With the current COVID-19 pandemic many people agree that life will most likely not be the same as it was at the start of 2020. The negatives out of this outbreak have been strict social distancing rules, many people being stuck at home days at the time, and lastly some people are beginning to suffer from some serious mental problems. According to Verizon one of the many activities that has increased due to the pandemic has been video gaming by nearly 75%. Many people will quickly jump to the assumption that it is a horrible thing. People are constantly hearing that video games cause violence, it’s bad for kid’s brains etc. However, in reality video games are exactly what many people need at times like this and many should consider playing them more. As with many topics there are two sides to the issue and I would like to offer a look into both of them.
One of the talks our Neuro class had this semester was Dr. Laura Stockdale’s talk “Effects of Media violence on behavior and emotional Processing”. In this talk Dr. Stockdale talked about how herself and her fellow colleagues have done research in the past in regards to the various impacts violent media has on people, more specifically when it comes to behavior. One of the articles given to us was “Cool, callous and in control: superior inhibitory control in frequent players of video games with violent content”. In this article Dr. Stockdale measured the P100 as well as the N200/P300 ERP’s (also known as Event related potentials) of different individuals. Her goal was to measure these different event related potentials for both empathetic emotional responses in frequent video game players as well as non-frequent video game players. This study found that the event-related potential in charge of “happy” facial expressions (N100) was decreased which indicated a lower level of empathy in frequent violent video game players. The general idea here is to demonstrate that frequent usage of violent video games can decrease a person’s emotional output.
On the other hand we have Time’s article “Don't Feel Bad If Your Kids Are Gaming More Than Ever. In Fact, Why Not Join Them?” by Sean Gregory. In this article Sean talks about how during COVID-19 instead of stressing out about what is going on he has been able to destress and enjoy some time playing video games with his son. Not only is he playing more games but in general everyone is. Nintendo (one of the most popular gaming companies of all time) recently released their long running game of Animal Crossing. They have sold over 3 million copies in Japan alone since it’s release in March of this year. Like previously stated, the majority of people are spending more time behind screens playing games, and according to some research video games actually provide important social, motivational, emotional and a variety of cognitive benefits. Dr. Granic of the developmental psychopathology department of the University of Radboud in the Netherland, as well as leading “Games for Emotional and Mental Health Lab” states “You build your own gardens with other people. You play in teams overcoming other teams and militias and whatever it is. And it’s really checking a lot of those social needs in this time of isolation. And as much as kids need us, they need each other just as much.” Dr. Granic goes on to talk about how instead of not allowing kids to play games that parents should give kids tasks before games. She states how she lets her kids play as many games as they want, as long as they do their homework first, practice playing a musical instrument, do some coding, read part of a novel, and go outside for an hour.
Dr. Granic is not alone in this type of thinking. In 2016 the Columbia Mailman School of Public Health conducted a study of high video game usage among kids of the ages 6-11. In this study it was found that children with high video game usage showed high intellectual functioning and competence in school as well as fewer relationship problems among their peers. In the Time magazine Dr. Granic goes on to further explain how video games help people grow and develop a wide range of skills. “People learn how to negotiate, collaborate, to take turns, to think critically with others, and so on,” says Granic. “Motivationally, people learn how to persevere in the face of failure. Not only can games help people develop these crucial skills but video games are also helpful for people with mental and or behavioral problems. Dr. Carras has a research paper titled “Connection, meaning, and distraction: A qualitative study of video game play and mental health recovery in veterans treated for mental and/or behavioral health problems” in which she shows the therapeutic benefits of video games among veterans.
Video games have shown to alleviate mental and behavioral problems in veterans, they provide children with a wide variety of essential skills, help individuals deal with stress and depression but also physically change people's brains. A study back in 2014 by german researchers showed that adults that played Super Mario for around 30 Minutes a day showed an increase of Grey Matter in the right hippocampus, right prefrontal cortex and the cerebellum, regions involved in functions like spatial navigation, memory formation, strategic planning and fine motor skills.
It is important to understand that like with many things, topics like violence and video games, there are always two sides to the argument. There have been studies that have shown violent video games show an increase in aggression, but there have also been multiple studies that show the opposite. Video games also provide people with important skills as well as a good de-stressor from the things that go on outside our homes. However, there are also many people that suffer from video game addictions and ruin their lives because of this. As with many topics there is no right or wrong answer, one must consider the different things affecting the topic at hand. For people that state video games (not just violent, but video games in general) cause violence I would tell them to take a look at countries like Japan and South Korea. These places are considered the Mecca’s of video games. Virtually everyone in these countries play video games, and they have some of the lowest crime statistics in the world. As previously stated one has to look at the whole picture and also factor in things like environmental factors, pre-existing mental conditions etc.
Work Cited
Colder Carras, Michelle, et al. “Connection, Meaning, and Distraction: A Qualitative Study of Video Game Play and Mental Health Recovery in Veterans Treated for Mental and/or Behavioral Health Problems.” Social Science & Medicine (1982), U.S. National Library of Medicine, Nov. 2018, www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC6193255/.Gregory, Sean. “Video Games Benefit Quarantined Kids in COVID-19 Pandemic.” Time, Time, 22 Apr. 2020, time.com/5825214/video-games-screen-time-parenting-coronavirus/.
Kühn, S, et al. “Playing Super Mario Induces Structural Brain Plasticity: Gray Matter Changes Resulting from Training with a Commercial Video Game.” Molecular Psychiatry, U.S. National Library of Medicine, Feb. 2014, www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/24166407.
Stockdale, Laura, et al. “Cool, Callous and in Control: Superior Inhibitory Control in Frequent Players of Video Games with Violent Content.” OUP Academic, Oxford University Press, 4 Oct. 2017, academic.oup.com/scan/article/12/12/1869/4344826.
“Time Spent Playing Video Games May Have Positive Effects on Young Children.” Search the Website, 2 Mar. 2016, www.mailman.columbia.edu/public-health-now/news/time-spent-playing-video-games-may-have-positive-effects-young-children.
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