Urban 1 Matthew Urban 111-43 November 13, 2012 Final Draft Negative effects of Video Gaming People tend

to spend way too much time playing video games and not on the aspects of life. Super Mario Brothers is the best game to ever come out for a gaming system. In the gaming society today, the most popular game to play is any Halo or Call of Duty franchise. In "Why Video Games Matter" by Tom Bissell he explains throughout his whole essay that video games are actually good for people to play. He states, "one hour of Fallout 3, I told myself...Seven hours later...I turned off my Xbox 360, checked in with CNN, and discovered that the acceptance speech [for Barack Obama] had already been given." (Bissell 350-352). Tom Bissell wasted all his time on the game system instead of watching the first African American person become President of the United States. Video games seem to promote negative effects rather than positive effects because of addiction, health, violence and explicit content. Addiction Addiction is found everywhere. People are addicted to cigarettes, tobacco, cell phones, Facebook, and of course video games. Sarah Glazer, who graduated with a B.A. in American History from the University of Chicago, author of "Video Games" wrote about the good and the bad effects of video games. With video games becoming more popular many people now have the systems to play them. In fact "More than three-quarters of American youths have video-game consoles at home, and on a typical day at least 40 percent play a video game" (Glazer 1). The 40 percent of American youths are isolating themselves from family and friends, and focusing almost entirely on in-game achievements. This is a problem because it can cause social

Urban 2 exclusion. In the future, social exclusion can lead to problems in school, employment, healthcare, civic engagement and many other social problems. Unfortunately, video games have taken over the lives of many people. Studies have been performed all around the world and most come back with similar results. In Canada a study was conducted and they found out that "About 40 percent of multiplayer online games like "EverQuest" say they consider themselves "addicted."" (qtd. in Glazer 9). Clinics, similar to hospitals, have opened to battle this "video game addiction" because some people feel that their lives have been taken over by video games and it needs to stop. With the rise of addictive games, the addiction is only going to sky rocket. Furthermore, there have also been many reports of real serious video game addiction. Some cases have been recorded as fatal. M. Lee and Laura Finley authors of "Counterpoint: Video Games are Addictive and Promote Irresponsible Behavior" wrote about the negative effects of video gaming. Laura Finely who earned her Ph.D. in Sociology from Western Michigan University and M. Lee found that, "In Reno, Nevada, a pair of parents was placed under arrest after their obsession with video games caused them to neglect to feed their two young children" (1). These parents were just too addicted to the video games they were playing to even care about their own children. How could video games be this important? Well, those parents must have been "in the zone" because no one in their right mind would or should ever neglect their children for a video game. This negative effect of obsession could have had serious consequences to the children like starvation or even death.

Urban 3 Health Furthermore, seizures are linked to video game play and this is a very serious issue. Brian Southwell who graduated from the University of Pennsylvania with a Ph.D., and Kenneth O.Doyle who graduated the University of Minnesota with a Ph.D., both conducted research about video games and their positive and negative effects. Southwell and O.Doyle state that, "the notion that electronic games might induce seizures among unsuspecting users points to an indisputably negative health impact" (2). Seizures could happen during video game play when the user is located really close to the screen. Bright flashing lights from the game could also trigger a seizure. This is a very serious health problem and seizures could cause permanent brain damage if it happens more than once. In addition, it seems that when a user is focused so much into the video game everything around them freezes up or goes by really slow, but actually before they know it time has slipped by. There are plenty of other things that could be done then to play and spend lots of time on a stupid video game. According to Southwell and O.Doyle "A person's ability to attend other aspects of their immediate environment" (3), also called attentional inertia, is also considered a health issue. The longer the user plays the video game, the harder it is to distract them and get them to do other activities. This is a serious problem because it might affect their social relationship; they may become a hermit, change the way they speak to those around them, or change the things that they are interested in to talk about. Also, obesity is also a rising health problem linked to video games. When children and adults are playing video games, they are not burning calories as if they were physically playing. Sitting around will cause weight gain. Alexandra Momyer, a certified personal fitness trainer,

Urban 4 wrote about obesity and video gaming. She states that "when children engage in video games, they are likely to increase their snacking and food intake, and are also more prone to make unhealthy food choices" (1). This negative effect of becoming sedentary can promote to Americas obesity problem. Because snacks are filled with calories and fat, the gamer will take in all those extra calories and then they will not be able to burn them off. Because they are not exercising to burn it off, it will lead to lowering of their metabolism and then they will most likely gain weight. If a child is overweight it increases a child's risk of developing type II diabetes, high cholesterol, and high blood pressure. Violence In addition, violence in video games is very common and poses a negative effect on children when they are exposed to it. Geraldine Wagner who is from Syracuse University's Maxwell School who graduated with a Master's degree in Social Sciences and Craig Belanger conducted studies about video games. "Results from multiple small studies suggest an association between exposure to or playing violent video games and negative actions such as aggressive thoughts and aggressive behavior" (Belanger 4). Becoming violent after playing video games can be a serious problem. Games like Grand Theft Auto (GTA), Saints Row, Mafia, and other shooting games promote violence during every game play. If a gamer becomes too focused on the game after the game is over, they could become violent themselves and cause damage to people/things in their own environment. Additionally, video games are becoming more user friendly. Video games now make the user use their body to perform the actions in the game. "Some video game consoles, such as the Nintendo Wii, plunge players even deeper into simulations of violent behavior by requiring them

Urban 5 to actually move their arms and legs in order to execute the actions they wish to perform in the game" (Lee 2). This could become a problem when the gamer is playing a violent game. The user now knows how it is done. These new games are almost preparing them to do the virtual stuff in real life. Now, the violence can be carried from the screen into real life. Explicit Content Furthermore, the gaming industry has been bashed many times for their use of explicit content. The use of nudity and sexual content on video games has become an issue for many parents. "But 75% of parents believe that the parental controls available in all new video game consoles are useful in controlling what video games their children play" (Belanger 4). The negative effect of explicit content is that it has permanently damaged the child's mental view of the world. The rating "M" for mature is ages 17 and up. The game play may contain intense violence, blood and gore, sexual content or strong language. Nudity is found on the rating "A" adults ages 18 and up, the game play may include extended scenes of intense violence, graphic sexual content or gambling with real currency. Steve Gonzales, a writer from The Madison-Saint Clair Record, stated that "Claiming her teen-age children were exposed to sexually explicit content in a popular video game, a concerned mother filed a class action lawsuit...against the promoters of "Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas (GTA)" (1). With the addition of parental controls on video game consoles, televisions, computers and many other electronic devices, parents can make the decision of what their children can watch. This can keep the parents mind at peace because they will know what their children are watching/playing.

Urban 6 Conclusion In conclusion, video games by their addiction cause physical and social negative effects; obesity, type II diabetes, seizures, child neglect and isolations. These are all bad results of video game playing. The video games also expose the player to extreme violence, sex and gambling. Children today playing video games should be monitored by qualified supervision and adults should take better control of their playing time so that none of them become victimized.

Urban 7 Works Cited Belanger, Craig, Geraldine Wagner. "Video Games: An Overview." Points Of View: Video Games (2011): 1. Points of View Reference Center. Web. 12 Nov. 2012. Bissell, Tom. "Why Video Games Matter." They Say I Say. Eds. Gerald Graff, Cathy Birkenstein, Russel Durst. New York: W. W. Norton & Company, 2012. 349-379. Print. Brian, G. Southwell, Kenneth O. Doyle. "The Good, the Bad, Or the Ugly? A Multilevel Perspective on Electronic Game Effects." The American Behavioral Scientist 48.4 (2004): 391-401. ABI/INFORM Complete; Banking Information Source; Hoover's Company Profiles; ProQuest Central. Web. 13 Nov. 2012. Glazer, Sarah. "Video Games." CQ Researcher 10 Nov. 2006: 937-60. Web. 13 Nov. 2012. Gonzales, Steve. "Sexually explicit content in violent video game prompts mom to sue." The Madison-ST. Clair Record. 21 Sept. 2005. Web. 2 Dec. 2012. Lee, M., Laura Finley. "Counterpoint: Video Games Are Addictive And Promote Irresponsible Behavior." Points Of View: Video Games (2011): 3. Points of View Reference Center. Web. 12 Nov. 2012. Momyer, Alexandra. "Obesity in Children & Video Games." Livestrong. 8 Feb. 2011. Web. 2 Dec. 2012.