As soon as computer games started to fill houses and young people’s minds, parents and teachers started to raise their concerns. Are computer games good for children? What effects do they have on young minds? How much gaming is too much? What if computer gaming is actually bad for students? Can they even focus on studying, or do computer games take over their attention?
All these questions have been the subject of parents-teachers discussions for about forty years. Yet, most people hold their ground and stick to their opinions on the matter. Some people believe gaming is bad for one’s academic performance and personal life. Others don’t view gaming as evil while still having concerns about the gaming choices and the amount of time one can spend on the computer. Overall, we offer a two-way discussion on whether gaming is bad or acceptable for students. Let’s find out.
Two types of gaming habits
Let’s start by defining two very different gaming habits. There is gaming as an occasional hobby, which can actually be a great learning enhancement experience, and there is excessive gaming. Now, the latter can come with severe disadvantages for students.
Excessive gaming
Young people with gaming addiction can suffer from a number of consequences that interfere with their academic performance. Common signs of excessive gaming and its consequences are:
- Sleep deprivation and poor sleeping routine;
- lack of other hobbies;
- lack of social interactions outside gaming;
- lack of exercising;
- frequent mood swings and irritation;
- lack of high-quality personal time;
- poor concentration.
Students with excessive gaming problems will inevitably drop in their school performance as their priorities and motivation change. Now, they are more focused on the digital world and gaming experiences than the reality around them. It’s a concerning state to be in for long periods, as it can lead to greater consequences such as poor grades, broken social connections, and a lost sense of reality.
Of course, the aforementioned picture is the extreme version of gaming addiction. It’s not something common all gamers share. In fact, when noticing some of those patterns of behavior, one should ask additional questions. For example, why does a student choose the gaming world instead of the real one? How has the student’s mental health been before the gaming addiction? Is it a particular game they are addicted to or a series of games?
All these questions will help you better understand the nature of such an addiction and how to overcome it. Of course, such conditions are not helping students’ academic performance. However, excessive gaming can speak of greater issues than just addiction to computer games.
Reasonable gaming
More often than not, students choose to game as a means to unwind, relax, and release some steam because computer games can be a genuinely fun experience. Thus, students come to the game world for entertainment. Yet, they don’t tend to replace the real world with the digital one. Such a distinction already makes a big difference between the two approaches.
Now, can a reasonable amount of gaming still hurt one’s academic progress and personal life? Well, it’s more likely to be a negative answer. Now, a reasonable amount of gaming should not prevent young people and children from enjoying successful learning and social and personal time. On the contrary, it’s believed that short gaming sessions a few times a week can even benefit young minds.
First, students experience all sorts of emotions and feelings while playing. Young people are often bad at expressing their emotions. Hence, they tend to bottle them up. When playing, young people get to relive those emotions. Thus, a game can give them a sense of relief and freedom. It’s a safe environment to feel anger, fear, hurt, or ecstatic.
Secondly, most games teach young people valuable skills that can also be applied in academia. Thus, many computer games force players to use strategy, logic, and critical thinking in order to pass their challenges. So, people also learn to apply those skills in games and reality. Taking this into consideration, computer games can actually be an excellent learning practice for young people who struggle with some of those skills.
Not to mention that computer games can just be a great way to relax for stressed students. So, they get to reset their focus and have a fun time forgetting about the school pressure. Stress is not the best friend to higher academic performance. Thus, gaming can actually be a good thing for studying in this scenario.
Bottom line
Whether gaming is bad or good for students will depend on the individual. For the most part, gaming itself doesn’t carry any danger to the society of young people. How they approach this experience and why they choose to game matters. Of course, even some not-so-habitual gamers may skip a few assignments to play a new game release. Fortunately, students can always go to https://writepaperfor.me/pay-for-essays and pay for their essays online. Thus, gamers get what they want without sacrificing their school performance or grades. It’s a win-win situation for all. Though, it doesn’t mean that games can hurt students’ academic progress long-term. As long as a person sets their priorities straight and is motivated to study hard and succeed in school, computer games won’t be more than a fun pastime.
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