The importance of video games in your children's life
in the 21th century the video game industry has grown very fast and become very powerful, and i think this is not new to you since you have noticed that almost in every house there is a game console, and kids are playing video games more than playing outside, even adults are playing games now. Some or maybe all parrents may think that video games generate a negative impact such as: violence, addiction, and depression and there is some researchs wich prove that , so parrents who try to stop their kids from playing video games, let me inform you that's wrong because it will only generate more violence and depression and believe me if your kid is a gamer he will never stop and im talking from experience here.
So instead of stopping your kids from playing, you should encourage them and try to understand and be interested in their games and activities , the American Psychological Association published a report that goes even further, saying that playing video games has tangible benefits. If you are not convinced that video games are good for your child just continue reading and i will try to persuade you of the benefits of games.
Why playing games?
alot of researchers has been focused on the negative impact of gaming: the potential harm related to aggression, addiction, and depression. that's why in the eyes of some parrents playing video games is pad for their children, but to better understand the impact of video games on children's and adolescent's development we should consider not only the pssible negative effects but also the benefits of playing these games.
In last few years the nature of this games has changed to became more complex, diverse, realistic and social in nature,wich provide youth with immerseve and compelling social,cognitive and emotional experiences and even may enhance mental health and well-being in children and adolescents.that's why we will be focusing on four main effects.Before we do that let me inform you that this is a result of decades of valuable researchs and not some random and false information created to mislead you .
Cognitive benifits of playing games
some of you may think that playing games make a person lazy and has negative effects on his intellectual skills but this is completely wrong, researchs shows that playing games develope a wide range of cognitive skills such as shooter games that help gamers to develope a faster a more accurate attention allocation, higher spacial resolution in visual processing and enhance mental rotation abilities.
In addition to those skills video games are an excellent means for developing problem-solving skills, some studies showed an indirect mediation effect such that playing strategic games predicted higher self-reported problem-solving skills, wich in turn, predicted better academic grades.
And finally games can also enhance creativity for exemple ampng a sample of 500 12 year old students, video game playing was psitively associated with creativity, critically, children's use of other fomrs of technology such as computer, internet,cellphone... did not relate to enhanced creativity.
Motivational benefit of playing video games
In this section, we do not focus on the motivations children and youth have for playing video games. Instead, we aim toidentify several characteristics of video games that seem to promote an effective motivational style both in and outside gaming contexts.
you should know that children develop beliefs about their intelligence and abilities, beliefs that underlie specific motivational styles and directly affect achievement.I propose that video games are an ideal training ground for acquiring an incremental theory of intelligence because they provide players concrete, immediate feedback regarding specific efforts players have made.
In summary, although playing games is often considereda frivolous pastime, gaming environments may actually cultivate a persistent,optimistic motivational style. This motivational style, in turn, may generalize to school and work contexts.
Emotional benifits of gaming
Gaming may be among the most efficient and effective means by which children and youth generate positive feelings. Several studies have shown a causal relation between playing preferred video games and improved mood or increases in positive emotion. It has further been suggested that some of the most intense positive emotional experiences are triggered in the context of playing video games.
Although not specific to game playing, researchers demonstrate that experiencing positive emotions may help broaden the number of behaviors one perceives as both possible and motivating and may build social relationships
that provide support for goal pursuit and coping with failure. if playing games simply makes people happier,this seems to be a fundamental emotional benefit to consider.
Social benefits of gaming
The particularity of last generation of video games is their pervasive social nature, so to be correct a gamer is not a socially isolated, inept nerd who spends most of his time alone. statistics shows that over 70% of gamers play thier games with a friend, either cooperatively or competitively.Gamers seem to acquire important prosocial skills when they play games that are specifically designed to reward effective cooperation, support, and helping behaviors.
Social skills are also manifested in forms of civic engagement: the ability to organize groups and lead likeminded people in social causes. A number of studies have focused on the link between civic engagement and gaming. For example, one large-scale, representative U.S. study showed that adolescents who played games with civic experiences were more likely to be engaged in social and civic movements in their everyday lives.
Conclusion
Video games share many similarities with traditional games and likely provide benefits similar to those provided by play more generally. Both traditional and video games are fundamentally voluntary in nature, they can include competitive and cooperative objectives, players immerse themselves in pretend worlds that are safe contexts in which negative emotions can be worked out, and games allow a sense of control with just enough unpredictability to feel deep satisfaction and intense pride when formidable goals are finally reached.
I hope by reading this article that is based on several reaserchs ,you will become particularly inspired by the potential that these games hold for interventions that promote well-being, including the prevention and treatment of mental health problems in youth.
if you like this article you may also like BEST GAME CONSOLES FOR KIDS . please leave a comment below if you have any question related to video games and children i will be happy to answer it ! thank you for reading this article.