The Effects of Video Games on the Adolescent’s Brain Research Paper

Video games, the most controversial topic that leaves parents fearful and adolescents dismissing. The fearful thought that circulates in a parent’s brain, what can video games do to the developing human brain? Upon researching, I have to come to realize that video games have been very beneficial on a young adolescent’s brain that many parents are quite unaware of.

Video games. Introduced in the 1950s by Ralph H. Baer. Video games consist ofCandy Crush to Call of Duty and have globally impacted tremendously. The question at hand is what video games can do towards the cognitive development and social skills of an adolescent. Many parents believe that their teenagers' emotional swings are due to video games but, how true is that? In an M.R.I study, it was concluded that, “the study reported that a group of 17 teenagers with online gaming "addiction" had microstructural changes in various brain regions compared with a control group. But, once again, these studies cannot tell us whether the brain abnormalities are the result of excessive internet use or a pre-existing risk factor for it.” (Friedman)  There is simply no concrete evidence that proves video games are psychologically damaging the brains of young people. Adolescent children go through multiple dire challenges in their lives that factor in hthedevelopment of their brains.

Many people are rather tempted to label video games as a mental disorder. If you compare video game addiction to schizophrenia or A.D.H.D, you will find labeling something extremely small in the same category as those mental disorders is very unrealistic. The Society for Media Psychology and Technology made a statement opposing W.H.O saying, “has not committed to calling the excessive gaming a disorder.” (Green). There is no evidence to claim that theory that so many people believe in. The comparison is unrealistic. Schizophrenia is a severe disorder that destroys families every single day and the analogy is just plain naive. 

In the last decade, video games have become a huge suspect in the rising violence amongst teenagers. The question is, are video games the criminal? A study conducted, found “top video game -- consuming countries -- South Korea and Japan -- have among the lowest rates of violent crime in the world, and mass casualty events are rare. Those countries also have strict laws limiting gun ownership.” (TCA) Many people solely want to blame video games but, what if there is a different culprit? If the United States handled gun laws more proficiently, gun violence would not be as common nor are video games even the factor that plays into gun violence amongst schools and people in general.   During the severely demolishing pandemic called COVID-19, it was shown that video games were rather useful during the quarantine hours people suffered through. Clive Downie, Unity chief marketing officer, stated that “we do know that making and playing games bring people together, create joy and yes, bring a sense of relief," he said. "There's no better time for the games industry to band together than now. We're honored to be a part of this larger initiative that encourages physical distancing to help flatten the curve." (Snider) In the wake of the coronavirus and quarantine days, it was an exceptional tool for minimizing the anxious feelings during that period by keeping people connected and safe.

The danger of video games has been avoided for the last decade, it plays a factor amongst people who already suffer from mental illnesses like depression. In an article, it was stated that “when we look at adolescents over time, we find some evidence of this: teens who are depressed, anxious and socially withdrawn tend to have more problems with video games in the future. But here is the kicker — these teens become more depressed, anxious, and socially withdrawn over time.” (Deseret) It is a clear definitive that video games have impacted children who are currently already suffering from mental illness, damaging their developing brain. 

Video games have disproved the societal beliefs that it is a monster destroying the brains of our children, it rather proved that it is a helpful tool for children. Therefore, it is quite apparent that video game addiction is rather a false conclusive. It is a successful tool in the development and mental health of a child’s mind. Most importantly, people need to educate themselves on the benefit of video game usage rather than criminalize it.