Whenever, it comes on terms with video games and children, a very controversial matter regarding effects of videogames on children pops up. In fact there have been more than 200 studies and reports which have examined some direct effects of video games on the minds of children.



Let us take a closer look at what these reports have to say and what exactly are the effects of video games on children.

Many organizations, parent groups, psychologists and even religious groups have pointed out one major flaw of video games—the inherent violence of action packed games. They say that inclusion of violence in video games has a drastic effect on the overall personality and attitude of children. There are 5 major effects which have been pointed out by psychologists. These are increased aggressive thoughts, aggressive behavior, and aggressive personality, decreased helping behavior and increased psychological arousal.

The children start identifying themselves with the role of an aggressor. After playing first person shooter games, children become the character of the game and they start seeing the world through the eyes of the game's character. Moreover the video games introduce to the naïve minds of the children the concept of gun usage. These games ask the children to kill the enemies in the game. As children are the characters of the game, they become emotionally involved in the game. They start enjoying the killing process in the game as it leads them to the next level.

As a result of identifying the role of aggressor with themselves children start developing positive attitude towards violence and its usage. They also start assuming that the other people would act aggressively to them as in the video games and they get themselves ready for aggressive repulsion. To add to the misery, children start believing that violent methods and techniques can solve their problems and quandaries of life and thus a positive notion for usage of violence is developed in them.

The children start to enjoy and participate more frequently in violent video games. As they play these games, they start off practicing the usage of violence in the real world as well. They even start noticing the violent aspects of games which could be brought into the real life.

As a result of this active violence participation, the children start developing a total disregard for social norms, law and the lives of others. They start seeing the world as an unsafe, violent place, where usage of violence is inevitable. They start fighting and acting aggressively with other children, and in some cases, even with their parents.

Coming on to a real bad repercussion of video gaming, playing them constantly can certainly lead kids to video game addiction. A majority of children playing video games show decreased interest in the outdoor activities, TV and social interactions. As the nature of the game demands aggressive performance by the players, children keep on reinforcing that aggression by constantly playing the game till they achieve the required aggressive effect needed in the game.

All the more, children become more interested and fascinated as they use guns, bombs and see explosions, bloodshed and mayhem in the game. As a result of prolonged violent interaction with the game, the personalities of children become highly aggressive and aggression becomes their trait. They start cutting themselves from school, parents and friends and remain busy with their video games for hours.

As video games bring children closer to reality, the impact becomes more severe. So, its time that you check your child, if they remain glued to video games for long hours and display aggressive attitude. Talk to your child or you can consult a child psychologist for better solutions. After all, it is never late to begin.