Effects of Virtual Gaming on Youth
ABSTRACT:
The main objective of this survey is to know about the impacts that
have been created on the life of youth due to virtual gaming. The
popularity of virtual games has been grown very rapidly for the past
few years. In today’s world, youth consider gaming as fun, stress
buster and as a hobby. Our main goal of this research is to show how
gaming had masked itself as stress buster in youth’s life and to show
its reality in youth’s life. We have used a survey method to collect
primary data for our research work and the results indicate that more
than quarter of people suggest that virtual gaming as stress buster.
But however in reality it becomes as an addiction in youth’s life and
leads to poor sleep habits, impact on school academic performance,
social isolation, violent behaviour, etc…. In our research paper, we have
highlighted about the issues faced by the youth due to virtual gaming
and suggested some methods to overcome this addiction. We have also
made ASL Presentation in the classroom and shared the key insights
from our research work.
INTRODUCTION:
We all have indulged ourselves in some form of gaming throughout our
lives. Not only it helps to relieve stress, it also offers some sort of
respite from everyday lives. Video games usage have risen exponentially since Pac-Man made it’s arcade debut in the 1980’s. To date, it is one of
the highest grossing video games of all time, making 2.5 billion dollars in
quarters by the end of 1990’s .
The first recognized form of a gaming machine was actually recorded in
1940 when Dr.Edward Uhler Condon, at the 1940 New York World’s Fair,
unveiled a game based on an ancient mathematical game of Nim. In this
game, computer wins 90% of the time. Gaming machine was not
commercialized until 30 years later when Ralph Baer developed a
prototype gaming machine dubbed the ‘Brown Box’ . This gaming machine
was licensed to Magnovox and released under the Magnovox Odyssey
system.
Online games such as Among us, Valorant, Battlefield and the Call of
Duty Series have a massive following with players clocking hundreds to
thousands of hours immersing themselves in it.
GAMES IN TODAY’S WORLD:
With the advent of internet, traditional games, a form of socialization
has been moulded and transformed into modern games…A game that
uses technological equipment such as computers, mobile phones, etc…
Recently, the social media has highlighted that the teens were playing
video games for hours every day and the rate of video game addiction
has been sky-rocketing since this pandemic. This motivated our team
to know the true circumstances of youth on gaming. EFFECTS OF VIRTUAL GAMING:
• Poor Sleep Habits: Giving sleep the backseat to entertainment
while gaming, it is normal for the resulting rush of
neurochemicals to eliminate sleeplessness and increase
excitement levels. Gaming time tends to increase at that point
leaving less time for sleep and self-care.
• Academic Performance Impacts: Less adequate sleep, the
capacity of students to function well in a school decreases
significantly, especially during test periods.
• Avoidance Increase: Video games are an excellent way to
escape difficult problems or reality through avoidance. As the
repercussions of avoidance escalate out of control, the child may
attempt to further increase to depend more on video games as a
way to escape reality.
• Social Isolation
• Coping skill Reduction
METHODOLOGY:
Our survey was carried out by choosing people from the age category
of 11 to 25 years old from different places. Google form was used as the medium for the survey. Overall, 43 individuals were contacted but our
total responses were about 30. The questionnaire consisted of 15
questions. This survey was made out as an unbiased experiment for an
equal and justifying summary, it had responses from 15 males and 15
females equal in number on each age category. Some responses were
contradictory while some were agreeable.
VGA (Video Game Addiction) disorder Criteria:
1. Pre-occupation mind with gaming.
2. Money spent over gaming
3. Tolerance
4. Increased playing time due to overuse.
Questionnaire:
1.
What is your Gender ?
2.
What is your Age ?
3.
Do you play virtual games often?
4.
What type of games do you prefer?
5.
Why do you play virtual games?
6.
What’s your routine time for virtual games?
7.
What’s the duration of your playtime in a day?
8.
Do you play virtual games after 10pm at night?
9.
Did your duration of gaming increase during online classes?
10.
Did your academic score get affected because of virtual games?
11.
Have you met with any healthy issues because of virtual gaming?
12.
Have you used your pocket money for virtual gaming?
13.
Have you used your parents money for virtual gaming?
14.
Has your gaming time increased without your knowledge and skipped your daily routine?
15.
What do you think are the advantages of playing virtual games ?
RESULT DISCUSSION: (Evidence Attached)
The study had found out that 66.7% of our survey respondents would
play games daily while others would play occasionally. More than 43%
of the respondents believe that gaming is a stress buster while others
say it is an addiction. When people was asked about their everyday
playtime, 40% of respondents said it is around 2–3hrs while 5% of
respondents said it is 5hrs or sometimes even more than that. Others
replied that they would play only about 1–2hrs or sometimes even only
30mins-1hr. When people were asked about the remedy for gaming
addiction, some replied that “They don’t know” while some say “To limit
the gaming time by keeping alarms or self-control”. Moreover one
respondent said to make a tour plan so that they can infer what is lost
and what is gained.67%
33%
Youth Gaming with Uniformity
Uniformly And Occassionally
5%,27%,25%,43%
Interpretation of Gaming in Youth
Addiction, Fun ,Hobby ,Stress Buster ,Playtime
28%
40%
2–3hrs
5+ hrs
1–2hrs
27%
30mins-1hr
5%
MEASURES TO DEAL WITH GAMING ADDICTION:
1. Set time limits for play and adhere to them.
2. Keep mobiles and other electronic gadgets out of the bedroom, so
you won’t play the whole night.
3. Do other activities every day like exercise. This will lower the chance of
getting ill due to long hours of virtual gaming.
4. By addressing the underlying issue that make teens vulnerable to
more health disorders caused due to virtual gaming.
5. Parents can keep the lines of communication open so that teens
feel encouraged to share their feelings and experience.
6. Parents should encourage their kids and take to motivation
classes/academic counsellors (like Disha)CONCLUSION:
Clearly from the above study we can conclude that virtual gaming plays
a major role in the youth’s life, which majority of the teens have/are
experiencing all over the world. Virtual gaming with time stamps can be
encouraged, but when people began to extend their gaming time limit it
becomes an addiction. For big companies, Virtual gaming has been
choose as a bait to earn money. In conclusion, we can say that youth
have the maturity of being understood about their current circumstance and
can be made to bring back to their normal life and all they need is a strict
parenting.
BIBLIOGRAPHY:
Statistics:
Game-Addiction:
Statistics:
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