Video games are a great source of entertainment and fun. As categories vary from action packed violence to educational games, a lot of game time can do you some harm. With 72 percent of American households playing video games, Americans spend about 25.3 billion dollars on video games per year. With over 500 million gamers worldwide, 183,500,000 gamers can be found in the United States alone. With numbers like this, do video games come with a secret cost? Are all 500 million worldwide gamers affected by gaming an hour a day? How are we affected mentally, physically, or emotionally? Are we positively or negatively affected by playing video games?
91 percent of kids between the ages of 2 and 17 play video games. Kids or teens tend to average about 10,000 hours of game time before they are 17 years of age. Researchers at the Iowa State University have found that children who are in their earlier ages of youth, that are found to frequently watch television or play video games, could be found later in the future with attention problems. As stress levels can increase while playing a videogame, gaming can also cause obesity and computer vision syndrome.
Children and teenagers between the ages of 8 and 18 average about 7.5 hours a day on entertainment devices. As these hours could be used for physical activity, children and teens decide to play video games, watch television, play on their mobile devices, or frequently uses their computers. With many hours of entertainment, these children and teens frequently tend to snack, and with an increase of meals and calories that are not being burnt, nutrients and supplements from the food or snack are being turned into fat. As American children struggle to get in a 60-minute aerobic workout per day, entertainment devices and gaming are one of the leading causes of obesity, affecting nearly 12.5 million American children.
Many people do not realize but video games and entertainment devices can have an effect on your eyes. It is also more likely for children to develop eye related issues, just like how adults develop CSV, also known as computer vision syndrome. Adults who spend a lot of time on computers are likely to experience symptoms of computer vision syndrome. Our pair of eyes has a greater difficulty of reading characters made up of pixels or small dots. As our eyes strain and focus more to give us the ability to read the text or see what is on our television screen, this can lead to fatigue and burning eyes. If you experience any of the following symptoms: dry eyes, headaches, neck and shoulder pain, squinting, eye irritation, blurred vision, double vision, temporary inability to focus on a distant object or light sensitivity, it is recommended to either purchase a prescribed pair of computer glasses or to rest your eyes and focus on something else. If you or your child is experiencing the symptoms listed above, try the 20-5 method. Use the electronic device for 20 minutes and rest your eyes for 5 minutes. Try to keep a six feet distance from your television and your eyes, as it is highly recommended.
Video games can give you stress but at the same time, it can be a great stress reliever. Video games may cause an increase in aggressive behavior, vision related problems or CSV, and obesity. However, there are a few positive aspects to look at gaming. German researchers have found that playing video games for 30 minutes a day can increase memory power, one’s ability to plan and dexterity. To prove it, researchers compared regular people and gamers, and concluded that gamers have produced more grey matter.
For more information, please visit:
https://secure.videogamevoters.org/pages/top_10_gamer_facts/
http://venturebeat.com/2010/05/09/americans-spend-25-3b-each-year-on-video-games
http://www.cnet.com/news/91-percent-of-kids-are-gamers-research-says/
http://www.cyh.com/healthtopics/healthtopicdetails.aspx?p=243&np=295&id=2375
http://www.cdc.gov/obesity/childhood/problem.html
http://www.livestrong.com/article/376383-obesity-in-children-video-games/
http://vision.about.com/od/sportsvision/a/Computer_Vision.htm
http://vision.about.com/od/childrensvision/qt/Video_Games.htm
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sciencetech/article-2483687/Playing-video-games-half-hour-day-make-brain-bigger.html
91 percent of kids between the ages of 2 and 17 play video games. Kids or teens tend to average about 10,000 hours of game time before they are 17 years of age. Researchers at the Iowa State University have found that children who are in their earlier ages of youth, that are found to frequently watch television or play video games, could be found later in the future with attention problems. As stress levels can increase while playing a videogame, gaming can also cause obesity and computer vision syndrome.
Children and teenagers between the ages of 8 and 18 average about 7.5 hours a day on entertainment devices. As these hours could be used for physical activity, children and teens decide to play video games, watch television, play on their mobile devices, or frequently uses their computers. With many hours of entertainment, these children and teens frequently tend to snack, and with an increase of meals and calories that are not being burnt, nutrients and supplements from the food or snack are being turned into fat. As American children struggle to get in a 60-minute aerobic workout per day, entertainment devices and gaming are one of the leading causes of obesity, affecting nearly 12.5 million American children.
Many people do not realize but video games and entertainment devices can have an effect on your eyes. It is also more likely for children to develop eye related issues, just like how adults develop CSV, also known as computer vision syndrome. Adults who spend a lot of time on computers are likely to experience symptoms of computer vision syndrome. Our pair of eyes has a greater difficulty of reading characters made up of pixels or small dots. As our eyes strain and focus more to give us the ability to read the text or see what is on our television screen, this can lead to fatigue and burning eyes. If you experience any of the following symptoms: dry eyes, headaches, neck and shoulder pain, squinting, eye irritation, blurred vision, double vision, temporary inability to focus on a distant object or light sensitivity, it is recommended to either purchase a prescribed pair of computer glasses or to rest your eyes and focus on something else. If you or your child is experiencing the symptoms listed above, try the 20-5 method. Use the electronic device for 20 minutes and rest your eyes for 5 minutes. Try to keep a six feet distance from your television and your eyes, as it is highly recommended.
Video games can give you stress but at the same time, it can be a great stress reliever. Video games may cause an increase in aggressive behavior, vision related problems or CSV, and obesity. However, there are a few positive aspects to look at gaming. German researchers have found that playing video games for 30 minutes a day can increase memory power, one’s ability to plan and dexterity. To prove it, researchers compared regular people and gamers, and concluded that gamers have produced more grey matter.
For more information, please visit:
https://secure.videogamevoters.org/pages/top_10_gamer_facts/
http://venturebeat.com/2010/05/09/americans-spend-25-3b-each-year-on-video-games
http://www.cnet.com/news/91-percent-of-kids-are-gamers-research-says/
http://www.cyh.com/healthtopics/healthtopicdetails.aspx?p=243&np=295&id=2375
http://www.cdc.gov/obesity/childhood/problem.html
http://www.livestrong.com/article/376383-obesity-in-children-video-games/
http://vision.about.com/od/sportsvision/a/Computer_Vision.htm
http://vision.about.com/od/childrensvision/qt/Video_Games.htm
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sciencetech/article-2483687/Playing-video-games-half-hour-day-make-brain-bigger.html