“BOOM!” “POWPOWPOW!” “GRENADE!” That is what echoes through the room when teens are playing their favorite shooting games: Call of Duty, Grand Theft Auto, Halo, and many others. These games sap so much time from kids lives without them even knowing it, so much it is scary! “One more round mom!” becomes a half an hour shooting spree with ease. Without any interference, kids’ play from when they get home to when they sleep, barely taking a food break at dinner!
By all means, I don’t think these games are responsible for murderers or people thinking shooting and guns are cool. That job is already accomplished by TV, with shows about shooting and guns on all the time! But these games are responsible for another thing: slipping grades. In most cases teens spend so much of their time blowing up animated characters that they barely do homework or projects. They sit around and play video games instead. They don’t do work, so their grades slip, and they ruin their futures.
I don’t think it’s good for parents to just eliminate video games though. Video Games can be good, a way to release anger, or be happy. They just need to be played in moderation, not in all out extravaganzas consisting of 12 straight hours of Team Deathmatch! Kids who don’t play at all because their games have been taken away might not be as happy, or be angrier since they don’t have their usual outlet of anger: their video games.
So much time is lost playing video games, it is amazing how much you can learn or do when you aren’t playing video games constantly! In my own experience, not playing video games constantly has done great things for me! I have more money, since I have the time to do extra work and I don’t spend $60 every time a new game I want comes out. Also I have had the time to do my schoolwork, and my grades have risen, making my parents happier. Plus I have been able to learn how to play the guitar, a very cool skill, much cooler than being able to play expert on guitar hero, since I can make my own songs, whenever I want!
Video Games can even cut into your friendships and your health if they are abused. Say your friend wants to go swimming or biking in 15 minutes. But you’ve been sitting on the couch since the time you woke up, still in your pajamas and not showered or anything. Plus you don’t want to go, since you’re about to level up in your game, but it will take another half an hour or more! So you decide to not go with your friend, losing out on some exercise, and then your friend starts to think that you care more about your game than them! On top of that, if you keep playing, you will still be eating, but you won’t be exercising to burn it off, so you get bigger, and bigger. Then you CANT go for a bike ride or swim, since you’re not able to make it up a big hill, or your don’t want to be embarrassed in front of your friend at the pool or beach, since you’re so much bigger than him, and he has been exercising while you were sitting on the couch!
Video games are a great invention, but they should never be abused to the point where they cause you more harm than good! Video Games can be good, just be careful not to let them suck you in.