Do video games hurt children?

Excessive video gaming (desktop or hand-held) is hazardous to children’s body, brain, and health in general, causing anxiety, depression and poor performance in school, according to a study published by the American Academy of Pediatrics.

There are also physical injuries sustained after months and years of video-gaming. Some of them are back and neck pains, carpal tunnel, finger, hand, elbow tingling and numbness problems, and bad posture.

Since kids usually play alone, their concentration on their games deprived them of their awareness of their surroundings and people around them. Someone coined “Nintendonitis” to describe the injuries from repetitive finger actions, although all other video-gaming gadgets also increase the risk for the same injuries. An official website of a video-game manufacturer states that “some people (about 1 in 4,000) may have seizures or blackouts triggered by light flashes or patterns while watching TV.”

Indeed, parents should teach their children about priority and disciplined and scheduled video-gaming, so it does not interfere with doing home work and school performance, and not transform the child to a loner or one without social skills