Video games have long been stereotyped as harmful, but how true is this? If we look at the advantages and disadvantages of video games, we may find ourselves in quite a different situation to what the typical clichéd adult person would tell us.
If we go objectively into the search for a good answer to the question of whether video games are good or bad, we can conclude that the answer will always be “it depends”. And it depends on how you play, what you play, and how much time you spend on it. That is, if your consumption of video games is low/moderate, it could be said that they are doing you much more good than bad, since most of the related problems come from spending too much time on this activity.
It should be stressed that scientific studies on the subject sometimes contradict each other, obtaining different results and statements depending on the study and the case.
Advantages of video games
- Favor social interaction: Although it used to be the opposite, since it was not possible to play online, today most of the most played games worldwide are cooperative in the style of most traditional sports. This, as you can imagine, greatly encourages interaction between individuals, without the need to even leave the house.
- Potentiate the hand-eye connection: It will significantly increase dexterity and precision in the use of the hands, as happens when learning to play an instrument, such as a piano.
- Power the hand-eye connection: It will significantly increase dexterity and precision in the use of the hands, as happens when learning to play an instrument, such as a piano.
- Improve the ability to concentrate.
- They can be used with educational media: The educational potential of video games is practically unlimited, and it is almost certain that in the coming decades many educational ideas will be developed around video games.
Disadvantages of video games
- They can cause addiction: This is the main problem of video games, and from which practically all the other problems derived from the consumption of video games come from. There is a daily time limit after which the negative effects begin to be pronounced.
- They can cause addiction.
- Sedentarism: Since most video games do not encourage movement, the perpetuated consumption of this means of entertainment ends up becoming harmful in some cases.
- They can cause stress and anxiety.
- They can encourage violence: which can always be avoided by taking into account the target audience of each video game. Likewise, the normal effect of video games is usually the opposite in most people, who have no reason to change their behavior because of a video game.