Introduction
Stress is a large part of a student’s life. They need to distract themselves not feel pressure or just beat the daily boredom. Video games are a great means of entertainment because of the many realities they construct. Today’s students are representatives of the generation of people who grew up with the “latest technologies.” As a result, the average college student spends less than 5,000 hours reading books and more than 10,000 hours playing video games annually.
However, some people are skeptical about video games. They hold a lot of outdated stereotypes about the negative influence of gaming on academic performance and social skills. Now let’s figure out what is true and what is not.
New generation
It is not by chance that the new generation of young people is referred to as the digital generation. Mark Prensky, a famous American teacher and writer, calls modern students “digital natives.” They are fluent in the language of computers, video games, and the Internet. As native inhabitants of the digital environment, they are used to quick access to information, and online learning based on a system of instant rewards and bonuses. They can multitask. Besides, they perceive graphic images well and easily work with hypertexts.
Video games vs college performance
Students, as well as businessmen or housewives, spent hours playing video games. Time passes unnoticed when creating an alternative world or winning a battle during World War II. However, college assignments must be submitted on time. If you are time-limited, find free essay samples online. They can inspire to prepare well-written cold war essays, for instance. You can find useful information or unknown facts about your paper topic. Besides, the texts are logical and organized and the style is suitable. Essay writing help is a fantastic variant if you want to have good grades and enjoy playing.
Literacy and languages
It is quite usual when people start looking for information about the game or its background. There are a lot of useful online forums or websites dedicated to a certain game. You can read about some game hints and tips. A lot of games, i. e., Call of Duty or Age of Empires, recreate certain historical periods. It can cause interest in reading books and articles about different epochs. As a result, you gain knowledge handy for studying and boost your literacy skills.
Another beneficial outcome of playing video games is learning foreign languages. You can easily find a game partner online who can be your neighbor or live overseas. Even speaking different languages players should find a way to understand one another and communicate effectively. It is a nice chance to learn foreign languages simply during the game and expand vocabulary or spelling skills.
Train your brain!
Students who enjoy video games demonstrate a high level of visual attention and spatial orientation. Professors of the University of Geneva S. Green and D. Bavalier write about this in their book “Exercising your brain.” Also, video games develop the ability to switch between tasks, detect tiny objects and focus on one thing for a long time. Researchers from the Institute for Human Development of the Max Planck Society (Germany) concluded that video games cause an increase in the areas of the brain responsible for memory formation and strategic planning, and fine motor skills.
Do the cons outweigh the pros?
Of course, not everything is so perfect when it comes to video games. They might have a negative impact on students’ academic results. Some can play for long hours, forgetting about their duties and studying, sleeping and even brushing their teeth. And again, recent research showed that it is not necessary to panic. Only 3.1% of gamers have a video game addiction, which requires measures similar to those used when working with addicts of other categories (for example, shopaholics, adrenaline addicts, gamblers, etc.).
Conclusion
Do video games really have a positive or a negative effect on student academic performance? It turns out that they can be useful for study. Video games develop memory, attention, creativity, etc. In order to play successfully, you need to learn to predict the consequences of your actions and think strategically.
Video game problems are really time management problems. If you plan your time correctly, you will have time to play and study. Stereotypes that gamers are bad at socializing, learning poorly, and being addicted are just stereotypes. Besides, quite old. However, if you do not study hard, your academic results are poor regardless you play video games or not.
Author’s Bio
Mary Cardoza works as a content writer for various online resources. She is passionate about video games and writes blogs about online gaming. She thinks there is nothing more inspiring and useful to assist students with their essays and research giving them a chance to enjoy their lives.