Republic of the Philippines Division Of Rizal Montalban Heights National High School Villa Ana. Sub.

San Jose, Rodriguez, Rizal

Computer Addiction and its Effects

Submitted by : Rogelio M. Guevarra Submitted to : Mrs. Enriquez

March 2012

Table Of Contents
Acknowledgement Dedication Introduction Chapter I Background of The Study Statement of The Problem Significance of The Study Scope and Delimitation Chapter II Review of Related Literature/Studies Conceptual Model Research Hypothesis Definition of Terms Conclusion Recommendation Resources

Acknowledgement

This Research Study will never be done without the help of these people. Who never forgets to lend a hand whenever I badly need it. I would like to give these following people my deepest gratitude ;

To My Classmates; they are the ones who keeps me a good company. To My Friends ; who never lets me down. To My Parents; they are the most important persons in my life. Without them I will not be able to see how beautiful the world is. To My Teachers; the second parents of every student. They are the ones who build the puzzles we are all unable to create at first.

Lastly, to our Dear Lord, the father of all creations and the one who guide us in this unperfected world.

Dedication

I gladly dedicate this research study to those people who are hungry in searching for knowledge regarding this topic. This research paper is made with good and accurate sources, which I know has been the resource of some famous researchers.

Secondly, Id also dedicate this study to my beloved ones, especially to my parents whose guidance and support are endless. Next are my Friends and Some Classmates who help me out finishing this. Life can be challengeful but they are the ones who make my life less complicated.

Last but not the least to our Dear Lord, who keeps us away from evil and gave our daily food. Thanks and bless you all!

Introduction

Computer addiction can have a variety of negative effects on a person. The most immediate are social. The user withdraws from friends and family as he spends more and more time on the computer. Relationships begin to wither as the user stops attending social gatherings, skips meetings with friends and avoids family members to get more computer time. Even when they do interact with their friends, users may become irritable when away from the computer, causing further social harm. Eventually, excessive computer use can take an emotional toll. The user gradually withdraws into an artificial world. Constant computer gaming can cause someone to place more emotional value on events within the game than things happening in their real lives. Excessive viewing of Internet pornography can warp a person's ideas about sexuality. Someone whose primary friends are screen names in a chat room may have difficulty with face-to-face interpersonal communication. Over the long term, computer addiction can cause physical damage. Using a mouse and keyboard for many hours every day can lead to repetitive stress injuries. Back problems are common among people who spent a lot of time sitting at computer desks. Late-night computer sessions cut into muchneeded sleep time. Long-term sleep deprivation causes drowsiness, difficulty concentrating, and depression of the immune system. Someone who spends hours at a computer is obviously not getting any meaningful exercise, so computer addiction can indirectly lead to poor overall physical condition and even obesity. Eventually, the consequences of computer addiction will ripple through the user's life. Late-night use or use at work will affect job performance, which could lead to job loss. As the addiction takes its toll on family members, it can even lead to failed marriages

I.

Background of the Study

In modern society, it is very common playing computer games. Even though computer games are common in our life, they have not only good effects, but also bad effects, especially to teenagers. Moreover, even though parents know that teenagers play computer games too much, they do not know that why teenagers are widely excited at computer games, and what the bad effects of computer games are. Addictions are an imbalance in a persons life. They have severe negative consequences for the addict and those close to them. One of these addictions is computer gaming. In modern society, it is very common playing computer games. Even though computer games are common in our life, they have not only good effects, but also bad effects, especially to teenagers. Moreover, even though parents know that teenagers play computer games too much, they do not know that why teenagers are widely excited at computer games, and what the bad effects of computer games are. There are two main causes that teenagers play computer games too much. One of which is the reason that teenagers play computer games too much is very simple, because computer games are very fun. Computer games aims focus on to relieve stress. Therefore, computer games are very splendid violent content. There has long been the brief that violent content may teach violent behavior,

II.

Significance of the Study

The significance of the study is to determine what are the causes of computer gaming addiction and its effect to the people especially to the students. In order to establish a threshold for what is considered excessive gaming, the students in the study were evaluated to determine if they thought they were becoming preoccupied with video games and whether or not did they lied about the amount of time spent they actually spent playing games. Other indicators for pathological gaming were ignoring schoolwork to play games and if playing games allowed them to escape from problems or bad feelings in their lives.

