Recently we have considered what video games to play with our young children, since it is clear that new technologies should not be an impediment for parents and children to play together.
This question has not made us reflect on Babies and more, and we have asked ourselves the following question: Do video games help or harm children?. What do you think?
We have already commented five video games that can help our children to enjoy this hobby that moves lots of money and that is not only aimed at the little ones and teenagers. What's more, video games can be a great opportunity to bond between parents and children since it is always recommended to share hobbies in family, and video games are still a hobby.
Controversy and videogames
There has always been a great controversy between video games and childhood, since there have always been defenders and detractors of them. However, lately it has been discovered that they help develop some skills, such as fine manipulation or reasoning ability.
At the present time, children are not born with a bread under the arm, but with a fourth generation mobile phone, a latest model video game console or a maximum power computer. All this is a cause of fascination and concern on the part of adults, since they consider that these new technologies, without some control and supervision, are not beneficial for their education.
With regard to video games, their use has not stopped growing in recent years, and it cannot be argued that children prefer the use of video games to other entertainment, but this is not as bad as it seems, since It implies both developing their skills in relation to technology and electronic media, as well as developing cognitive skills.
Benefits of video games
There are numerous studies that tell us about the benefits of video games in young children. These benefits are undeniable benefits, although this does not mean that we should leave total freedom in relation to when and what they will play. Parents have a very important role in the world of videogames.
Among the benefits of video games, we especially have the stimulation of cognitive skills, and depending on the type of video game we choose, we can stimulate:
- Physical exercise, since some platforms are beginning to incorporate the player's own human body as a game controller, which will force him to move so that he achieves the marked objectives, and not as the usual games where the main character should be controlled with a command analog and sitting on the couch, without any movement by the player.
- Logic reasoning, for example: the video game "Lego Battles" where we must combine construction and fighting. Our goal is to build our own bases and combat equipment, always with the nice features of the Lego blocks.
- Spatial Orientation, for example: "Sonic Colors". In this video game the devilish Dr. Eggman has kidnapped an alien race and is using his colorful energy to bring to life a terrible plan. But thanks to Sonic we will help the aliens on their way to salvation.
- Visomotor coordination and grafomotor skills, the latter being able to develop thanks to certain video consoles that add extra elements, such as pointers, with which children must perform the actions of their favorite video games to achieve the level, having to perform the digital clamp properly and a stroke with a Certain level of demand.
- Conflict resolution and decision making, for example: "Animal Crossing Wild World", where we will have to enter a virtual world where we can decorate our house, go fishing or simply hang out chatting with your wild neighbors.
- Capacity of attention, since any video game, always in reasonable doses, can favor the development of the ability to concentrate before certain stimuli presented to the child in other contexts.
Disadvantages of video games
As there are several benefits in the use of video games to develop different skills in children, we must take into account that, like everything else, there is also a not so positive side, such as excessive use. It seems obvious to think that excessive exposure to video games is not beneficial for the body.
On the other hand, the isolation that videogames can generate is another very important factor to consider. This causes the child to not find enough satisfaction or pleasure in the interaction with their environment, which will cause them to limit time to another type of leisure, such as sports, group activities, reading ...
On the other hand, this isolation that videogames can cause also generates decrease, in quantity and quality, in relationships with peers or adults. In addition, this will make us not know what type of video game our child is playing, so we will not be sure that the skills and values they are developing are what we want.
Conclusion
When asked if video games help or harm children, you cannot give an answer that is not entirely valid, since on the one hand it helps you develop values, aptitudes and skills that will help you in the future, but they can also harm you as long as the parents do not take a appropriate attitude for our children to learn and enjoy video games.
