Is our generation of teenagers addicted to video gaming? According to a parental poll done by BabyCenter.com, 22% of children play no video games, 31% play fewer than 5 hours a week, 22% play between 5 and 10 hours a week, 12% play between 10 and 20 hours, and 13% play more than 20 hours of video games a week. The same study said that 53% if this gaming time was done on a computer and 47% was done on a video game console.

It’s true that most of us do plavideogamees weather were playing Call of Duty oFarmvillele, but what affects do these games have on us?

One of the most obvious affects of gaming is obsession. People will get addicted to playing a game and won’t stop. They lose control of the time they are playing the game and will play late into the night. This sometimes leads to students who don’t manage their time and don’t do their homework, which leads to drop in school performance.

Some kids chose video games over school work. They get addicted to playing their games, leading to them to fail to study and complete homework. Some people get so caught up in their games that at school they think about their games instead of focusing on the lessons they are being taught.

Social isolation is another effect of gaming. Playing the Xbox means you’re not playing or talking with friends. Some people may claim that they are talking to their friends while they are playing their game, but it does not mean that they are talking to somebody in person, which may develop awkward social skills in face to face situations. Also, most of the time they may be talking to people they don’t even know.

Violent tendencies are also caused by video games. Some people claim that video games let children take out their anger in violent video games. This could be true, but playing for too long creates aggression. If kids play for a long enough time, the game will become part of them, making it so they can’t tell the difference of what is acceptable in life and the game. This leads them to breaking out in violent forms.

The American Academy of Pediatrics recommends a limit of two hours of screen time a day. Screen time includes TV, movies, and video games. Playing video games for too long can lead to the effects above. Playing a healthy amount of video games is not bad. Playing video games can help people thinking skills. Playing games also develops hand eye coordination. Some games can be educational and support math reading skills. Many people say that playing some video games can be an outlet of built-up anger and can help kids keep control of them.

Video games can be good and bad, so a healthy amount of video games is not a bad idea, but the problem is too many people are playing too much and get addicted to video games. So the next time you play a game, ask yourself “Do I really need to play this?”