Professional Documents
Culture Documents
5-24-2018
Jose Sanchez
Los Angeles Leadership Academy HS, josesanchez9675@gmail.com
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Abstract
Whether gaming is beneficial for students has been a long debated topic. Gaming is a way for
teens to have to feel excited and relax at the same time while being at home. Over the years
research has indicated that gaming isn’t really beneficial for students. Some theories state that
gaming has a negative effect on kids. Modern day research furthermore indicates that gaming
does not have such bad effects on students as long as they have the ability to control how much
Acknowledgements
I want to thank my teachers for pushing me hard to work on this final. As well as my parent for
providing me with the guidance and materials all throughout this process.
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Jose Sanchez
Los Angeles Leadership Academy HS, Los Angeles, California, USA
Whether gaming is beneficial for students has been a long debated topic. Over the years
research has indicated that gaming isn’t really that beneficial for students. Some theories state
that gaming has a negative effect on kids. Modern day research furthermore indicates that
gaming does not have such bad effect on students as long as they have the ability to control how
The Incident
The summer before senior year started consisted of video games, basketball at the park,
and hanging out with friends. It was one bright, sunny morning, when I woke up to the delicious
smell of chocolate. My mom had been cooking chocolate chip pancakes for my dad and I. As I
layed in bed scrolling through my Instagram feed, my mother yelled, “Mijo ya vente a comer!”
The smell of the melted chocolate reached my nostrils and flooded my brain with images of
fluffy, warm goodness. I walked into the kitchen and enjoyed the very delicious pancakes. After
I had finished eating, I started to watch Netflix and embarked on to watch one of my favorite
shows. After watching about two to three episodes, I switched to playing video games. I played
the game that was last left in the disc tray, Tom Clancy’s Rainbow Six Siege. As I played in an
intense match, my dogs suddenly started barking at the front door for no apparent reason.
Frustrated by the distraction my dogs created, I turned to them and yelled, “Shut up!” Only to
find out that they were barking at the mailman. After acknowledging his presence, I paused the
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match and went outside to collect the mail. Shuffling through each letter, I saw an envelope
from Los Angeles Leadership Academy. I was unsure about opening it, but I was very curious
on what it held within. Opening the envelope, I saw that it was my final report card, my grade
point average was a 3.7. I was astonished because for most of the school year I was heavily
invested playing video games because it was so much fun. I would have my assignments on the
side so when I would die, I can work on them. Multitasking was very efficient for me because
whenever I died I was able to work on my school assignments I then came to a realization that I
proved everyone wrong. I maintained a high GPA while still managing to have fun and play
Analysis
Introduction
The evolution of video games has heavily influenced millions of people. Many parents
frown upon video games because they think that is it a waste of time. Video games have grown
from nothing to one of the primary means of entertainment for adolescents. Technology has
advanced a lot and you can find games anywhere you look, they're on phones, laptops, tvs, just
about anywhere you can think of. While plenty of these activities can benefit the development
of the mind, there is still no scientific proof that it is because video games. Although games do
bring plenty of benefits, they also have some drawbacks that are uncontrollable. Video games
have become a norm and whether they are completely good for someone or not remains
unknown.
Study of focus
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The study of focus for this paper is the effects of video games on teenagers and how it
affects their daily lives. As well as knowing the impacts are of playing several hours a day and
how kids grow as individuals. Whether it is beneficial or not, video games are rising because
Claim #1
Parents are mainly concerned with violent video games because they don't want their
son to adapt those acts, video games have shown to introduce teenagers to violent thoughts
overtime. In the Psychology Today article, it stated “the effects of studies focussing on
are mainly the result of priming effects, meaning that exposure to violent content increases the
accessibility of aggressive thoughts and affect when participants are in the immediate situation”
(Kühn, 2018, para. 4). This means that shortly after violent gameplay, students show results of
Teens who played mostly solitary games (in which they were the only player) tended to
be more engaged academically and have better peer relationships than others in the
study. Teens who gravitated toward multi-player and competitive games tended to have
fewer internalized problems (which generally is used to describe such issues as anxiety,
loneliness and withdrawal). No link was found between playing violent games and being
involved in real-world violence or conflict or between violent games and the teens’
This evidence shows there is no signs of violent behavior due to playing video games. There is
no way to actually tell what someone is feeling, but studies do show that gaming is beneficial
Video games isn’t as big of a threat than some someones own surroundings. Someones
own neighborhood can just give have a bigger impact on violent behavior than video games. Ed
Cara, a science writer at Gizmodo claims that “violent video games are played all over the
world, but certain countries like the US have a much higher rate of mass shootings and gun
violence compared to places like Japan” (Cara, 2018, para. 14). His claim is supported by a new
Harvard study, that has found “a country’s gun laws and amount of firearms have a much higher
impact on gun violence” (Cara, 2018, para. 14). What he is trying to say is that instead of
blaming video games, blame the surroundings, people get influenced by what they are around
physically.
