THE ADDICTION TO VIDEO GAMES

 

Computer games are the most popular entertainments in modern societies and they target a variety of people of different ages but the children and adolescents are most vulnerable. In 2020, there were an estimated 2.7 billion gamers worldwide, and their numbers are always rising. This rise in the popularity of video games has led to a significant increase in people experiencing the negative effects of these games. The addiction to the rivalry and excitements of the games make them the most common recreational programmes for today's teenagers, so that they do anything to reach a higher level of the game, they immerse in the game so much that they completely separate themselves from their surroundings. Challenging with the obstacles and reaching a higher level in the game, make the players excited and losing the game make them anxious.

During our childhood, we kids were busy playing with other children, mostly outdoors, but children of today spend most of their time on computer / phone games as soon as they understand and get acquainted with them. Unlike outdoor sports these games cannot create any emotional and human relationship with others and so these children lack basic social skills. This self isolation, they carry with them to adulthood and find it very difficult to make friends with strangers.

History

In October 1958, Physicist William Higinbotham created what is thought to be the first video game. This was very similar to the 1972 computer game Pang, a computer tennis game, and then developed in hardware and software systems. Improvement of quality and variety of games increasingly spread it in the society especially among adolescents. However, Spacewar! is credited as the first widely available and influential computer game. As early as 1950, computer scientists were using electronic machines to construct relatively simple game systems, such as Bertie the Brain in 1950 to play tic tac toe, or Nimrod in 1951 for playing Nim.

Why are the Computer games popular?

It is believed that computer games like watching TV provides opportunities for visual learning. Especially because these games are more active compared to watching TV, they are considered more effective. The reasons for adolescents' attraction to these games include being excited and easily accessible while authorities and families do not have any proper plan for students' leisure time and there is not many options for their entertainments.

Benefits

There are some cognitive benefits to gaming, such as better control of one’s attention and improved spatial reasoning, though it isn’t entirely clear how much these benefits extend outside of the video game sphere into the real world. Some video games have medical applications, such as training people with degenerative diseases to improve their balance, helping adolescents with ADHD improve their thinking skills, or training surgeons on how to do technically complicated operations and improve hand eye coordination.

Effect on psychological health

Opponents of these games emphasize on their negative effects such as stimulating anger and violence, costing a lot of money and having negative effects of physical and mental health, all of which are much higher than the positive effects of these games. Their effects on psychological health of people, and severity and significance of that, depends on factors such as

·        level and intensity of violence in the game

·        the ability of player in differentiating virtual world and real world

·        player's ability to inhibit their desires and motivation

·        the values they are brought up with or living with

·        values that are in the context and content of the games.

Children often fare worse than adolescents, and adults are only slightly better in insulating their own  psychological health.  Role of computer games on social isolation, low self-esteem and violence have been studied by multiple researchers. Since in computer games, players conform to the characters in the game, in creating the new situations that occur in the game, the theory of participatory modeling and active conditioning can be used in explaining data on violent behaviors and possible rewards they get in response. Children who mostly stay at home and play in their work-stations have significantly less social skills and they carry this trait to adulthood.

What all can go wrong?

Plenty; from physical ailments, to systemic effects, to psychological disorders there is a long list of what all can go wrong.  To summarize them:

·        Poor sleep hygiene

·        Physical health atrophy

·        Exhaustion

·        Dehydration

·        Obesity and heart problems

·        Aggression

·        Lack of motivation

·        Depression

·        Suicidal thoughts

·        Social anxiety

·        Poor emotional regulation

·        Interpersonal conflict

 

Gaming injuries

Repetitive stress injuries, or overuse injuries, are injuries that come from activities that involve repeated use of muscles and tendons of hands, to the point that pain and inflammation develop. If these injuries are allowed to progress, numbness and weakness can develop, and permanent injury can result. Overuse injuries of the hands and arms are rampant among gamers. Thus Carpel Tunnel Syndrome, Gamer’s Thumb or Play Station Thumb (de Quervain’s tenosynovitis), obesity in teens, mental stress, vision problems,  headaches and poor concentration and even seizures complete the entire spectrum of gaming injuries.

De Quervain's tenosynovitis

Gaming Addiction

Long term involvement with these games leads to long term tension, restlessness, anxiety, sleeplessness and fall in academic grades. Prolong sympathetic nervous system stimulation can gradually make this system sensitive and ready for response to even limited stimulants, while causes anxiety symptoms in the player. The reasons for playing these games among boys are excitements and challenges and the ego boost that comes with a win. Moreover, sport and violent games are more attractive for boys and these have a tendency to typecast the humanity. Thus, a white skinned guy with flaming orange hairs will be the good guy and the game would be about chasing a bearded or a skull cap wearing dark fellow across a desert or a dingy city ghetto and killing him and his goons.

Gaming has also been associated with psychological problems. Thus, video game addiction, or Internet Gaming Disorder (IGD) are known clinical entities whose treatment is still work in progress, as the disorder isn’t fully understood or agreed upon. Treatment strategies include  public health approaches such as education and harm reduction, stricter labeling on the packaging of the game, parental guidance as well as cognitive behavioral therapy.

Many studies show that most adolescents who are addicted to computer games have high heart beat and blood pressure due to too much excitement and stress. Then these games may create a more attractive environment compared to school works and interfere with school and educational performance of children. Gaming has also been associated with sleep deprivation, insomnia and circadian rhythm disorders, depression, aggression, and anxiety. There has also been concern that exposure to the extreme violence that is commonly found in video games can desensitize teens and young adults to such violence, causing emotional problems and even leading to young people committing acts of violence.

So, how do we go ahead?

As with many other activities that have potential benefits and harms, moderation is the key. Most of the harms that come from gaming can be improved, if not avoided altogether, by limiting the number of hours spent in front of the screen. China has done this with a face recognition programme and it only allows two hours of gaming weekly, only on weekends. Children can be engaged in healthy activities like exercising, or socializing in the real world instead of the virtual game world.

Education is an essential key to injury prevention. Gamers need to be educated on how to protect their thumbs, wrists, and elbows, their waistlines, their emotional state, their sleep, and their eyes. Simple education around taking breaks, stretching, eating healthy snacks, and resting and icing your thumb, wrist, or elbow when it starts hurting can address injuries early, before they become significant. For the eyes, gamers can try the 20-20-20 rule: every 20 minutes, try to look at something 20 feet away for 20 seconds.

Playing video games can be fun and a social activity when integrated into a healthy lifestyle that includes plenty of sleep, exercise, and good nutrition, rather than letting the game become your life.