III. Scope And Delimitation

The study is concentrated mainly on Computer Game Addiction as the researcher would determine some causes and effects of computer gaming particularly on the students of Montalban Heights National High School. The researcher would also then recommend some ways to avoid computer game addiction for the benefit of the people especially to the students.

Review of Related Literature/Studies

The fast growing trend and innovation in technologies today prompts researchers to conduct studies about the computer gaming addiction of people particularly students which affects both them physically and mentally. This Chapter presents a brief review of literature and studies, both local and foreign that is related to these studies Foreign Literature Lepper, M. R. &Gurtner, J (2000), states that prolonged and excessive use of these games can cause, mainly upon children, a number of physical and psychological problems which may include obsessive, addictive behaviour, dehumanization of the player, desensitizing of feelings, personality changes, hyperactivity learning disorders, premature maturing of children, psychomotor disorders, health problems (due to lack of exercise & tendonitis), Development of anti-social behaviour and loss of free thinking and will. Anderson and Bushman (2001), found that across 54 independent tests of the relation between video game violence and aggression, involving 4262 participants, there appear to be five consistent results of playing games with violent contents. Playing violent games increase aggressive behaviours, increases aggressive cognitions, increases aggressive emotions, increases physiological arousal, and decreases pro-social behaviours. Since most electronic games are violent, children below legal ages are emotionally disturbed and caused several changes on their behaviour. Austin, Pinkleton& Fujioka (2000), quoted that parental meditation is correlated with better academic performance. And has been shown to increase beliefs in social norms, and to decrease fear.Which refers to the parental consent of the player as they play a violent-oriented game. Gentile & Walsh (2002), wherein 55% of parents said that always or often should parents put limits on the amount of the time their children may play computer and video games, and 40% said they always or often check the video game rating before allowing their children to buy or rent computer or video games. Even

through these numbers are not particularly high, they may overestimate the amount of parental monitoring of childrens video game play.

Computer game addiction has become a major problem in our society. Many children and teenagers play an excessive amount of hours of computer games a day that they develop countless problems such as violent behavior, hostility and social isolation. These are but few of many examples of problems young teenagers face when they have gotten to the point of addiction. However, computer game addiction is proven to be associated
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with academic achievements and social skills as well. (Chui et al., 2004). Gaming addicts experience huge fluctuations in behavior as stated by Chin & Wen-Bin (2007). These so called fluctuations in behaviors do not manifest on their own however. Many addicts have actually become hooked on gaming simply because it provides them of a method to escape reality. The notion of escaping reality then becomes a habit, which leads to addiction (Lee &LaRose, 2007). Accordingly, the addict finds himself torn between two worlds: reality and the virtual world. This split is identified to cause behavioral differences such as the fluctuations previously mentioned and certain states of aggressiveness (Chin & Wen-Bin 2007). Computer game addiction has in fact become a troublesome concept for many individuals. Though, in order to fully understand this concept, one must define it first: Online games can create a separate and unique world that helps identify the user of his preferences, goals, dislikes, settings, team goals and organizations (Chin & Wen-Bin 2007). As described by Young (1996), the internet itself is not addictive, but the specific applications used to achieve certain goals that benefit the user in some ways. At a social science perspective, computer game addiction can lead to troubles in communication and self representation. This could also deeply effect the gamer psychologically. Computer games are in fact applications that people can identify themselves with, and therefore can incite levels of addiction. Local Studies Based on the previous research, the computer has also disadvantages aside from the fact that it provides the students informations and other features. In that research they conclude many students spent more time playing rather than researching and doing other academic works. This is result to computer addiction. From these students, huge percentage of them is male. This shows that male students are more prone to be affected by computer disadvantages. The research goal is to inform the students about what computer can really do to them, how can it affects them and what it is that affects them. The researchers proved that the research made is really true and precise because they are also once addicted in using these so called computers (Justin Vista, Hienson Tan and Bryan Yaranon, 2009).

