VIDEO GAMES?? Is it right or wrong??

[Spifflove]

I have given this thread some thought....I am going to severly limit the use of the video games. Life is too short already and to spend hours a day playing video games alone is not a good spend of life time. We have started some plans of building a tree house and rope swing in a few months so the kids have more to do outside. We also bought a pop up camper to use as soon as the weather gets warm...I have decided the video games are NOT welcome during family camping trips......they will be staying home.

Amen.

 

[ChickensRDinos]

Everything in moderation is fine. But video games are highly addictive. It's sorta like saying its ok to have a few drinks. One will lead to another, then another.

If you allow your children to play video games and tv more than 2 hours a day prepare to reap the consequences:
a. Hyperactivity and Attention deficit
b. Permanent lost boys unable to hold relationships or a serious job.
c. No grandchildren or grandchildren very late when you are too old to enjoy them; or single parent raised grandchildren.

I think it is unfair to make such vast and odd generalizations about something that is actually quite complex and varied. "Videos games" is a HUGE category of things. Some video games have a large social interaction component, others require a lot of thinking and strategy, some group collaboration, others have a physical component. 3D visualization skills, math, problem solving, spelling, drawing, creative thinking, reading and also aspects of technology and computer literacy. There are a lot of different video games. Not all of them are for children. And for sure, some are problematic.

I started my career as a graphic artist for a company that developed a video game for dementia and alzheimer's patients to help improve short and long term memory. Yep. A video game.

I also play World of Warcraft and you can play as a casual player if you want to. I enjoy the game a lot and have for a long time. I play for a few months. I stop. I start back up again when work is slow. I also have a lot of other hobbies. I have even played in a guilds that had a "family night" where some of the players with kids would all raid together.

It is hard for me to imagine hyperactivity and lack of attention coming out of something that requires you to sit and play very careful attention to something for 2 hours. I have a hard time raiding with a raiding guild BECAUSE I have a really short attention span. ADD and ADHD are medical disorders not just something you can cause your children to have through parenting, hobbies or games. Diet, exercise, no un-need meds, family time...all can happen with video games in the mix.

As other people have beautifully said teaching your children time management skills, moderation and positive choice making will have a much more profound effect on their future choices than whether or not they play video games. As a parent you also have control of which ones they are playing.

Video games are also a really big industry with tons of career options many of which are kind of awesome. I just helped a good friend move into a beautiful 2 million dollar home with his pregnant wife. He is a hard core gamer and game programmer who has made an amazing life for himself all out of this industry by turning his interests into a career. It doesn't really go with your list.

Moderation and balance with all things and it can include video games or not. DS is a video game.

 

[Spifflove]

I hate to pick appart your post but I am going to because this is too important.
I think it is unfair to make such vast and odd generalizations about something that is actually quite complex and varied. "Videos games" is a HUGE category of things. Some video games have a large social interaction component, others require a lot of thinking and strategy, some group collaboration, others have a physical component. 3D visualization skills, math, problem solving, spelling, drawing, creative thinking, reading and also aspects of technology and computer literacy. There are a lot of different video games. Not all of them are for children. And for sure, some are problematic.
While there is nothing false in the above paragraph, note that the mass shooters of schools are invariably on Psychotropic drugs and high violence vidogames. They probably started out on Donkey Kong or something not so bad. This is a small percentage of people. However, you can glean from the above posts by other posters that there is a serious societywide problem afoot. Just scanning Facebook posts by your extended family should confirm this.
I started my career as a graphic artist for a company that developed a video game for dementia and alzheimer's patients to help improve short and long term memory. Yep. A video game.
I used to drink a glass of red wine to unwind. Not unhealthy, even beneficial. That is... except when I drank several drinks on the weekend too. I quit the same time I stopped watching TV. Don't miss either.
I also play World of Warcraft and you can play as a casual player if you want to. I enjoy the game a lot and have for a long time. I play for a few months. I stop. I start back up again when work is slow. I also have a lot of other hobbies. I have even played in a guilds that had a "family night" where some of the players with kids would all raid together.
I used to be a guild leader in Jedi Academy. Had more online friends than real ones. That was a problem.
It is hard for me to imagine hyperactivity and lack of attention coming out of something that requires you to sit and play very careful attention to something for 2 hours. I have a hard time raiding with a raiding guild BECAUSE I have a really short attention span. ADD and ADHD are medical disorders not just something you can cause your children to have through parenting, hobbies or games. Diet, exercise, no un-need meds, family time...all can happen with video games in the mix.
ADD and ADHD are nonexistant disorders designed to make money for big Pharma. You get ADD by overstimulation. Kids can't sit still in class because Sergent Kilgore isn't there telling them to charge that hill so they imagine he is. Then their mind wanders. They tap thier pencil, and then their foot. But don't worry, its not like its big pharma's stated goal to get half the children on Ritalin. Oh wait...
As other people have beautifully said teaching your children time management skills, moderation and positive choice making will have a much more profound effect on their future choices than whether or not they play video games. As a parent you also have control of which ones they are playing.
Yes some do. For those of you struggling here is my guide:
Up to AGE 2: No TV; accumulate strong square books with cardboard pages
AGE 2-4: No more than two hours of TV; No Video games. Daily reading. One hour of play time without ESPN/FB/chores with the family on the child's level. Put the mop down that hour. Do not blare the TV as this disrupts speech and impairs learning. Nick Junior and Disney Junior only.
Age 5-6. Teach to read.
AGe 7-14 Introduce chores, novels, and an allowance if you remember to do your chores. No internet accounts.
Video games are also a really big industry with tons of career options many of which are kind of awesome. I just helped a good friend move into a beautiful 2 million dollar home with his pregnant wife. He is a hard core gamer and game programmer who has made an amazing life for himself all out of this industry by turning his interests into a career. It doesn't really go with your list.

