Benefits of Video Games (Free Essay Example)

Did you know that the average person’s response time to a stressful stimulus is 300-500 milliseconds? Such stimuli can include questions, fight or flight, and life or death scenarios. An increased response time is only one of many benefits of gaming. Video games can also help with dyslexia, social skills, and gray matter of the brain. Gray matter is the brain's ability to process muscle movement, hand eye coordination, and determine how strong a person’s memory is. These massive benefits of gaming can, and are used in everyday life. Therefore, video games are a very useful, and benefitting way to spend the time of your day.

Response time can determine how well you behave during everyday activities. Having a quick response time helps when driving, playing sports, and several other daily tasks. Gaming can actually increase a person’s response time. In fact, a study done by the Entertainment Software Association proves this statement. They had a small group of people play fast-paced games for 50 hours over the course of 3-4 weeks. The group’s average response time increased by over 25%! This does not mean that their response to certain situations or questions resulted in more inaccurate decisions. In fact, their responses were just as, if not more accurate than the average person’s response to the same situation. These statistics clearly show that gaming can benefit the brain of several people. But when you improve one part of the brain, such as response time, you are actually improving other skills, including disorders such as Dyslexia (National Library of Medicine).

Reaction time is not the only way that video games can improve Dyslexia however. With 13-14% of students in schools being dyslexic, having a way to improve their cognitive skills can be life changing. When you’re looking to improve a person’s dyslexia, you need to target key factors such as fluency in reading and writing, as well as correct spelling. And according to a 2013 study done by Italian researchers (apa.org), they found that after having action video game training, the dyslexic kids improved in their ability to pay attention. They also discovered that their ability to pay attention is linked to their ability to read and write. So with an improvement in their ability to pay attention, the children also improved in several other skills; of which most dyslexics try to aim to improve. But these skill improvements don’t just have to help people with disorders. It can also help everyday people in conversation, and when processing information.

But aren’t video games mentally draining and causing addiction? The answer is yes. However, there is more under the surface than some may think. Research done by Report Academy showed that most gaming addictions shared correlation with depression and anxiety. They also discovered that children with insecure attachments to parents are more prone to addiction. These facts show that video games are not the only reason that people get addicted. They are more of a coping mechanism than an addiction. Also, video games promote more gray matter cells. Gray matter is the part of the brain that controls the nervous system, muscle movements, short and long term memory, as well as how strong your emotions are. However, addictions can mentally change the brain. In turn, when addicted to video games, their brain’s gray matter capabilities may actually worsen. As mentioned, video games are rarely the cause of the addiction. Most addictions come from parental behaviors, and coping with mental disorders. 

Video games can be very useful to people. They have, and will help people with mental disorders, as well as help people in stressful situations such as avoiding a car wreck. However, video games should be taken with caution. Most video game addictions are caused by uncontrolled surroundings and disorders. Teens, as well as children, should seek mental assistance if they feel an ongoing need to play a video game. In conclusion, humans can gain a healthy mentality, as well as improve other life skills.