Everywhere you look today, you see a child or teenager playing a video game. They can play games on their cell phone, their hand-held video gaming system, a tablet/laptop, home computer, or home video game device such as Xbox or PlayStation. An astounding 91% of all children play video games (Granic, Lobel, & Engels, 2014, p. 66). Video games have become a huge part of children’s lives with 97% playing for at least an hour a day. Although most research shows the negative aspects of video games, research that is more recent has shown many positive aspects of game play. New research has gradually began to emerge showing the many benefits to playing video games. Can our children possibly better themselves by playing video games? In moderation, video games aid child …show more content…
They believe children sit alone in their room eating junk food and are lazy. This is not the case. Video game players are not anti-social or sitting alone in their rooms all the time (Granic et al., 2014, p. 72). Most children play video games online or with friends. Many video games on the market today allow children to play with other people through an internet connection and speak to them through a microphone. Many boys that play video games report by playing online video games, they can meet and talk with people from all different areas of the world (Granic et al., 2014, p. 73). Both of my teenage boys play online video games. They play online with their friends and other people from around the world. These children and teenagers enjoy playing the same types of games together through the internet. They form groups for missions and teams for battles. It is a rare occasion for the boys to play alone. Video gamers appear to have improved social skills and better relationships with their schools, friends, and family outside of the games (Gentile et al., 2009). Many of the online multiplayer games teach children how to make quick