In a word - "No!" (Are Computer and Video Games Harmful to Children?)

Member Name: kmxretro

Product:	Are Computer and Video Games Harmful to Children?
Date:	18/09/01 (99 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Promotes Hand/Eye Coordination, Social Skills, Learning

Disadvantages: Prolonged use may hurt eyes!

It's a question to which there is no real answer. Sure, studies can be done but all the research in the World cannot prove that videogames are harmful to children and children's learning.

Let's look at other mediums of entertainment....

TV: Passive. Children sit in front of the TV and stare at the images that flicker before them. Great. TV programs CAN be educational, they CAN get a child thinking about what they are watching but it's rare. There are no real skills required to watch television so therefore no more will be learned.

Reading: Reading is the best way to learn anything in my opinion. Any number of subjects can be crammed into a book. Portable learning that unfortunately, is very rarely fun. This is why children prefer videogames and TV. Doesn't do any harm to children at all.

Video Games: Interactive. Children find games FUN and with the right selection of titles, can learn a lot from educational titles, can learn social skills when playing multiplayer games with friends. Hand/Eye Coordination is improved over time and these are just SOME of the benefits. That's not even mentioning the "Monday Morning by the Watercooler" effect, where kids talk about their favourite games to their friends and learn how to do new things in their current favourite title.

In my experience, video games HELP children and should be promoted as learning tools, not put in the same category as the "Video Nasty".

Summary: