Children today waste too much time playing video games Essay

Children today waste too much time playing video games - Essay Example Children virtually spend their summer vacations playing these games. About half of all children have a video game player or a computer on which to play the video game and parents do not restrict the types of game the children play. AskDr.Sears.com reports eighty percent of most popular video games feature violence and aggressiveness. Surveys also suggest, by the time a typical American child reaches the age of eighteen, he has seen 200,000 acts of violence and 40,000 murders on screen. According to Maney (2005) video games might be the best things that children can do to ensure their future success. Maney quotes Steve Johnson, who says that at every point while playing the video games one has to make decisions. One has to think about patterns, long-term goals, and resources. These help to take a decision and depending upon the feedback from the game one again has to adjust the decision. Maney confirms that games like Halo 2, EverQuest or the lurid Grand Theft Auto hone the kind of decision-making abilities that define a successful person. Parents often insist that children should spend time reading books rather than playing video games. Johnson disagrees saying whatever the benefits of reading, you are following someone else’s decision. Video games have been linked to violence and aggressive behavior. Others believe that video games provide an outlet for aggression and frustration. According to the journal American Family Physician, studies have not been able to show concrete evidence of behaviour being affected due to violent video games. This argument can be countered by the violence and blood bath that children are exposed to, in books like King Lear and Lord of the Flies. They challenge the belief that books are automatically better than video games. Dr. John C Beck, author of Got Games, believes video games foster team skills (cited by Powell S, 2005). He refutes the view that it