ESSAY: For and against conputer games

Iva Naumova

Nowadays computer and video games are very common among children and teenagers. However, there are endless debates in our society about whether games are harmless for young people or they have disastrous effect on them.

As far as I can see, people who are ‘for’ video games have two main arguments. Firstly, they claim that computer games are similar in nature to normal games, mainly because of their purpose, which is to entertain. As a matter of fact, computers are said to be the best source of enjoyment for teenagers today. Apart from being entertaining, playing games is a good way for young people to come to terms with life. In their games children always play the role of somebody they cannot be in their day-to-day life.

Personally, I am not in favour of any the statements mentioned above. To begin with, most children are unable to distinguish real form virtual world. Consequently, in real life they do the same things as in games, which usually includes aggressive behavior. Another matter that worries parents is the alarming number of hours spent in front of the monitor. Many young people play computer and video games for more than two hours daily, which leads not only to poor results at school, but to physical unfitness and long term depression, too.

After a long consideration, I consider that virtual games have more negative than positive aspects. All in all, learning new skills in the content of reality is a much better option than being thought by a computer.