Unit XI “Computers and health”

1. Read and translate the text: Are video games bad for children?

Video Games rot the brain as much as TV does. 

Video games support brain development, but are they educational? Games like Resident Evil, Grand Theft Auto, Gangstar Rio, or Dragon Ball Z, Kai, GT, etc. influence fighting, stealing, and killing. Just because it's co-op doesn't mean it's necessarily good. For example, Call of Duty. You co-op with another player but it is to kill someone, not to just help.

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Video Games teach destructive habits in real life and the game.

When children get up each morning, their thoughts go not to, "What can I learn today?" or, "How can I better my life and the life of those around me?" but to, "I can't wait to beat my high score!" or, "I wonder what games my friend has been playing?" or even worse, "Man, I wonder how much I can troll some dude today." Video games often involve allusions to destructive life behaviors, such as sex, drugs, and violence. I have played multiple games of which the main goal is to crash a car as violently and damagingly as possible. A prime example is Grand Theft Auto. Play this game for five minutes, and you will have learned all it has to teach you, none of it good. Your time can be better spent with friends, or, heaven forbid, doing something PRODUCTIVE like studying or actually reading something for once. Video games can be great in moderation and playing the right games, but the violent consumerism of it all is blindingly, inherently bad.

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Children love games 

Games give children experiences they may never get in the real world, yet prepare them for the hard decisions they will make in the future. Video games make children think about how their decisions affect the environment around them. They gain spacial skills that help them read graphs, maps, and drive cars. They gain muscle memory and reflex that helps with typing and the hard learned characteristic of persiverence.

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Read this!

Many parents worry, no doubt, about the effect video games have on their children. We list the ten most common problems recently investigated by researchers from 2006-present. 1. An increase in emotional disorder symptoms 2. An increase in and behavioral disorder symptoms 3. Declines in verbal memory performance 4. Somatic complaints 5. Attention problems such as hyperactivity, ADD or ADHD 6. Detrimental school performance (as video game usage increases, GPA and SAT scores decrease) 7. Family interaction problems such as less positive parental relations 8. Significant reduced amounts of slow-wave (REM) sleep 9. Modifications in visual selective attention 10. Playing violent video games is a significant risk factor for later physically aggressive behavior

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My son has learned a lot. 

I let my son play video games - a variety of them, in fact. Anywhere from Angry Birds and Kinectimals to Minecraft. The right game for the right child, I'd say. My son learns about action/reaction with Angry Birds. He learns to use his body with Kinectimals (we prefer to play on rainy days) and Minecraft plays with his creativity the way Legos did with me. Except he's learning how to use technology - an incredibly important part of his future. Why can't we start children young if it will only benefit them?

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Many video games have a lot more to offer than meaningless violence. Complex and immersive stories can be a succesful recipe for a child's development of it's creative and imaginative skills. Books essentially play the same role, but the modernization of information technologies has made them rather unpopular amongst children.

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Video games are just another form of entertainment.

 Every child hopefully has a parent or guardian that can control/allow how much they believe their child should be able to play. Yes, it is true that video games played to extreme levels where deaths have occurred are a very tragic situation. However, you would think these children had conscious parents to do something. Also, video games can help children develop finer motor skills and hand-eye coordination as well as social co-operation. This social interaction (from multiplayer games) that attracts many kids to games these days might very well be beneficial later in their lives where social skills are necessary.

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If you're going to buy your children a toy to play with, choose a normal physically played toy rather than a PS2, Xbox 360, or an iPad. 

Yes, there are many games that can enhance a child's intellect in a lot of ways but it doesn't mean that they should play games. If you buy a device that lets your children play video games, sooner or later they will FIND a way to get violent and aggressive games. They can be influenced to buy it because their classmates have that game. But so as long as you manage everything on what games does your Xbox, iTouch, PS2, DS or whichever device has. Then you're children will be fine. But be warned that a video game is very VERY addicting. If your children finds AT LEAST one aggressive game, they can get addicted and want to buy or play more of those kinds of games. It all depends on the parents how to handle it. NOTE: By children, I mean 4-12 year olds. But as long as your child is a grown-up or a mature enough individual to handle and know which one is the reality or which one is the right thing to do, that's fine.

(based on: http://www.debate.org)