Video Gaming and online gaming today are a huge part of American life.

Adults and
children around the world participate in the activity of playing video games. Growing up, most
children can relate to the fact of watching their siblings play these games or playing right along
with them. Just by observing two siblings sitting right next to each other you can immediately tell
the difference in behavior and attitude brought along while playing aggressive games. Video
games are beginning to take a negative toll on children early in their childhood. Statistics have
shown behaviors are worse today than ever before. Around 91% of children between the ages
of 9 and 12 participate in the use of video games and they are experiencing negative effects
such as: increased aggressive behavior, social isolation, and overall decreased well
being/health. We must put a stop to it by cutting down the amount of games played and making
negative social effects more aware to parents who can regulate what is played.

Although some people claim video games encourage teamwork, they are a leading
cause to aggressive behavior. Video games engender an increased amount of violence among
children as figures are becoming idolized with negative characteristics. Evidence from 2007 has
shown that 32% of students ages 12 to 18 are bullied rather than the 5% in 1989. (procon.org)
That goes on to prove that video game violence has increased over the years. The students are
spending more time playing violent video games and absorbing the negative effects. They then
take these negative behaviors learned from the games and use them in the classroom. They
think that acting out these violent behaviors is an okay thing to do considering that the people
they idolize in the game are doing it. According to a statistic released by Procon; 50% of middle
school boys and 40% of middle school girls who played at least one violent video game hit or
beat someone up compared to 39% of boys and 14% of girls who did not play. (procon.org)
Video game violence is also leading to increased school shootings around the world. Harper
Mercer was the shooter of Umpqua University on October 1, 2015. He was addicted to online
video games and found chat rooms in these games where he was given the idea to commit this
violent act. He even found people that supported him and gave him tips to do it.
(movieguide.org) Also Adam Lanza, shooter of Sandy Hook Elementary School on December 14,
2012, practiced shooting on online video games. He made 83,000 online kills including 22,00
violent headshots without using cheat codes or shortcuts to get himself ready for the massacre.
(dailymail.co.uk) Video games are not only planting the idea of participating in such violent acts
but even helping these criminals carry out their hate crimes.

Though some people believe video games are good distractions, they actually are a
leading cause of social isolation. People (especially children) nowadays are spending so much
time playing video games that their personal relationships begin to become neglected. Around
50% of married people had a strain in their marriage due to the usage of video games.
(onlinegamingaddiction.web.unc.edu) Video games are beginning to ruin close relationships
because they are being valued more than the things that actually matter in life. Information
taken from 813 students at Birmingham University has shown that young adults are removing
themselves from important social settings to play video games leading to decreased
relationships. (sciencedaily.com) Video games are ruining relationships for families all around
the United States and if the amount of time played was limited we could easily lower that
statistic. Not only are people neglecting their relationships, they are also neglecting
extracurricular activities that are important for their social skills and school career. Children are
completely choosing to spend hours inside on an online video game rather than going outside
to work with other children which is becoming detrimental to these students social wellbeing.
(my.vanderbilt.edu) Spending so much time playing video games is leading to an overall
decreased self-competence among teens and children and one of the biggest places this is
showing up is in the social skills section. (my.vanderbilt.edu)

While some feel video games do not take an effect on people, they actually take an
overall effect on the body especially on the players health. Excessive video game use is one of
the main causes of eating disorders and obesity around America. Children are skipping meals to
play games as the game holds much more of a significance than eating. (livestrong.com) This
heuristic has lead to eating disorders. On the opposite side of the spectrum, children are
spending so much time sitting down and playing video games rather than going outside and
playing leading to overall increased childhood obesity. (livestrong.com) Over 45% of America's
12 - 17 year olds spent more than two hours per day glued to a screen, more than 1 in 7
children are overweight. (nationalobesityforum.org.uk) That number is on the rise and it will
only continue to rise unless we put a stop to it. Video games are also leading to other physical
conditions that are more severe and some are even leading to mental health issues.
The University of Texas at Dallas notes that the addiction can lead to such medical issues as
backaches, headaches, eyestrain and carpal tunnel syndrome--pain and numbness that your
child may feel in his wrists, hands, shoulders and elbows. (livestrong.com). These number are
projected to increase unless we find a way to change it.

Video games are taking a lot more negative effects than positive effects on children
today. Yes, there are some benefits of playing certain games but the negative definitely outway
the positive. But since there are still some positive effects of video games, we should not
completely stop the usage of video games but we must upgrade them and change them. We
want to change the type of video games being played to reverse some of the negative health
effects so we only receive positive effects of playing games.