The health of our future generation has always been in question since the time technology took over our world. Eyesight, mental health, physical fitness, and many other concerns are still on our parent’s minds. However, at such a time of pandemic when most cities are under lock-down, and almost every school is completely shut, this concern has emerged to be the greatest it has ever been.
As we all know that technology has positive and adverse effects, but it is the usage of technology that determines the benefits and losses. Also, it is not possible or wise to ultimately retain your kid from these technologies because knowing about their usage is more critical in the modern age. Almost 97% of children play a video game for at least an hour daily, on average. You can certainly minimize the negative impact of video-gaming by understanding and highlighting its positive and negative effects during self-isolation.
To assist you in that we have highlighted some positive and negative effects that are caused by video gaming;
POSITIVE IMPACT:
- SOCIAL DISTANCING:
It is a primary recommendation nowadays to avoid social gatherings and minimize your contact with people as much as you can. Video gaming can serve this purpose by involving a person so much that he/she forgets about everything else for an extended time.
2. BENEFITS FOR COGNITIVE & SPATIAL TASKS:
Playing action games requires more attention and accuracy, ultimately improving the cognitive abilities of a person. Making the person more observant and attentive in many aspects of life. Video games are also known for improving and developing the spatial task ability of a person. Both these skills are directly related to a person’s problem-solving capability, which proves handy in solving various real-world issues.
3. EMOTIONAL BENEFITS:
Spending all your time at home due to the lock-down can be tiresome, exhausting, and creates anxiety for a person who is not used to being at home 24/7. Hence it becomes tough to check and keep your emotions in balance under such conditions; it is easy for a person to be easily irritated or angry on small matters. Video games help to keep your emotions in balance. It is advised to play puzzle video games with a minimal interface, requiring short-term commitments and provide high accessibility.
4. SOCIAL BENEFITS:
The advancements in video gaming broke the contrary belief and stereotype that video games are only for nerds or introverts. Online-gaming provides a platform where people can interact and connect with other gamer’s; This may lead to developing a person’s social and civil leading capabilities. It is also a great way to be in touch with all your friends during the self-isolation period.
NEGATIVE IMPACT:
- SENSATION OF PAIN:
Playing excessive video games can cause a person to lose the sensation of pain. Almost all modern games require too much attention from players, which can cause this issue. However, this characteristic of video gaming is helpful to distract a patient from their pain and often advised by physiotherapists.
2. OBESITY:
During the self-isolation, when we do not have much to do, and there is not much physical activity involved in our daily routine, excessive video gaming can lead to medical ailments, including obesity. Months of exercise you did can go in vain. It is recommended to limit your time for video gaming and involve yourself in some home-based activities to remain in good shape.
3. LOSING CREATIVITY:
Involving yourself in too much video-gaming can dull your creativity. Sitting in front of your computer or TV screens might be stopping you from much work that you delayed due to the lack of time during your busy days. This lock-down has allowed you to do all those postponed things. For example, writing a story, reading your favorite novel, painting your wall, or hanging that painting you bought months ago.
4. ADDICTION:
Video gaming is no longer only limited to children. Many adults and grown-ups are now also pulled in this, especially under the self-isolation period. It is a favorite pastime for many. However, a person should be well aware of the fact that video games are designed in a way to captivate you. It will not require much time to develop into an addiction, and you would not even realize it. Leaving this addiction can be hard when you finally have to move back to your daily routine after the self-isolation period is over.
CONCLUSION:
It is quite clear that video gaming provides a great alternative to kill our time and maintain social-distancing. However, one should also keep in mind that excessive video-gaming can cause significant health issues, both physical and psychological. Therefore, it is better to limit our video-gaming hours and also find some other ways to keep ourselves busy during this self-isolation period.