Claim #2
Two other factors that go hand in hand with students progress is time management skills
and study habits. Some students struggle with the responsibility, and have trouble finding
enough time towards academic activities such as studying. Teens would much rather play video
games and have fun rather than work on homework. As a result of this, work does not get
“adolescent video gamers have been found to spend 30% less time reading and 34% less time
doing homework than non gamers” (Cummings, 2007, para. 1). This proves that students who
are playing video games tend to work less on assignments than others who do not. Students can
be playing for hours without even knowing it and have no more time to complete their
homework. Which again also ties to losing sleep when teens stay up late doing homework when
they could have already finished it earlier. However, it is also possible that children who have
trouble at school choose to spend more time playing video games or can be that the student is
Claim #3
When kids start to get addicted to video games it will cause them to constantly be
playing more and more games, spending less time moving and exercising, getting unhealthier
University found that participants who played video games for 150
27 minutes in total sleep loss during the night” (Carbone, 2018, para. 5). Losing sleep can have
a large impact on a student’s academic life, as well as long term goals.These conclusions, which
Peri discusses adds weight to the argument that “Lack of sleep hurts these cognitive thinking
processes in many ways like it impairing attention, alertness, concentration, reasoning, and
problem solving” (Peri, 2018, para. 4) This can make it more difficult to learn efficiently, which
Opinion
My opinion is that gaming does not negatively affect students as long as it’s not abused.
Gaming actually help some parts of the cognitive brain. Like with thinking faster, able to work
out problems quicker and as well can help with working well together with other people.
Gaming can help someone grow out of their comfort zone when they are shy in person.
Conclusion
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Consequently, video games have developed so much and it has shown that gaming can
actually be pretty beneficial. Video games are really fun and can help kids just take some time
off and enjoy some themselves. Although there are some drawbacks, it is only if you are an
excessive user. Keep an eye on how much time is being put into it because it can be easy to
forget about homework or get a daily workout. Overall gaming has shown to not be harmful but
References
“15 Surprising Benefits of Playing Video Games”. (2017, September). Retrieved from
http://mentalfloss.com/article/65008/15-surprising-benefits-playing-video-games
Cara, E. (2018, March 16). “Science Finds Once Again That Violent Video Games Don't
once-again-that-violent-video-games-dont-182381119
Carbone, M. (2018, April). “This is how video games can screw up your sleep”.
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Cummings, M. (2007, July). Relation of Adolescent Video Game Play to Time Spent in Other
https://jamanetwork.com/journals/jamapediatrics/fullarticle/570716
Kühn, S., Kugler, D. T., Schmalen, K., Weichenberger, M., Witt, C., & Gallinat, J. (2018,
March). Does playing violent video games cause aggression? A longitudinal intervention
Nichols, H. (2017, July). How video games affect the brain. Retrieved from
https://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/318345.php
Peri, C. (2005 June.). 10 Things to Hate About Sleep Loss. Retrieved from
https://www.webmd.com/sleep-disorders/features/10-results-sleep-loss#1
Scutti, S. (2018, February). “Do video games lead to violence?” Retrieved from
https://www.cnn.com/2016/07/25/health/video-games-and-violence/index.html
Searing, L. (2015, April). “The effect of video games on kids' behavior and achievement”.
video-games-on-kids-behavior-achievement/2015/04/06/0781f084-d96f-11e4-8103-
fa84725dbf9d_story.html?noredirect=on&utm_term=.e2e9ef617b96