Psychological, Physical, Social And Emotional Effects Of Playing Online And Video Games

Psychological Effects of Playing Online and Video Games

Discuss about the Psychological Physical, Social and Emotional Effects of Playing Online and Video Games.

Video games are played and enjoyed by millions of people round the globe. At first, there was a common ruling that video games were mainly enjoyed or rather played by the underage individuals who were still having much time and were in need to play as leisure since they had too much time that they could get bored if they lack anything to do. Some recent research indicates that as of now the video games are played by any other especially the age bracket of forty years and below. Video games have nowadays grown to be important parts of our lives especially when we are bored and have nothing else to do. They have enabled many of us to pass the time where possible and have also been a great deal. Video games are played by both males and females. There was a growing stereotype earlier that video games were majorly dominated by the males and only a few females had interests in it.  Initially the video game players’ statistics had the males accounting for a total percentage of [eighty-four percent. As at now, research has indicated that female individuals who take part in online gaming spend the same amount of time as the males doing the same. Therefore we can see that the video gaming activity has taken over the world as a whole and not just a specific bunch of people. With the increasing change in the gamer, demographics has emerged both positive and negative impacts upon the gamers lives. This paper, therefore, discusses some of the psychological, physical, social and emotional effects of playing online and video games?

To start with the psychological effect, we can see that the video games have impacted both negative and positive effects upon the gamers lives. To start with the negative effects, we can see that video gaming courses addiction to those who are playing it. According to the Brian D Ng, M.S and Peter Wiemer-Hastings (2005), they say tat te addiction is brought as a result of paying to much attention to the game, prosocial behavior, increased game graphic making it more interesting and also the resilience to face challenges and succeed. It is said that the game appeals the mind in such a manner that the player gives in to symptoms like tolerance, craving and withdrawal symptoms of proving that they can pass a challenge no matter how many times they failed. For the gamers, the effect of addiction has come along with obsession in such a manner that many prefer to play even when they have some errand that they need to work on. Others have been addicted such that they fail to come out of the house and sit idle not knowing even anything new that might have popped out in the society. Some other research indicates that video game playing comes along with psychological advantages. This is because it equips the gamer with skills in the cognitive domain. That is those who are gaming especially the shooting games have been in a position to develop more and faster accurate attention skills, enhanced mental rotation skills and increased spatial visual processing skills.

Physical Effects of Playing Online and Video Games

Regarding the physical effects, we can see that video gaming has brought up the attribute of aggression upon players. Aggression has brought about both positive and negative effects on gamers as they play and when they are in their normal social life. To start with the negative side, we can take note that most video games that demonstrated the aspect of aggression were primarily containing the violent content and this majorly affected the male gamers. Some study by Griffith and Eastin (2006) indicate that virtual reality games recorded the highest number of hostile related actions which are very influential in the aggressive thoughts, behaviors, and feelings of the gamer. This is very evident from shooting games like the shooter or fighting ones like the mortal combat for example. In this kind of games, violence is as its peak with the gamer being faced by the primary goal of destroying various opponents by fighting them in whatever way they can to win. It is also said that the aggressive content in the virtual reality games makes the gamers to acquire some detached view of the society where they feel they can carry on with the tendencies and thoughts of aggression. This is because the video games tend to become even more real thereby fading away from the clear difference between reality and gaming. In such a case kids or rather any other class of gamers tend to exercise what they see in the games on real-life activities which leads to crime and violence.

Video game s also show some adverse effects on cognitive skills. Tsi is evident from the fact that more time was spent on gaming which affected both the academic and occupational performance of most individuals. Gamin affects the academic performance in that kids would prefer to game a lot instead of reading. Moreover, the gaming affects one mentally thereby making one to forget or rather loose interests in academics because the gamer would feel like it is boring and needs something as interesting as the game. Some research conducted by Smyth (2009) indicate that there was a negative correlation between occupation and gaming addiction. It indicates that most people were losing their jobs because they came to work late after playing the games for the whole night. There is also some clear indication that gaming has led to an increase in the level of unemployment because some people have most of their time consumed on gaming instead of going out in search for jobs.

