By Aidan Healy
Today, it is hard to find someone who does not play video games. Especially people under 18, the people who are, or should be, currently in school. But does the playing of video games negatively impact their time at school, or is it more of a positive effect?
One of the most obvious negative effects of video games in school is that it is definitely, without a doubt, a distraction. Video games can be very time consuming, some games that I have played have taken up hundreds or thousands of hours of my time, time that sometimes could have been better spent doing homework, as well as impacting the students’ schedules by overlapping with important activities.
In contrast, games could also better students’ abilities in school, especially puzzle solving abilities, and depending on the game, increase in understanding in other subjects. Playing games that are written primarily in old English could help you in ELA. There are a multitude of math and science games, as well as countless historical games, albeit not in certain time periods.
Video games can also help with social skills. Many people, including myself, meet many people online through video games and become good friends with them, this can translate to real life. However, it can also backfire and cause people to lose social skills when they aren’t hiding behind a screen.
Regardless of any of the good qualities of video games, it is not difficult to deny that video game addiction is a real thing, and like all addictions, it isn’t good. Being addicted to video games means that is all that someone thinks about and all that someone wants to spend their time doing when given the opportunity. That heavily impacts school without question. But if someone can play video games consistently and maintain a schedule while not getting addicted, it should not have any impact on their academic performance.