What are the effects of kids playing video games?
Perhaps the biggest concern associated with video games has been the amount of time which children dedicate to playing them. On average, children play video games two hours a day with 64 percent of all American children playing at least one hour a day (Sheff 3). Part of this obsession is because most games always contain a new threat or challenge, and this creates a compulsion to continue playing. Other reasons include pressure to continue playing so one can compete with other children’s high scores and deep knowledge of the game. When more than two hours a day is spent playing video games it is often at the expense of other activities. This is what many fear is happening to the majority of children, they are eliminating social activities in favor of the anti-social video games. Parents often see their children as becoming obsessed with playing, and the parents are able to see firsthand just how pervasive and powerful this gaming force is. One potential direction of this force is that
