Xbox- does it affect a childs mood / health

dimiec

I am hoping to get some advise / help. I have a 13 year old son who is overall a good lad, pretty easy going, loves playing games (always did) and is very good at it. During the week (of a school day) he plays two hours on the xbox, usually from 7-9pm, and he goes to bed around 10pm - 10.30pm on a weeknight. During the weekends the amount of time on the xbox is considerably higher. I used to restrict it to 4 hours a day with a break into between eg: 2 hours, then off for 2 hours, then 2 hours again. Some days if we go out he has that mount of time, other times he could spend as much as 6-8 hours a day on a Sat or Sun if the weather is bad. I am concerned that he is on it too much and this amount of time will affect his health. He also looks very tired all the time at the moment, not sure if it is growth / the game or what but any advise would be great.

bigred100

Sitting in front of an xbox is the same as sitting around doing nothing, you get drained of energy. The amount of time he plays won't directly affect his health, only if it replaces physical things, well it might affect the eyes a bit if he isn't far enough away from the TV, and he should definitely take breaks.

Morag

My son is just about the same age and he's not allowed the xbox later then 8pm on a school night and never allowed to play for more then 3/4 hours at a strech at the weekend.

If find it can lead to him being 'bored', grumpy, techy, unwilling to do other things and unwilling to do chores or leave the house at the weekend with out a tantrum or making it unpleasant for others. I get that it can be the prefered activity of choice but as ever moderation in everything.

murphyaii

Being a xbox player myself and nearly 40 (I know) and in charge of a 3 year old girl,
xbox allows him to chat and play with friends online.
The system you have for him is fine.
just make sure he goes out to play every once in a while to meet his friends instead of virtually

pickarooney

8 hours a day? That sounds insane! But then again I sit in front of a computer for about 10 hours a day, so maybe I'm a hypocrite.

cynder

I have a cold and cant sleep at night i got up the other morning at 1.40 and started playing the x box, i looked at the time and 3 1/2 hours had passed it felt like 30 mins.

maximoose

As someone who has played a lot of Xbox since 2001 when I was 12 (and other consoles long before that) I'd just like to throw in that I am in good health, I'm not anti social, and don't have violent urges to kill people from playing shooting games.

Your kid will be fine, the amount he is using it sounds pretty normal. Don't worry

Fittle

pickarooney wrote: »

8 hours a day? That sounds insane! But then again I sit in front of a computer for about 10 hours a day, so maybe I'm a hypocrite.

The difference being, that a 13yr old's brain is still developing...

The bottom line here is that two much Xbox (or any gaming type situation) is not good for kids. I've noticed my lad get's quite aggressive and grumpy after about an hour of it, and that's only football games.

I did see a documentary recently about a study in the UK, where they assessed 13yr old boys after one hour playing a violent game, and another group playing a football game. The assessor interviewed each boy directly after the game, and he knocked a container of (about 20) pens off his desk purposely, during the interviews. The tests revealed that a huge percentage of the boys (over 80%) who had been playing the football game, automatically went to pick up the pens off the floor.
Only a very small percentage of the boys who had played the war game, instinctively went to pick up the pens.

The lesson learned here was that the more violent games de-sensitized the boys to instinctively 'help' others (I've using the wrong words here sorry, but you get the gist).

There are studies out there that prove that too many violent games obviously have a negative affect on a growing child...maybe google it and you'll find some research done on the subject.

I would encourage him to go outside more however, for various reasons.

mayordenis

I would tend to look at it as any other non physical recreation, I see no major difference between gaming as a whole, with reading, drawing, painting, watching movies, tv etc. etc.

As long as the physical side is kept up, I see no reason why those hours that you mention would be out of the ordinary, for instance if you said that he watches 2 hours of TV a night on a week day that would be completely normal probably a lot less than most 13 year olds.
And if you think about the 4 hours or so on a weekend day, well if he went to the cinema and watched a movie for around 2 hours, and then sat down for a saturday night in for another few hours, it's really no different.

mayordenis

Fittle wrote: »

There are studies out there that prove that too many violent games obviously have a negative affect on a growing child...maybe google it and you'll find some research done on the subject.

There's really nothing concrete either way, most reputable literature I've read though would say the opposite the violent video games have basically no effect, it may be one sided but Penn & Teller did quite an entertaining show on the subject, it's reasonably insightful too although it's a bit overly strong on profanity.

Ayla

I suppose it all boils down to the balance that your child has - do they participate in any other activities (music, sports, church, community...?)

I know that no matter what activity I partake of it stays in my mind even when I'm not doing it. For instance, books that I read stick in my mind & I find myself thinking on them long after they're done. The same could be said of any physical or non-physical activity, and whether or not the "studies" show this to be a detriment or not, I surely wouldn't want my child mentally processing a computer game for the majority of her day!

