Tuesday, July 10, 2012


“Adam, finish up your homework first! Stop facing the computer the whole day! “

The dialogue is becoming very common among mothers nowadays and it has turned into a serious matter that worries the authorities as well. What is the subject that is becoming so crucial and needs to be taken action before it turns even worse?. The answer is video games. Video games are intially contributing to critical thinking and better vision among video gamers. However, video games in this 21st century are now full of violence and sexual aspects, it also distracts teenagers from education and causes obesity.

Some people may think that video games are actually good especially among teenagers because some games need critical decision or requires the gamer to think out of the box. This encourages better decision making in a short period of time and a more functional or creative way of solving problems. However, these aspects are hidden nowadays by the distractive elements such as violence and sexual aspects. Violence is found in most of the video games like DotA (Defense of the Action) or Street Fighter which will ‘brain wash’ the mind of teenagers about the pros and cons of fighting. These teenagers will tend to have a mindset about fighting among friends is the best solution to all problems. This will eventually increase the cases regarding bullies in school and domestic violence. In addition, sexual aspects are also spreading like wild fire in the latest video games or online games. This will increase the intentions of the gamers towards sex especially among male gamers and thus it will increase sexual abuse or rape cases in the country.

Regarding the earlier advantage of playing video games, video games are also known to encourage good vision and concentrating skill among gamers. According to a research from reserchers from the University of Rochester, people who spent 30 hours training on action games over a month spotted targets on a cluttered screen 80% of the time while non-gamers managed this only 30% of the time. This shows that video gamers have better vision and concentrating skill. However, video game causes addiction and obesity. Addicts are always seated on the same position without moving and exercising. The lack of physical movements causes a person to have numerous aches in their body which eventually leads to pains relating to the spinal cord and the pelvic girdle. Obesity will also occur due to the lack of exercise of a typical gamer. Thus, playing video games all the time leads to various health problems which will affect the future of a teenager.

Video games are also known to be a serious distraction towards students. Students who are addicted to video games tend to forget or ignore their education and thus perform badly in their studies. These are caused by the various types of video games which provide excitement and satisfaction to students who faced stress in their studies. Younger generation prefers things that are fun and simple to learn compared to boring and complicated knowlegde which will only make them tensed up. The success in the game will make them proud and thus forgetting about the importance of education in their lives. This causes them to slack in their studies. 

Therefore, video game is a threat to all generations without any limit. The older generations are supposed to be the role model to all younger generation because they do not get affected by video games in the past and thus making them successful in life. This will encourage more teenagers to stay away from the addictive video games which will only fail them in life. In conclusion, playing video games is not a good habit and should be less promoted to the authorities especially towards the teenagers to ensure a better and healthier lifestyle in the upcoming generation.

                                                                                                                               Written by
                                                                                                                            Chua Soo Ying








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