Foreign Studies One in 10 gaming youths addicted The researchers report that the percentage of pathological youth gamers in Singapore is similar to other recent video game addiction studies in other countries, including the United States (8.5 percent), China (10.3 percent), Australia (8.0 percent), Germany (11.9 percent) and Taiwan (7.5 percent). "We're starting to see a number of studies from different cultures -- in Europe, the U.S. and Asia -- and they're all showing that somewhere around 7 to 11 percent of gamers seem to be having real problems to the point that they're considered pathological gamers," said Gentile, who published the first national American study on pathological video game addiction in youths in the May 2009 issue of the journal Psychological Science. "And we define that as damage to actual functioning -- their school, social, family, occupational, psychological functioning, etc. To be considered pathological, gamers must be damaging multiple areas of their lives." "This study is important because we didn't know until this research whether some types of children are at greater risk, how long the problem lasts, or whether pathological gaming was a separate problem or simply a symptom of some other problem -- such as depression," said Angeline Khoo, associate professor of psychological studies at the National Institute of Education in Singapore and principal investigator of the overall project. The researchers gathered data from students attending 12 Singapore schools, including five boys' schools. The subjects were surveyed annually on their video game play and behavior between 2007 and 2009. Surveys were conducted in classrooms by teachers who had been trained by the research team. The study had a 99 percent response rate. Using the American Psychiatric Association's "Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders" as a guide to define the addictive condition, the researchers found between 7.6 and 9.9 percent of the student sample could be defined as pathological gamers over the two-year period. Eighty-four percent of those subjects who were first classified as pathological gamers were found to still be classified that way two years later. Yet in that same two-year window, only one percent of the sample became new pathological gamers. (D. A. Gentile, H.
Choo, A. Liau, T. Sim, D. Li, D. Fung, A. Khoo. Pathological Video Game Use Among Youths: A Two-Year Longitudinal Study. Pediatrics, 2011; DOI)

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DEFINITION OF TERMS

PHENOMENON
(from Greek o, pl. - phenomena) is any observable occurrence.[1] In popular usage, a phenomenon often refers to an extraordinary event. In physics a phenomenon may be a feature of matter, energy, or spacetime. SEEMINGLY Outwardly or superficially evident but not true or real <the seeming immortality of our heroes>

SOLITAIRE
a game played by one person alone, as a game played with marbles or pegs on a board having hollows or holes.

COGNITIVE
of or pertaining to the mental processes of perception, memory, judgment, and reasoning, as contrasted with emotional and volitional processes.

COLLEAGUES
A fellow member of a profession, staff, or academic faculty; an associate.

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CONCLUSION
I have been through this and I know how this habit eats your valuable time, but thanks to my reading habits, I got well out of it now. You have provided good tips. I suggest one other thing that could help. Try to find some negative/not so enjoyable aspects about the game which will (in time) detach you from the game. If you can't find one, then try to play it in the most difficult mode--when you lose several times, you will lose your passion for the game, too!!!

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RECOMMENDATION

Bibliography
1. CDC - Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Preventing Tobacco Use Among Young People. A Report of the Surgeon General. Atlanta, Georgia, 1994 2. U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. National Household Survey on Drug Abuse. Washington, DC., 1996. 3. World Health Organization. Tobacco or Health: a Global Status Report. Geneva, 1997. 4. CDC - Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Prevalence Data. Tobacco Use Nationwide. Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance System. Atlanta, Georgia, 1995, 1996, 1997, 1998. 5. Tobacco Institute. The Tax Burden on Tobacco: Historical Compilation. Washington, DC., 1996, 1997; 30-31. 6. CDC - Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Surveillance for Selected Tobacco-Use Behaviors United States, 1900-1994. Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report 1994; 43. Atlanta, Georgia, 1994. 7. CDC - Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Office on Smoking and Health. State Tobacco Activities Tracking and Evaluation System. Atlanta, Georgia, 2000. 8. Lewit, E.M., Coate, D., Grossman, M. The Effects of Government Regulation on Teenage Smoking. Journal of Law and Economics 1981; 24. 9. Lewit, E.M., Coate, D. The Potential for Using Excise Taxes to Reduce Smoking. Journal of Health Economics, 1982; 1. 10. Wasserman, J., Manning, W.G., Newhouse, J.P., Winkler, J.D. The Effects of Excise Taxes and Regulations on Cigarette Smoking. Journal of Health Economics, 1991; 10.

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