Video Games and Children
Dina AlSharif
Prince Sultan University, college for women
Contents
Abstract ...................................................................3
Introduction .............................................................4
Participants ..............................................................6
The Method ..............................................................7
Instruments .............................................................8
The result ................................................................8
Discussion .............................................................. 12
Conclusion ............................................................. 13
Reference .............................................................. 14
Survey................................................................... 15
2
Abstract
Video games have become a popular activity for people of all
ages especially in children. Video game is an electronic game that
involves interaction with a user interface to generate visual
feedback on a video device (Wikipedia). The purpose of this paper is
to examine whether there is a relationship between negative
behavior and playing video games. Therefore, questionnaire papers
has been made and distributed. This questionnaire papers was
made for comparing between our results and the studies and
statistics that were made by experts.
3
Introduction
Video games have experienced dramatic developments in the
last twenty-five years of their existence.
They have progressed
from simple blips of light on the television screen to complicated
role-playing scenarios that allow the players to control the action.
The potential influence of violent video games on youth violence
remains an issue of concern for psychologists (Ferguson, 2011), in
many of these current games; it provides the ability to perform acts
of destruction and violence on the screen. Thus, children are able
to “kill” characters that are featured in the video games. There is
continuing concern that playing violent video games may increase
the risk of aggression in players (Ferguson, 2007).
Video games have become one of the most popular pastimes
for children around the world. Although video games have certain
advantages, studies have shown some negative effects of video
games on children. Various research studies have shown a relation
between aggressive behavior and playing video games that have
violence in them. Especially games that have a lot of shooting and
killing is said to increase the emotion of anger in children, leading to
aggressive behavior in real life. Further, as their act of violence is
rewarded in the world of gaming, they may become motivated to
repeat it in real life (Kartha).
4
The link between video games and aggressive behavior was
analyzed in comparative studies in Japan and the United States in a
bid to determine how closely they were connected. The results,
which were published in this month's journal Pediatrics, showed that
despite cultural differences and disparities in crime rates, children
across the spectrum were affected equally by playing games
(Telegraph, 2011).
A study done by Rick Nauert shows an Evidence from brain
scans carried out while gamers play seem to support a connection
between playing video games and activation of regions of the brain
associated with aggression (NAUERT).
Children also play violent electronic games for predictable
developmental reasons, such as rebellion, curiosity about the
forbidden, and testing the limits of acceptable behavior in a safe
environment. "You get to see something that hopefully will never
happen to you," said one boy in Goldstein J.’s focus groups. "So you
want to experience it a little bit without actually being there."
(Olson, 2007)
One cause of the recent increase in childhood obesity increase
is lack of free-time physical activity and concurrent increases in
"screen time", including television, computer use, and video game
activity. As such, technology's impact on leisure activity, particularly
5
among children, must be considered. For example, more than
150,000,000 Americans play video games more than once a week
(Ferguson, 2007).
Researches
showed
that
to
solve
the
obesity
concern
interactive games was created. The principle of interactive games is
the notion of getting players to directly interface their physical or
sport-based movements so they directly control or coincide with
movement activity within the video game. These interactive
applications can elicit physical activity levels in which as many as
300-500 calories per hour may be expended and which may provide
an immediate enjoyment factor or motivational incentive some
children and young adults need to create interest in physical activity
(Ferguson, 2007).
Participants
Our participants were middle aged Mothers (ages between 30
and 45) who had children aged between 5-15 who were active video
games players.
6
The Method
It was decided to evaluate the behavior of those children by
disrupting a survey directed to their mothers, the Survey questions
were focused mostly on the amount of time those children spent
playing video games and on the extent those video games affected
their behavior.
The survey consisted of 8 questions. First and Second
questions, the number of boys and girls that they have, the purpose
of this question is to tell whether video games had a stronger effect
on boys than girls. Third question is to see if mothers approve of
their children playing video games. Fourth question is to measure
how many of those mothers’ children play video games. Fifth
question shows the type of video games children play the most.
Sixth question if to evaluate the amount of time children spent
playing video games. Seventh question is to see if the type of
games those children played had any effect on the way they behave
or whether those video games have altered the way they usually
behaved. Last question was to see what the mothers wanted their
children to do instead of playing video games.
7
Instruments
The Microsoft word was used to document the research and
the website SurveyMonkey was used to distribute the survey and
collect the results and represent them graphically. Also, Microsoft
excel was used to represent the results in pie chart.
The result
The first and the second questions were to know the numbers
of boys and girls each mother have. The result was that most of
mothers have an average of two to three boys and one to two girls.
How many boys do you have ?
10%
How many girls do you have?
10%
10%
40%
Three
45%
Two
40%
Three
45%
One
Two
Non
Non
8
The third question was to find out weather mothers think their
children should play video games. The result was 45% said yes they
should play video games and 55% said no. So the majority of
mothers don’t agree that children should play video games.
Do you think children should play
video games ?
45%
Yes
55%
No
The fourth question was to find how many children play video
games. The result showed that all children from the targeted
sample play video games.