Social Effects of Playing Online and Video Games

Gaming also comes along with social impacts. This is because through gaming friendship ties can be developed. We all know that friendship is essential in the lives of the young people. This is because it provides room for identity formation, social support, and emotional growth. Friendship in adolescents, for example, is very vital as it brings about wellbeing and happiness which help eradicate the feelings of loneliness and social anxiety. Moreover, the social support and intimacy actions brought about by the existence of friendship ties results in psychological adjustment and improved health in the later lives of the adolescents. Taking all these myriad effects into account, it can be seen that getting to comprehend some of the factors that help people interact and spend quality time are important. Video games play a significant part in ensuring it. This is because of most of the players’ game online, and during that time they get to interact with other new people whom they have never met.

Apart from the fact that video games come along with positive social effects, it can also be realized that video games have cost most lives emotionally. This comes where one is challenged or loses a match every time he plays a given game like football for example. Do not forget that these games are also just like the gambling games where one can put a bet over his head thinking that he or she is going to win the game but eventually loses. Think of a case where such a person used some cash that he or she was supposed to use somewhere else like clear his debt or may use it to pay for his rent. In such a case the person is affected emotionally living with the guilt of being a loser with no any other option of taking care of his financial problems. Such like cases have resulted into huge dramas like disagreements or others ending up dead for committing suicide or just as a result of stress. A practical example is as indicated by Victoria Anne Sublette and Barbara Mullan in their article of “Consequences of play: A Systemic Review of the Effects of Online Gaming.” It is in this article where we find that twenty-six-year-old Chinese man collapsed and died in the year 2007.He was found to have suffered the heart attack after spending all his new year holiday time gaming some video games over the computer. Another incidence is as observed in South Korea where a twenty-eight-year-old died of the same after a fifty hour non-stop computer game play. Such like cases also cause social impacts especially to the families of the deceased, who will feel remorseful for the loss of their loved ones. More important is the fact that such like cases would lead to the rise of panic among computer gamers.

In conclusion, it is said that gaming is just as gambling. It may leads to both positive and negative social effect therefore it is recommended that one should control the time he/she takes during game. The game just like betting can make one feel guilt of being a loser.

References

Title: Consequences of Play: A Systematic Review of the Effects of Online Gaming Authors: Victoria Anne Sublette, Barbara Mullan

Journal details: International Journal of Mental Health and Addiction, February 2012, Volume 10, Issue 1, pp 3–23 DOI: 10.1007/s11469-010-9304-3

Website: https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s11469-010-9304-3 Title: Youth, Friendship, and Gaming: A Network Perspective Author Frederik De Grove

Journal details: Cyberpsychology, Behavior, and Social Networking. September 2014, 17(9): 603-608. doi:10.1089/cyber.2014.0088.

Website: https://online.liebertpub.com/doi/abs/10.1089/cyber.2014.0088 Title: Addiction to the Internet and Online Gaming

Authors: BRIAN D. NG, M.S. and PETER WIEMER-HASTINGS, Ph.D. Journal details: CYBERPSYCHOLOGY & BEHAVIOR Volume 8, Number 2, 2005, pp.110-113

Website: https://eyepat.org/login/uploaded/Online%20addition%20study.pdf Title: Daily Violent Video Game Playing and Depression in Preadolescent Youth

Authors: Susan R. Tortolero, Melissa F. Peskin, Elizabeth R. Baumler, Paula M. Cuccaro, Marc N. Elliott, Susan L. Davies, Ph.D.,3 Terri H. Lewis, Ph.D.,3 Stephen W. Banspach, David E. Kanouse, and Mark A. Schuster

Journal details: CYBERPSYCHOLOGY, BEHAVIOR, AND SOCIAL NETWORKING Volume 17, Number 9, 2014, pp.609-616

DOI: 10.1089/cyber.2014.0091 Website: https://online.liebertpub.com/doi/pdfplus/10.1089/cyber.2014.0091?data-src=recsys