PRESENTATION OUTLINE
Are video games bad for your health?
Though the activity level needed to play Wii or Xbox Kinect are a step in the right direction, a majority of video games still involve sitting in front of a screen, often with poor posture. A study published in Pediatrics International found that "excessive television-game playing" led to increased levels of muscle stiffness, especially in the
"8 Ways Video Games Are Bad For Your Health." @healthcentral. Web. 20 May 2014.
Are video games bad for your health?
Here’s a study that provides some scientific evidence about video games causing seizures: according to an article in the Journal of Neurology, Neuropsychology and Psychiatry, 29 percent of patients with epilepsy suffered video-game-induced seizures. There is no scientific evidence that video games can cause epilepsy, but stress, fatigue and hyperventilation during video games can trigger seizures in children with epilepsy.
"8 Ways Video Games Are Bad For Your Health." @healthcentral. Web. 20 May 2014.
Are video games bad for
your health?
Measured on the Body Mass Index scale, it’s estimated that roughly one-third of Americans are obese, and this is largely blamed on bad diets and sedentary lifestyles. A report in Journal of Adolescence also directly linked childhood obesity and inadequate activity levels to video games. In children, ages one to 12, "results indicated that while television use was not related to children's weight status, video game use was."
"8 Ways Video Games Are Bad For Your Health." @healthcentral. Web. 20 May 2014.
Are video games bad for
your health?
Measured on the Body Mass Index scale, it’s estimated that roughly one-third of Americans are obese, and this is largely blamed on bad diets and sedentary lifestyles. A report in Journal of Adolescence also directly linked childhood obesity and inadequate activity levels to video games. In children, ages one to 12, "results indicated that while television use was not related to children's weight status, video game use was."
"8 Ways Video Games Are Bad For Your Health." @healthcentral. Web. 20 May 2014.
Are video games bad for
your health?
Experts have long debated whether violent video games desensitize young people to violence. Some studies have disputed this while others, indicate that young people who show more rapid desensitization to violent pictures are going to be more accepting of violence, which is dangerous to the community at large.
"8 Ways Video Games Are Bad For Your Health." @healthcentral. Web. 20 May 2014.
Are video games addictive?
In 2005, Shanghai gamer Qiu Chengwei stabbed a friend to death when he found out that he had sold a virtual sword belonging to Chengwei on eBay for 7,200 yuan ($738). After narrowly avoiding a death sentence, Chengwei was sentenced to life imprisonment.
In 2009, an Ohio court sentenced 17 year-old Daniel Petric to 23 years in prison for the fatal shooting of his mother. Petric had shot both his parents after they took away his copy of Halo 3. During his trial, the court was told that Petric had become addicted to the game after being left housebound following a jetski injury.
In 2011, Rebecca Colleen Christie was sentenced to 25 years in prison by a New Mexico court for allowing her 3 ½ year-old daughter to die of malnutrition while she spent hours playing World of Warcraft.
Are video games addictive?
At an addiction treatment center in Amsterdam, in the Netherlands, teenagers and young adults begin detox by admitting they are powerless over their addiction. But these addicts aren't hooked on drugs or alcohol. They are going cold turkey to break their dependence on video games.
Keith Bakker, director of Smith & Jones Addiction Consultants, tells WebMD he created the new program in response to a growing problem among young men and boys. "The more we looked at it, the more we saw [gaming] was taking over the lives of kids."
Feature, Sherry RauhWebMD.
"Video Game Addiction." WebMD. WebMD. Web. 20 May 2014.
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Are video games addictive?
But can a game truly become an addiction? Absolutely, Young tells WebMD. "It's a clinical impulse control disorder," an addiction in the same sense as compulsive gambling.
Feature, Sherry RauhWebMD.
"Video Game Addiction." WebMD. WebMD. Web. 20 May 2014.
Are video games addictive?
Detox for video game addiction may sound like a stretch, but addiction experts say the concept makes sense. "I was surprised we didn't think of it here in America," says Kimberly Young, PsyD, clinical director of the Center for On-Line Addiction and author of Caught in the Net: How to Recognize the Signs of Internet Addiction -- and a Winning Strategy for Recovery. "I've had so many parents call me over the last year or two, particularly about the role-playing games online. I see it getting worse as the opportunity to game grows - for example, cell phone gaming."
Feature, Sherry RauhWebMD. "Video Game Addiction." WebMD. WebMD. Web. 20 May 2014.
View in list Edit
Are video games addictive?
No money, no education, no life. Leo gave everything to World of Warcraft and, unsurprisingly, it gave nothing back. But Leo's story is not unusual. Scan internet forums like Reddit or Olganon (On-line Gamers Anonymous) are replete with horror stories of lives lost — in some cases, literally. In 2005, a South Korean man died after a reported 50-hour video gaming session, and in 2012 a Taiwanese man was discovered dead in his gaming chair, arms outstretched for his computer even in the middle of a fatal cardiac arrest. No, you wouldn't wish that on anyone.