This is exactly why my family doesn't watch tv (our kids get 1 movie in mid-afternoon for some downtime, but no tv shows). It's far too easy to get sucked into sedetary "activities" and if there's no balance, then I really think it impacts on their physical & mental health.

RedXIV

if i may put forward my own story, I've a 6yr old and 6month old in the house. I've been playing games for the vast majority of my life and playing them alot, Especially when I was a teenager as I moved house and didn't know anyone. I remember back when the playstation was first released, people thought it was going to turn their kids into psychopathic killers, And the same with the playstation 2, the xbox, etc.

I played games because they helped/help me unwind and they are fun. And I remember my aunt becoming very condescending towards my mother about the amount of time her kids played games. Fast forward and I've got a good career, due to a degree in computer game development, my brother is a fine upstanding citizen and my sister went into animation because of games. And my condescending aunt? Her kids have turned into a recluse, a bully and layabout (I'm lovely about my family aren't I? )

The point I want to make here is that we played games, they didn't. Hypothetically, I've just proven that Video games are essential in having a balanced childhood.

The reality is, as long as the child is keeping up with everything else, school work, chores, family time etc, there is no reason why they shouldn't be allowed to play games in their personal time.

Also, if I may add to Ayla, while I see where you're coming from, it is a bit of an unfair generalisation. There are many games out there focused on problem solving only, particularly for the DS. These have been shown to increase brain function such as memory, reasoning and arithmetic skills. And gamers were also found to have better reflexes than non gamers for a variety of tests.

I'm not trying to put anyone down, I just think the games industry gets a huge amount of rubbish thrown on it from uninformed individuals and 90% of them are parents that simply haven't sat down to examine what their child is doing.

P.S. if your child is playing resident evil or dead space, I don't recommend you try to sit down and understand that game, thats just scary

Connavar

Fittle wrote: »

The difference being, that a 13yr old's brain is still developing...

The bottom line here is that two much Xbox (or any gaming type situation) is not good for kids. I've noticed my lad get's quite aggressive and grumpy after about an hour of it, and that's only football games.

I did see a documentary recently about a study in the UK, where they assessed 13yr old boys after one hour playing a violent game, and another group playing a football game. The assessor interviewed each boy directly after the game, and he knocked a container of (about 20) pens off his desk purposely, during the interviews. The tests revealed that a huge percentage of the boys (over 80%) who had been playing the football game, automatically went to pick up the pens off the floor.
Only a very small percentage of the boys who had played the war game, instinctively went to pick up the pens.

The lesson learned here was that the more violent games de-sensitized the boys to instinctively 'help' others (I've using the wrong words here sorry, but you get the gist).

There are studies out there that prove that too many violent games obviously have a negative affect on a growing child...maybe google it and you'll find some research done on the subject.

I would encourage him to go outside more however, for various reasons.

While I can see where these studies are coming from, they completly ignore the longer term effects of a game. They test the participants immediately after playing the game, which will of course mean it will have a more aggressive reaction through increased brain activity.

However I firmly believe that after a 20 minute or so cool down after playing all that anger/stress(which was there before playing the game) is released and leaves the gamer more docile than before playing.

Back to the op. As others have said, once they are getting out of the house and participating in some other activity outside of playing the games your system is perfectly ok

deisemum

RedXIV wrote: »

Also, if I may add to Ayla, while I see where you're coming from, it is a bit of an unfair generalisation. There are many games out there focused on problem solving only, particularly for the DS. These have been shown to increase brain function such as memory, reasoning and arithmetic skills. And gamers were also found to have better reflexes than non gamers for a variety of tests.

I agree with you about better reflexes. I see young children playing games and my reflexes wouldn't be a patch on theirs. I also remember watching a documentary on what doctors go through when training to be surgeons and they had to have classes playing playstation games etc to improve their reflexes and fine tune their motor skills. After seeing that programme if I'm ever under the knife I hope my surgeon has spent plenty of time gaming.

I've seen my own lads now early teens get het up and a bit aggressive when watching a football or rugby match on tv or even in the stands if they go to a match and then if the team they're backing loses they can be moody as hell and this has nothing to do with a gaming console.

aniascor

Fittle wrote: »

I did see a documentary recently about a study in the UK, where they assessed 13yr old boys after one hour playing a violent game, and another group playing a football game. The assessor interviewed each boy directly after the game, and he knocked a container of (about 20) pens off his desk purposely, during the interviews. The tests revealed that a huge percentage of the boys (over 80%) who had been playing the football game, automatically went to pick up the pens off the floor.
Only a very small percentage of the boys who had played the war game, instinctively went to pick up the pens.