Moderation and balance with all things and it can include video games or not. DS is a video game.

 

[ChickensRDinos]

The ADD epidemic is a really interesting problem in our country - thinking that video games are the biggest or only cause misses the complexity of the issue. I agree that drugs are big part, much bigger than any game could ever be. I think diet is also a really big factor.

Yes video games can be addictive. So can food - and that is also a huge problem in our country. But, I'm gonna feed my kids. There are some really healthy foods out there and by teaching kids about nutrition they can make good choices and develop healthy eating habits later in life.

I feel the same away about exercise, time management, choice making, self-awareness and social skills. And also about tv, video games, the internet, driving, credit cards, alcohol, etc. All things that can be positive or negative depending on how you treat them and all things that they WILL encounter in their adult lives.

If adults are online more than offline this is a moderation issue.

It gets really old to here video games as the sole cause of every child-related problem that pops up. It skirts responsibilities.

Video games are a thing. They are not good or bad or right or wrong. They are just a thing (and really a lot of different things grouped together). There are perhaps positive and negative ways to make them a part of your life but that does not make the thing adherently good or evil. Video game as child care is a problem but I don't think the true issue there is the game.

A more interesting question might be what can we do as a society to help children have more balance in their lives and have access to: education-base childcare, safe outdoor places to play, and confidence/structure/balance.

The foundations for reading start much earlier than 5 years of age.

 

[Coupe]

Video games are a big part of my life...
I dont have kids..so i cant really help with this topuc much , but i can give you my experience on them i guess..
I was never a good student and i hated school!
In Highschool i started playing Halo2 online (xbox live) and i would stay up all night and sleep all day. Would skip school and just play video games. But i was never told i couldnt do that lol. My dad never yelled at me for it so i thought it was ok. My father always let us do what we wanted when we where in our teens.
Playing online multiplayer really became my life for a while, i didnt leave the house much and never wanted to go anywhere. But i dont regret it at all! Iv made some really good friends playing xbox lol and i still play with them to this day. Most of you wouldnt think someone you talk to over a video game could become a true friend..but they can.
I really believe that if you teach your kids that videogames are ok in moderation, then they wont be a problem. I was never taught that..but now being 24 i learned it was more a fase than anything else..i grew out of it..i use to die my hair crazy colors and dress like a grungpunk kid...and thought i would be that way the rest of my life. But i changed and grew out if that.
I still play videogames everyday..i run my small farm and have a job..
I dont even remember what i was going for here....video games are really apart of the generations of kids growing up now.. Ha, i dont know..sorry for the kind of rant, i guess.

 

[Rowdie]

There are some crazy assertions in this thread.

As far as banning all video games being abuse; it would be difficult to make that argument, but what you might want to consider is are you depriving your child of a shared experience that is and will only be more so part of our culture. Being able to relate is about such shared experiences, we read the same book, we had similar traditions, we owned chickens, we saw the same movie, we played video games perhaps the same ones, we all remember where we where on 9/11. Banning your kid from all video games would be like banning all books, or all movies, or going to the dance , or sports.

Coupe, Tag? Rowdie

 

[HeatherLynn]

i didn't read anything but I caved for like 6 months before I exploded. Then I threated my husband if he did not get it out of my house I would toss it off the balcony. I am not anti video games really. I have played them. My husband still does now and then. BUT they take over with the kids and they never want to do anything else. I just cannot handle that.

 

[Coupe]

There are some crazy assertions in this thread. 

As far as banning all video games being abuse; it would be difficult to make that argument, but what you might want to consider is are you depriving your child of a shared experience that is and will only be more so part of our culture. Being able to relate is about such shared experiences, we read the same book, we had similar traditions, we owned chickens, we saw the same movie, we played video games perhaps the same ones, we all remember where we where on 9/11. Banning your kid from all video games would be like banning all books, or all movies, or going to the dance , or sports. 

Coupe, Tag?  Rowdie

Xbl- Melodramaticsin
Ps3-NYcowboyz (boyfriends name) i dont play ps3 much, only to play black ops lol

 

[Criskin]

I think the key here, like many have said, is moderation...whether you are talking about video games, alcohol, food of even, in extreme cases, exercise. Once something takes up too much of your time and attention to the point that it affects your health, be it mental or physical, then it is time to step back. For many people, this will never become an issue. You can't lump the entire human race into one group just because a portion of it has the potential for addiction.

 

[Coupe]

I think the key here, like many have said, is moderation...whether you are talking about video games, alcohol, food of even, in extreme cases, exercise. Once something takes up too much of your time and attention to the point that it affects your health, be it mental or physical, then it is time to step back.  For many people, this will never become an issue.  You can't lump the entire human race into one group just because a portion of it has the potential for addiction. 

Well said. And agreed