Remember the times when our entertainment encompassed squeezing around a tablet to play Tap Tap Revenge, or watching Mr Bean on the small television screen? Well if you don’t, I do. Only about a decade ago was owning an iPhone a rarity. Just ten years later, almost every child owns the latest iPhone 13 or Samsung Galaxy S22. Perhaps an over exaggeration, but you get my point. With the prevalence of digital devices, we would also most likely stumble across, or even become addicted to mobile games. In fact, a recent article published by the Straits Times cited the 2020 Circuit Breaker as the catalyst for gaming addiction, with the number of such cases among children in Singapore rising by up to 60 per cent. While gaming can be seen as a great way to improve memory, problem solving skills and mental flexibility, have we thought about its possible - and very real - repercussions to us, and especially our succeeding Generation - Gen Alpha?
In this article, we will discuss the pros of gaming, its cons and some suggested solutions to tackle gaming addiction among children, specifically students. In our perspective, gaming is a double-edged sword. Hence, it is ultimately our responsibility to utilise gaming for our own good and not succumb to ill temptations.
Given the prevalence of gaming among students, one of the drawbacks is the addiction to gaming which results in unhealthy screen time. This has complications on students’ cognitive abilities and the recent pandemic lockdowns have even exacerbated them. Excessive screen time impedes language skills in students which subsequently hinders the acquisition of knowledge and critical thinking. Therefore, gaming addiction is something students have to watch out for.
Whether or not violent video games are a direct cause of bellicose behavioural change in students has always been a hot topic. Violent games such as Grand Theft Auto, Call of Duty and Manhunt can exacerbate aggressive behaviours in students due to the intense, action-packed and survival nature of the game. Such games could increase the probability of children engaging in brawls with friends and even family members, upon small tip offs that offset their mood. However, interesting findings have also shown the correlation of students from aggressive family backgrounds with their tendency to exhibit more aggressive behaviours. Thus, violent games, upon several other factors, could cause students to gain mood swings and become more hostile individuals.
While Dumb Ways to Die was primarily intended to increase public awareness on rail safety, it could also inflict unintentional bad influence on students. Students playing the game could see death as a joke due to the funny animation and graphics displayed in the game. Such games could therefore trivialise serious topics, which would create even more problems, especially when trying to make children understand the weight of such issues.
Source: Julian Frost
Whether we choose to game simply to hop on the bandwagon due to fomo (fear of missing out) or out of pure interest, the choice is ours. The hype of Pokemon Go and Among Us eventually died down as more people lost interest in the game. Hence the gaming demographic will shift depending on our usage, and it is up to us to change it.
To better control gaming addiction, we can use implemented softwares or download apps to better manage our screen times on gaming apps. Additionally, the choice of games we choose to indulge in - be it puzzle games that develop problem solving skills, or action games that could result in hostile behaviours and bad influence - is also up to us.
However, it isn’t all doom and gloom when it comes to children and video games. While there are apparent pitfalls to gaming, there are great advantages as well and their presence cannot be ignored. The pros to gaming often impacts kids more than adults since it directly affects mental development. The most obvious benefits are faster response to stimuli and heightened creativity. Now, hold on to your hats because it's about to get scientific. Gaming creates permanent changes to the structure of the brain that allows children to retain their improved cognitive abilities even after they quit playing video games. All research hints at changes to the hippocampal, prefrontal, and parietal brain regions: parts that govern learning and memory.
Research says that enhancement of visuospatial cognition - the mental capacity of an individual in perceiving visual and structural stimuli - is one among the changes that shows strong evidence of improvement. So why is this important? This complex-sounding ability is responsible for the basic ability of humans to analyse, hand-eye coordination, and analysis & interpretation. Being able to interpret patterns improves their problem-solving skills, which means that kids who game often score high on IQ tests. I know. I wasn’t expecting it either. But, does this mean that they’re actually smart?
Well that depends. Such findings only seem to be true for children who occasionally immerse themselves in the virtual worlds that can be accessed through their Playstations or Xbox game consoles. For those who were addicted to video games, the results were rather different: low attention spans, worse episodic memory, and problem-solving skills.
In a nutshell, how gaming benefits or disadvantages us is very much dependent on the type of games we choose to play, and ultimately our self-control. There is a spectrum on gaming and its correlation to students' cognitive development. Students who are game addicts as compared to students who game with self-control show a huge difference in their cognitive development.
There are students who can spend more time gaming than actually studying. There are also students, like myself, who were never really fond of games. The question to ask yourself is: Which one are you? And if so, will you choose to change your gaming habits when we still have the time?
References
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