Do your children play video
games ?
0%
Yes
No
100%
9
The fifth question was to find out what kinds of video games
do children play the most. The result showed that 50% play
violence video games, which involve killing games. 15% play
fantasy video games, 25% play sport video games and 10% play
other kind of games.
what kinds of video games do
children play the most ?
10%
violence
25%
50%
15%
Fantasy
Sport
Others
The sixth question was to find out how many hours a day do
children play video games, the result showed that 60% of children
spent one to three hours play video games daily, the majority of
those children play violence video games. Also, 25% of children
play four to six hours and 15% play more than nine hours.
How many hours a day do they play ?
15%
25%
1-3 hours
60%
6-9 hours
More
10
The seventh question was to find out if mothers saw any
changes in their children behavior, the result was 70% who
answered aggression their children play violence games. 15%
answer obesity and 15% answered nervousness.
Have you see any change in your
children behavior ?
15%
aggression
15%
70%
obesity
nervousness
The last question was to find out what mothers prefer their
children to do instead of video games. The result was that 40%
suggested reading, 40% who suggested outdoor sports answered
obesity in the previous question. And 20% suggested any thing
beneficial.
What do you prefer your children to
insted of video games ?
20%
Reading
40%
outdoor sports
40%
beneficial
activites
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Discussion
The results gotten from the survey shows that while mothers
wished their children to spend more time doing more productive
activities like outdoor sports or reading, but in reality their children
preferred playing video game to those activities. The targeted
sample of children included in the survey spent between one to
three hours everyday playing video games that were mostly violent.
The mothers included in the survey stated that their children’s
behavior DID change after playing so much video game for an
extended period of time, and sadly, this change was in a negative
way. Many mothers stated that their children became more
aggressive, hostile and inactive. They observed that the children
would sit for hours playing video games, eating more and doing
less, becoming more obese by the minute. Ironically, most of those
mothers approve of their children playing video games by buying
them the devices to play those games.
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Conclusion
Video games can effect and change the way a child behaves,
specifically violent video games, which agrees with the many
researches
made
by
experts.
The
results
show
a
positive
relationship between child aggression and violent video games.
However, if mothers wanted stop this negative behavior they should
find an interesting alternative and not just remove the video game.
Finally, every technology has its upsides and downsides, and it all
depends on the way it’s being used.
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Reference
1- "Video Game." Wikipedia, the Free Encyclopedia. Web. 12 May
2011. <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Video_game>.
2- Kartha, Deepa. "Effects of Video Games on Children." Buzzle Web
Portal: Intelligent Life on the Web. Web. 12 May 2011.
<http://www.buzzle.com/articles/effects-of-video-games-onchildren.html>.
3- "Violent Video Games Linked to Aggression in Children Telegraph." Telegraph.co.uk - Telegraph Online, Daily Telegraph
and Sunday Telegraph - Telegraph. Web. 12 May 2011.
<http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/asia/japan/3376397
/Violent-video-games-linked-to-aggression-in-children.html>.
4- NAUERT, RICK. "Questioning the Link Between Video Games and
Violence | Psych Central News." Psych Central - Trusted Mental
Health, Depression, Bipolar, ADHD and Psychology Information.
Web.
12
May
2011.
<http://psychcentral.com/news/2008/05/15/questioning-the-linkbetween-video-games-and-violence/2299.html>.
5- Ferguson, Christopher J. "Video Games and Youth Violence: A
Prospective Analysis in Adolescents." Journal of Youth and
Adolescence 40.4 (2011): 377+. Academic OneFile. Web. 18 May
2011.
http://find.galegroup.com/gtx/infomark.do?&contentSet=IACDocuments&type=retrieve&tabID=T002&prodId=AONE&docId=A25
1197552&source=gale&userGroupName=cwpsu&version=1.0
6- Ferguson, Christopher John. "The Good, The Bad and the Ugly: A
Meta-analytic Review of Positive and Negative Effects of Violent
Video Games." Psychiatric Quarterly 78.4 (2007): 309+. Academic
OneFile. Web. 18 May 2011.
http://find.galegroup.com/gtx/infomark.do?&contentSet=IACDocuments&type=retrieve&tabID=T002&prodId=AONE&docId=A17
0239940&source=gale&userGroupName=cwpsu&version=1.0
7- Olson, Cheryl K. "Children and Video Games: How Much Do We
Know?" Psychiatric Times 24.12 (2007): 41. Academic OneFile.
Web. 18 May 2011.
14
Survey
1. How many boys do u have? -------------------2. How many girls do u have? -------------------3. Do you think children should play video games?
a) Yes
b) No
4. Do your children play video games?
a) Yes
b) No
5. Which kind of video games do your children play the
most?
a) Violence (Killing Games)
b) Fantasy
c) Educational
d) Sport
e) Others
6. How many hours a day do they play video games?
a) 1-3 hours
b) 4-6 hours
c) More than 6 hours
7. Have you see any changes in your children behavior?
a) Yes
b) No
8. What do you prefer your children to do instead of video
games?
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