• Why is this a hot-button topic? Why does it matter to you?
While searching for the hot-button topic, I found one interesting
topic in the technology category, i.e., the social effects of video
games. It is quite interesting for me as my brother is a gamer and
taught me some of it. I found that the social effects of video games
can raise a debate on their positive and negative impacts. Many
researchers find the negative sides of this topic, but I personally feel
this topic has many positive effects on social aspects, and it requires
to be improved in different ways. This topic is significant for me
because it makes me comfortable to spend some time with my
brother by sitting in a relaxing pose. However, I find myself less
advanced in video games, but my brother teaches me how to play the
game and how to jump to the next level.
• How does this hot-button topic affect individuals?
I found that the social effects of video gaming have both positive and
negative impacts on an individual. There are many people who think
that playing video games is for lazy people and children, but it’s not
true, as playing videogame can strengthen the cognitive skills of an
individual, including memory, reasoning, spatial navigation, and
perception. The author Bowen has found that the violent nature of
shooter video games, which shows an individual can improve their
thinking capacity regarding things in 3-D, what will happen if the
same skill is brought out during the academic courses (American
Psychological Association, 2014). Moreover, video games can be
helpful to enhance children’s creativity level and help to develop their
problem-solving skills. Sometimes playing a video game can improve
an individual’s mood by getting rid of anxiety, giving relaxation, can
bring emotional support to a person, and bringing happiness.
• How does this hot-button topic affect society?
Many people say that playing video games can increase aggressive
behavior, decrease inhibitions and cause emotional outbursts in many
people. I personally think the social effects of playing video games
have both pros and cons. These video games can affect every
individual differently, as everyone has different mindsets.
• How would you use some of the psychological concepts from
this course to understand these issues?
The social effects of video games can be better understood by using
psychological concepts like emotional intelligence, social learning
theory, cognitive behavior etc.
• How does this hot-button topic apply to any of the following
programmatic course themes?
Emotional intelligence:
According to authors Claudia Carissoli and Daniela Villani, video
games can promote emotional intelligence in adolescents at school
with the integration of assisted framework and proper guidance
(Carissoli & Villani, 2019).
References
American Psychological Association. (2014, February).
Video game
play may provide learning, health, social benefits, review finds
.
Monitor on Psychology. Retrieved October 11, 2022, from
https://www.apa.org/monitor/2014/02/video-game
Carissoli, C., & Villani, D. (2019). Can videogames be used to promote
emotional intelligence in teenagers? Results from EmotivaMente, a
school program.
Games for health journal
,
8
(6), 407-413.
