Does your child play too much video game? Here's what are its benefits & drawbacks

Gaming has undoubtedly become a kid’s go-to mechanism whenever they feel lonely, isolated, or stressed. The first thing that comes to their mind is – let’s go gaming!

Gaming culture was not so prominent in India before the Nintendo Entertainment System and Sega Mega Drives were introduced in the late 1990s and 2000s. Due to the increase in affordability of personal computers and internet connections, they turned out and started creating a trend amongst the people who were extremely fond of gaming.

Benefits of Gaming

• Gaming can lift someone’s mood and give them the entertainment, and the fun they thought they were missing out on. 
• Gaming has become one prominent method to escape reality, to not be stressed, and not feel anxious or bored.
• Not that it has adverse effects, but there are many positive points about it, it can develop problem-solving skills, analytical skills, and strategic thinking and can help improve memory retention as well.
• Gaming also lets you interact with people, thus improving your social interaction.
• One major benefit of gaming is that it relieves you from stress and helps you feel afresh. The long hectic vibes and mood fade away in a split second.

Adverse effects of gaming

• Despite gaming being so helpful for the kids, there is the other side to this coin as well! There are ways gaming can have adverse effects.
• Being on your video games or console for hours and not leaving it can become a habit which can further lead to addiction and addiction is generally proved bad for health. If the habit of playing continuously continues, it can even degrade your academics.
• Giving more time on the button and asking the robot to move forth and back can lag you back in your studies as the time that you will be given to gaming will be way more as compared to your studies.
• Your physical health can also be at stake because there is going to be minimum motion as you will just be sitting on the couch with a remote in your hands.
• Not only this but playing too many video games can lead you to be less interested in social interaction and more inclined towards being self-isolated.
• Excessive gaming at night can also lead to sleep disturbances which can mess up your sleep schedule and hence your daily routine. 

Gaming culture should not stop but it is the need of the hour that parents and elders decide a limit for their kids to be on video games and consoles. This can be done by tracking the time they give to video games.