., & Pallanti, S. (2022). ADHD-gaming disorder comorbidity in children and adolescents: A narrative review. Children, 9(10), 1528. Web.