Video juegos

Thesis Statement
Video Games (Cons)

Video gaming (playing video games) has become a popular activity for people of all ages. Many children and adolescents spend large amounts of time playing them. Video gaming is a multibillion-dollar industry – bringing in more money than movies and DVDs. Some games have educational content but, many of the most popular games emphasize negativethemes and promote:


• The killing of people or animals
• The use and abuse of drugs and alcohol
• Criminal behavior, disrespect for authority and the law
• Sexual exploitation and violence toward women
• Racial, sexual, and gender stereotypes
• Foul language, obscenities, and obscene gestures


There is growing research on the effects of videogames on children. Some videogames may help with the development of fine motor skills and coordination. However, there are concerns about the effect of violent video games on young people who play videogames excessively. Studies of children exposed to violence have shown that they can become: “immune” or numb to the horror of violence, imitate the violence they see, and show more aggressive behavior with greater exposure toviolence. Some children accept violence as a way to handle problems. Studies have also shown that the more realistic and repeated the exposure to violence, the greater the impact on children. In addition, children with emotional, behavioral and learning problems may be more influenced by violent images.

Children and adolescents can become overly involved and even obsessed withvideogames. Spending large amounts of time playing these games can create problems and lead to:

• poor social skills
• time away from family time, school-work, and other hobbies
• lower grades and reading less
• exercising less, and becoming overweight
• aggressive thoughts and behaviors

So using different video games cause problems in humans that can become serious or critical.

FOXNEWS.COM FAIR-BALANCED

Study: Violent Video Games Bad for Mental Health
Friday, February 06, 2009 Associated Press

NEW YORK — Among young college students, the frequency and type of video games played appears to parallel risky drug and alcohol use, poorer personal relationships, and low levels of self-esteem, researchers report.
"This does not mean that every person who plays videogames has low self-worth, or that playing video games will lead to drug use," Laura M. Padilla-Walker told Reuters Health.
Rather, these findings simply indicate video gaming may cluster with a number of negative outcomes, "at least for some segment of the population," said Padilla-Walker, an associate professor at the School of Family Life at Brigham Young University in Provo, Utah.
She andcolleagues examined the previous 12-months' frequency and type of video game and Internet use reported by 500 female and 313 male undergraduate college students in the United States.
The students, who were 20 years old on average and mostly received course credit for their study participation, also recounted their drug and alcohol use, perceptions of self-worth and social acceptance, and the qualityof their relationships with friends and family.
The findings, reported in the Journal of Youth and Adolescence, showed "stark gender differences in video game and Internet use," Padilla-Walker said.
For example, compared with young women, young men reported video gaming three times as often and reported playing violent video games nearly eight times as often.
However, regardless of gender,clear correlations were seen between frequent gaming and more frequent alcohol and drug use and lower quality personal relationships, as well as more frequent violent gaming and a greater number of sexual partners and low quality personal relationships.
Padilla-Walker sees these findings as a starting point for future research. Continued analyses of video game and Internet use should improve the...