The Impact of Video Games on Childhood Traditions

Traditionally coming home from school meant eating a snack and changing into play clothes as quickly as possible to get to a friend’s house to play. As young children we would ride bikes and horses or play backyard baseball with the neighborhood kids. On a rainy day we would work on our sticker collections, write letters to our friends and family, and do each other’s nails. As a teenager we could be found at the lake or river, riding our bikes, or working on our club houses. Today the cultural obsession with video games is changing the way children play and interact with their friends. Instead of finding athletic or academic activities to do together, they spend their time in front of the TV screen playing video games.

The first video game was introduced to the public in 1958 and it took until 1972 for the first video game console to be marketed and sold. The industry has had its shares of ups and downs, but has had a constant rise in popularity ever since the release of the first Nintendo in 1985. Now almost four decades after the initial invention, video gaming is the fastest growing and most profitable children’s cultural industry. Statistics show that these systems have been incorporated into the daily routines of 65% of all U.S. households, and 85% of those with male children. On average, children play video games up to three hours per day, leaving them little or no time to just hang out with their friends or play street sports (“Video”).

In the early days video games were fascinating to children, taking futuristic to a new level. But, with few video games available, boredom easily set in. The pull of tradition was strong enough to draw children back to playing among themselves with board games, card games, or hop scotch. At this time of a child’s life they weren’t consumed by the next video game to be created, about how they beat a friend at the game the night before, or who won the most games. Instead they talked about who they hung out with the night before and what they did together.

Today’s children are concerned with playing their video games instead of engaging in athletic activities with their friends. No longer is it important for children to use their imaginations to build forts or club houses. Rather, it is replaced with the imaginary world of their favorite video game. Instead of friendly competition in neighborhood games, children are now aggressively competing in front of their TV’s. In modern society it is common for children to have their own TV and video game consoles in their bedrooms. The innocence of the games of past have been replaced by violence in video games.

Although most families have at least one video game console in their home, parents may not realize the negative effects they have on their children. Along with better graphics come actions of violence, sexual innuendos, and racism. Best selling games are those in which guns are involved, and the player is shooting people or monsters to get their way into the next level. The violent nature of these types of games is causing unfriendly competition between players. With this obsession to compete, and the accessibility of consoles, children are staying up in to the wee hours of the night in front of their TV screen. This lack of sleep, combined with a lack of exercise, is an impact on their health.

Another negative effect is their loss of imagination. Not only are outdoor activities and interactions between friends changing, so is their lack of imagination. Children don’t need to imagine when they turn on a video game; it is their imagination at it’s finest. The muscle memory of the brain is no longer required to do the thinking; it is being done for them when they turn on their favorite video game. Catherine G. Latterell explains an assumption: “Entertainment is a personal choice” (367). She continues, “However, what this assumption fails to take into account are the ways in which popular forms of mass entertainment have a substantial impact on the American popular imagination or consciousness…” (368). A form of punishment for some children is restriction from video games. Whether the restriction is for a couple of days or a week, they have a hard time figuring out what to do in their spare time. While they could invite a friend over to skateboard, or play baseball or soccer, they are unable to stay entertained for very long. When they aren’t able to play video games they claim they are bored and don’t know what to do. Unfortunately, children don’t know what to do when left with their own devices. Latterell continues with “…which far exceeds an individual’s ability to opt in or out of it.” (368). While this statement tells us that people can choose whether or not to be involved with something, the obsession with video games is causing children to lose their free will. Along with a higher level of intensity in video games, comes a greater obsession by those who play them. There are controversies about the addictions to video games because a child cannot seem to tear themselves away from the game long enough to eat dinner with their family, talk to grandma on the phone, or go outside and play with a friend.

Adding to the effect of video games is a level of technology, which goes beyond what many ever dreamt it could be, making them one of the hottest forms of entertainment today. Prior to new video game systems being released, some stores sell them on a pre-sale basis because they are too popular to stay on shelves. A child’s status at school can be determined by the technology they own; especially that of their video game system and games to go with it. In order to be considered popular, rich, or worthy to hang out with, children need to own the coolest video game system. Because of the strong desire to fit in, if a kid doesn’t have the video games at home, they will hang out with a friend that does.

Many children today don’t come home from school and rush to play outside; they rush for the video game console. When they ask if their friend can come over and play they don’t mean to play in the back yard in the tree house or in the mud pit; they mean to play on the video game console. Playing video games is one of many things children are doing today that require them to sit down, causing them to be inactive. Watching TV has long been blamed as one of the key reasons for childhood obesity, and playing video games is not any different. By allowing children to come home from school and pick up a video game controller in one hand, a bag of chips and a can of pop in the other, they are not being taught about the value of interaction with their friends, and the fun they can have as a result of it. The tradition of spending time with family members is diminishing, and being replaced by numerous hours spent in their room playing video games. Catherine G. Latterell explains an assumption: “Entertainment is merely a reflection of culture” (364). She continues, “Some culture critics argue that the entertainment media is to blame for what they see as a breakdown in moral or cultural values in modern society” (365). If parents were aware that allowing their children to spend time doing something they found so fun would actually cause them to become obsessed by it, they would possibly make different rules. On the other hand, if playing video games is what children love, they should be allowed to have fun doing that; traditions don’t last forever; each generation is constantly creating new ones. Although there are negative effects from playing video games, it is important to realize that children’s play time will change along with technology. A better approach for parents can be to have a balance in supporting their children by allowing those things they love, while continuing to guide them toward making good, healthy choices.



Works Cited
“Video Game Culture: Leisure and Play Preferences of B.C. Teens.” Simon Fraser University.
Media Awareness Network. October 1998
< http://www.media-awareness.ca/english/resources/research_documents/studies/video_games/video_game_culture.cfm