Positive Impacts of Video Games on Teenagers Social Sciences Essay (Essay Sample)

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Positive Impacts of Video Games on Teenagers
Jane McGonigal, a director of game research once said, “Reality is broken. Game designers can fix it” (Zetter). Video games are  HYPERLINK "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Electronic_game" \o "Electronic game" electronic games that require physical display device (s) to generate visual feedback. Many parents frown upon gaming and regard it as a precursor to violence. Some academics support these violence related claims by positing that gaming corrupts the minds of young people. Despite this, most teenagers continue to play video games, which is evident by the fact that more than half, 60 percent, of the teens and young adults involved in a recent study watch and play video games in the United States ( HYPERLINK "https://www.pewresearch.org/staff/anna-brown"
Brown). But are video games as bad for teenagers as parents think they are? In fact, many psychologists postulate that gaming can benefit teenagers. Ultimately, there is an array of positive impacts attributable to video games on teenagers that include boosting cognitive skills, reasoning and rationalizing, problem solving, and exploration of autonomy.
Like reading, playing piano, or navigation by use of maps, video games help develop the cognitive skills of the participant. Similarly, video gaming has been linked to the changes that occur in the brain structure of the teen gamers. Tumbokon cites Shawn Green, a psychologist at Wisconsin University, who says that “Video games change your brain.” This position is supported by Jana who argues that, contrary to the common negative connotations that are associated with gaming, video gaming can result in the development of cognitive skills that entail memory, attention, perception, visual processing, and reasoning. Against the background, gaming is beneficial to teens.