Impact of Mobile Game Addiction to the Social Behavior of HUMSS 11

Students of San Pascual Senior High School 1

A Research Paper

Presented to the Faculty of

San Pascual Senior High School 1

San Pascual, Batangas

By:

Leader: Mariano, Jelmer

Members:

Hilario, Shaira

Javier, Theo

Panopio, Katrina

Panopio, Marevell

Salimo, Judith

Villalobos, Zander
 Chapter 1

Introduction

Background of the Study

Online gaming is one of the widely used leisure activities by numerous

people. These games transport users to a virtual environment and are played

individually or together with other online gamers. Many players crave the

competitive nature of online games (Liu et al. 2013), others seek hedonic

gratification (enjoyment, fantasy and escape from reality), yet others relish social

interaction (Li et al. 2013). Playing online games, can be a stress reliever,

challenge, relaxation, enjoyment, social interaction, and even mentally escaping from

the real world. For most people, online gaming is one of the best past time that they

acquire especially for teenagers, youngsters, and students.

Nowadays, the youth are more engaging with their more advanced

smartphones having high-quality graphics and gaming features. However, existing

literature depicts that adolescents suffer from several forms of psychological

problems including mental health, depression, loneliness, insomnia and low self-

control due to mobile game addiction. Therefore, this study aims to determine the

impact of Mobile Game Addiction to the Social Behavior of HUMSS 11 Student of

San Pascual Senior High School 1.

Rationale

During the late 19th century and throughout the 21st century, new types of

mass media were produced and consumed such as novels, films, comic books,

radio, recorded music, television, video, online games, and the internet. Each

medium was often immediately praised for its potential benefits and criticized for its
potential harms especially the internet. Internet plays a crucial role in developing

one's mind and life experiences by creating productive works in schools, offices, and

even at home. Nowadays, this can be a person's most efficient strategic tool for

enabling himself to take charge and cope with the fast-growing technology. The

development of technology brings numerous effects which may either ease or

make the life of people more delicate and complicated. One of the results of this

development is the opening of online gaming through the internet which has

become addicting and one of the extensively used rest conditioning by numerous

people and teenagers. The way we play games has shifted dramatically over the

past few decades. From the confines of the arcade to home consoles, and now on

our smartphones. Mobile technology has revolutionized the industry of gaming and

opened the doors to a new generation of gamers that it become so integrated with

modern popular culture and now even elders know what Candy Crush is. The

growing popularity of gaming is further amplified by the spread of mobile

technologies with 36% of gamers using their mobile devices to access their favorite

games anytime and anywhere in 2013 (Entertainment Software Association 2013).

There are many types of online games. Among them, puzzle, logic and card games

are most popular accounting for 34% of all online games, followed by action,

sports, strategy and role-playing games (26%), casual and social games (19%)

and persistent multiplayer universe games (14%) (Entertainment Software

Association 2013). An important category, Massively Multi-player Online Role-

Playing Games (MMORPGs), allow players to create a new identity, navigate their

avatar in a 3D environment and interact with others in a “reality-like” setting.

Gaming has exploded in global popularity and blossomed into one of the most pro

fitable entertainment industries in the world.

 According to Kuss & Griffiths (2012), teens who play online games are just

having fun. They do not just actually play because of some sort of seriousness, but

also because they just want to feel relief. During school hours, students tend to feel

stressed due to loads of school works and through playing, their stress will be

relieved. However, the influence of online gaming on youth is undeniably

questionable. As to what Rock (2009) said, all these technologies are very good at

distracting people. In line with this development, online gaming was created to give

entertainment to people but it also became a distraction for people especially

students.

The increasing popularity of video games has resulted in an explosion of

video games research (Barlett, Anderson and Swing, 2009). Many studies have

been argued and conducted to test whether technological advances, specifically

computers, are advantageous or disadvantageous to student’s academic

performance. Several studies have documented negative correlations between

online game use and school performance for children, adolescents, and students.

Egli & Myers (1984) identified compelling behaviors associated with online gaming,

discovering that 13% of the students they interviewed sacrificed other activities

and uncontrollably spend money and time in gaming. Anderson & Dill (2007)

studied video games suggested that gaming affects directly their performance

stimulating a high level of aggression which is usually linked to school problems and

definitely decrease academic performance. Another argument is that computer

games are addictive. Once an individual started playing, he tends to spend

more of his time in just playing online games, that's why many parents are alarmed

by this kind of gaming. Many teachers, parents, and other concerned

organizations and people continuously clamor for a tighter clamp over online
gaming. There has been an uproar on how the trend is becoming a cause of

distraction among students in their studies. Entrepreneurs set up cafés near

schools to cater the youngsters and many students are designating cafés as

hangout places where hours are spent playing. They play until late at night,

or worse, during school hours which makes students skip classes. In 2007,

complaints have been received from schools all over Manila, Philippines’ capital city

regarding students getting more and more addicted to online computer gaming.

This is although the government’s Department of Education (DepEd) values

how online computer gaming also helps sharpen the young generation into highly

proficient individuals in new technologies and digital trends. DepEd also

recognizes that internet and computer shops cater to the research needs of

students, especially those without internet access at home. In addition, it is viewed

that computer gaming is a shift from the usual vices of young students today, such

as drinking and smoking.

Online games have given many challenges from student’s behaviors

striking their academic behavior and personality to constantly change negatively or

positively as it brings various types of behavior that affects players in different ways.

That is why many studies claim that online gaming has negative impacts and some

claim that online gaming has positive impact. Online games help players to

overcome their stress but some players are stressed out in playing online

games. In accordance to the positive impacts of online gaming to the behavior of the

players, studies claimed that playing online games improves social skills,

mental skills and finding solutions. Some players play online games for

entertainment or to escape their boredom and some play for their needs such as

relationship or use it to escape problems, stress, or even loneliness. In accordance

to negative impact of online games to players, studies claimed that online gaming

results to addiction, aggressive behavior, and has relation on mental health

problems such as depression and anxiety that also affects their performance in

school.

Online games are a big threat for adolescents and can lead to psychological

disorders and depression. Student’s or adolescent’s attractions to the online games

cause many mental, physical and social problems for them. These effects are

stimulating anger and violence, social isolation, and other physical and mental

damages. The addiction to the rivalry and excitements of the games make them the

most common recreational programs for today’s teenagers, so that they do anything

to reach a higher level of the game. Challenging with the obstacles and reaching a

higher level in the game, make the players excited and losing the game make them

anxious, and lose focus to their studies. They immerse in the game so much that

they completely separate from their surroundings. Worst scenario of this is that they

forgot that they also need to live in real life. In view of this, the researchers felt

the need to determine the impact of mobile gaming to students’ social behavior

among the senior high school students of San Pascual Senior High School 1.

Statement of the Problem

This study aims to determine the impact of Mobile Game Addiction to the

Social Behavior of HUMSS 11 Student of San Pascal Senior High School 1.

Specifically, this aims to answer the following questions:

1. What kind of mobile game do the students play?

2. Why HUMSS 11 students are is addicted to mobile games?

3. How mobile games affect the social behavior of HUMSS 11 students?

4. What encourages the students to play mobile games?

5. What are the roles and responsibilities of students in self-management of

impact of mobile game addiction in their social behavior?

6. What methods/ strategies would help to lessen the impact of mobile game

addiction to the social behavior of students?