Tech companies work day and night to come up with the best in technology to make life easy for everyone. However, there are a few exceptions that have not proved to be so beneficial, apart from their entertainment value and unfortunately, video games are one of those.

Video games are made for entertainment and they have proved too addictive. They influence youngsters in their daily life in many ways, who try to adopt the story, the characters or the unreal things shown in video games.

How it all started

In early 1990s, game developers like Sony and Microsoft started making video game consoles; game consoles are devices or machines which, when connected to a TV, can be used to play games very efficiently.

The top consoles used by our youth these days are Sony’s PlayStation, Microsoft’s XBox and Nintendo’s Wii. These consoles contain brilliant graphics that attracts not only youngsters, but the older lot too.

Everything has its pros and cons, and according to the Centre of Disease Control and Prevention, the US, video games are responsible for the increase in childhood obesity, lousiness, aggression, crime, extremism, use of ammunition and violence among youth.

Children or youngsters get easily addicted, and this is where companies take advantage by making more games with extreme violence, such as Counter Strike, Call Of Duty, God of War, Grand Theft Auto, Battlefield, etc. These are among some of the violent games and much liked by youngsters.

In Pakistan, the commonly played games are Counter Strike and GTA, both full of explicit content, abusive language, gangs, mafia and violence. And it is not wrong to say that today’s youngsters are more aggressive, yet lazy in their behaviour.

Apart from this, research also shows that video games that are not violent can prove positive in building essential skills like management, multitasking and decision-making. Psychologists are also of the view that video games teach positive lessons too.

Entertainment is a must for youngsters, but it is the responsibility of parents to choose what and how much their children need and keep monitoring what they are using technology for.

Published in Dawn, Young World, October 28th, 2017