Video Game Addiction | Teen Ink

Video Game Addiction

November 29, 2011
By Tallgirl25 BRONZE, Evanston, Wyoming
Tallgirl25 BRONZE, Evanston, Wyoming
1 article 0 photos 0 comments

In 2001, 9.8 billion dollars were spent on video games in the U.S. alone. Also, in the U.S. the average child plays about 31 hours of video games a week. That’s WAY too much! Lets all stop playing so many video games and start doing productive activities.
To begin, video games cause lack of attention to family and friends. If kids are stuck at the screen all day they start taking time away from family activities and soon they end up not even knowing their own family members very well. My little brother is always playing games on the computer or on the Wii and I feel like I don't know who he is unless I'm with him in the short time he is off.

I know some people think that playing only a few minuets of video games wont make them addicted but it can and will, along with many other things that addict you. According to Dr. Orzack, the director of Computer Addiction Services at McLean Hospital, Social pressure or lack of social skills can lead to Video came addiction. A lot of the time it’s when a child plays for recreation and they end up spending so much time in front of the screen they win and then they just have to keep going and beat the next 10 levels. Kids also get addicted to video games by boardness or from getting sick of doing homework. Kids would rather play than do homework.
Video games limit your imagination. Video games have characters and other things already made up for you but if you don’t play as many video games then you have the room in your brain for the things you want to imagine. Research shows that students who are constantly playing video games are also constantly talking about the game and its characters.
With less video games, kids will be more active and will get off the couch once in a while. Lets see, put your self in a situation, your mom just told you that you can only play for 45 minuets today. Its already been 35 minuets and your not even close to being done with this level. Before you know it 45 minuets are up and your mom is pressing the power button. Would you rather be a couch potato or get up and do something? If you answered the first one … get a life! This question should be a NO BRAINER! Start spending your time wisely, without so many video games. There’s so many other things you can do. For instance you can play sports or spend time with friends and family. Just do something!

I know that for some kids video games are all they have to do. But you can. Maybe if students will get up and at least try to be social they will have some friends to hang out with or at least find something other than video games to do.

Video games cause stress and depression. Most the kids that are stressed are the video game players. Video games fall under health which is one of the main causes of stress according to WebMD Medical Reference from Healthwise. They could also come under financial issues which is another top cause.

Also, more homework will get done with less video games. I have noticed that if I don’t play video games I get my homework done much earlier than I do if I play even a few minuets of video games. The percentage of homework that doesn’t get done comes from students that play video games.

Video games cause financial problems. Way too much money is being spent and it is causing people to lose more money than they should. People think they NEED video games but they really don’t.

So make your choice, are you going to continue your bad, unuseful habits or are you going to change your ways of life? They cause to much stress and problems including family time and financial problems to continue playing so many video games.


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