Are Video Games Good for You?

With about 1.23 billion kids spending about at least a day on playing video games (on average) studies reveal that this may be after all a good thing. What annoys you more, people who keep tapping on their phones to blast those colorful beads or the ones who send you candy-crush requests? Are they so jobless? Maybe they are suffering from depression?

Or maybe not! The science behind video-gaming reveals that gaming is the opposite of depression. When people play video games, they are more optimistic about engaging in creative challenges, and to get better and better. In fact, when a few researchers measured physiological and psychological responses of about 60 clinically depressed people for 30 minutes, for 3 times a week. About 57% of the participants showed decrease in anxiety symptoms, tension levels, anger, fatigue, confusion and there was an increase in vigor.

Video gaming affects the following areas: cognitive, emotional, social and motivational areas. People, who play video games are more alert, have better visual processing and more efficient. Video games definitely fix your attention problems and improve your eye-sight. It even enhances the problem solving abilities and improves skills, because the hand-to-eye coordination is greatly improved. There is accuracy, perseverance, strategy, and situational awareness.  Researchers call it motivation, not addiction. “Video games help kids to develop an incremental theory of intelligence. Immediate and concrete feedback in video games (e.g., through points, coins, dead ends in puzzles) serves to reward continual effort.” Players are determined to win or accomplish the particular goal.

When players are placed between different systems and situations, these games provide them with opportunity to try and regulate their emotions and feelings. On the other hand, there have been numerous cases of aggressive and ferocious behavior of players who play violent shooting or killing games, when offline. There may be strong competence, the desperate need to excel through the levels and the urge to share achievements on the social media is the only way players relate themselves to others. Some of them become socially isolated, spending almost no time for any other activity.

How video games affect the brain, is just like how wine affects you. Sometimes it is great for your skin, and sometimes you end up drunk, when you have too much of it. Designers of video games are constantly working to develop certain ingredients to deliver better games for education purposes and rehabilitation.