Ezra Mugridge, Freshman
Many people from all age groups enjoy playing video games. Yet many parents argue they are unhealthy and contribute to their children’s anger, laziness, and even depression. While too many video games may contribute to such things, in moderation video games have been proven to be a fair bit helpful in children's health. So before you entirely ban video games from your household, it is important to consider the benefits of these online ordeals your kids enjoy so much.
Playing video games makes people happy, and happy equals healthy. Games are often exciting, challenging, and even offer difficult problems to strategize ways of beating the game. A misconception is that video games rot the mind, yet they really do quite the opposite, keeping your mind active, excited, and always looking for the next level to conquer. A study done by the University of Oxford found that time spent playing games was associated with the players reporting that they felt happier.
"Our findings show video games aren't necessarily bad for your health; there are other psychological factors which have a significant effect on a person's well-being," Andrew Przybylski, director of research at the Oxford Internet Institute and the study's lead author said. "In fact, play can be an activity that relates positively to people's mental health -- and regulating video games could withhold those benefits from players." Though the research was limited to two games, “Animal Crossing: New Horizons” and “Plants vs Zombies: Battle for Neighborville,” it is still sufficient enough to show video games are not as unhealthy as many have been led to believe.
"We are optimistic that collaborations of this sort will deliver the evidence required to advance our understanding of human play and provide policymakers the insights into how they might shape, for good or ill, our health," he continued.
As video games become more popular, we now know that they are a safe form of enrichment for children to grow up with. They may even end up helping in schools, or be a part of more people's jobs, as YouTube gaming becomes more and more relevant. However it is important to remember to get the beneficial side of video games and only play them a little each day to maintain that healthy balance, while still getting the enjoyment that they offer so many people around the world.
Source:
https://www.cnn.com/2020/11/16/health/video-games-mental-health-study-wellness-scli-intl/index.html
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