The lesson learned here was that the more violent games de-sensitized the boys to instinctively 'help' others (I've using the wrong words here sorry, but you get the gist).

I actually saw that documentary too - I think it may have been a Supernanny experiment or something. Could have been just the particular clips they showed, but when they showed how the boys reacted to the pens being knocked over, I thought the "interviewer" himself responded differently depending on whether he expected each boy to pick the pens up or not. Maybe I've been watching too much "Lie to me"!! But it seemed like when he expected the boys to pick the pens up he semi-gestured to them after knocking them, or he looked pointedly at them. Whereas when he didn't expect them to help pick them up, he knocked them and then completely ignored them. I was wondering how many of the reactions were simply the boys reading the interviewer's body language -if the interviewer continued as though nothing had happened so did the boys. It could have been just the particular clips that they chose to show on the documentary, but it seemed like a slightly biased technique based on what I saw.

Khannie

Gaming also got me into computers (and from there a degree in computer science and from there a good job), though it's more consoles these days so that opportunity to explore computing further when you get curious isn't there.

My story is this: The youngfella wanted a bunch of xbox games for Christmas this year. Within days of getting them (and we let him play quite a bit over the few days since it was his Christmas present) he turned into an ass (he is normally the nicest kid you'll ever meet). We called him on it and pointed out that we thought it was directly related to the gaming. He acknowledged it and snapped out of it pretty quickly after that. Now he's 13, so I can't say hand on heart that it's not the hormones running amok on him. There just seemed to be a direct correlation at the time.

Some gaming is fine, too much of anything isn't so great IMO.

Fittle

aniascor wrote: »

I actually saw that documentary too - I think it may have been a Supernanny experiment or something. Could have been just the particular clips they showed, but when they showed how the boys reacted to the pens being knocked over, I thought the "interviewer" himself responded differently depending on whether he expected each boy to pick the pens up or not. Maybe I've been watching too much "Lie to me"!! But it seemed like when he expected the boys to pick the pens up he semi-gestured to them after knocking them, or he looked pointedly at them. Whereas when he didn't expect them to help pick them up, he knocked them and then completely ignored them. I was wondering how many of the reactions were simply the boys reading the interviewer's body language -if the interviewer continued as though nothing had happened so did the boys. It could have been just the particular clips that they chose to show on the documentary, but it seemed like a slightly biased technique based on what I saw.

You're right - it was Joe Frost - I must see if I can find it on Youtube.

Khannie, that's what happens to my lad too although he's a bit younger. he only plays the football & mario game son the Wii so far but I can see a definite change in his moods for a while after he knocks it off.

Fittle

Here it is.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ri8XZNZUlH8&list=SL


Go to 8.12...and ski forward to about 31.00 for the results....it's interesting.

Khannie

Yeah, I saw that episode before. Very interesting stuff. Shocking even.

Fittle

Khannie wrote: »

Yeah, I saw that episode before. Very interesting stuff. Shocking even.

I agree.

And obviously if one hour of playing a violent game has that affect on a growing childs brain, one can only assume that playing these games more frequently, would have long-term affects. I'm referring specifically to the war-type games here btw...

RedXIV

Fittle wrote: »

I agree.

And obviously if one hour of playing a violent game has that affect on a growing childs brain, one can only assume that playing these games more frequently, would have long-term affects. I'm referring specifically to the war-type games here btw...

as long as the only "one" assuming is you, fine. I played every major title that was released for approx 12 years of my life. EVERY one. And I started as long ago as I can remember. Had to slow down when halfway through college and since I've had kids, it's slowed down again.

I'm not a manic, I've never contemplated mass murder, I've never had the illusion that I was a game character and could do what they do without consequence.

If anyone honestly thinks their children are capable of becoming something like this, then video games should be the least of your worries. They won't turn your normal average kid into a raging machine.

There have been over a billion games consoles sold since the industry started and a handful of cases of violence that people are attributing to games. And yet still, after the amount of people constantly condemning games, there is NO definitive proof that games cause long term effects, but there ARE generations of people now who have played games and are fine. And I've been on the look out for definitive proof. Plenty of speculation, feck all statistics. In fact if you look at US juvenile crime rates, they are at an all time low for the last 30 years.

I'd wonder now, just how many people here who condemn games have actually spent a serious amount of time on them? And I don't mean sit down for an hour, I mean find a couple of games and play them properly.

I think its worthwhile you have a read of this.

I'm not here to tell anyone how they should raise their kids. But as someone who enjoyed this industry, studied the industry and worked in the industry, I find the vast majority of people who condemn games completely misinformed, biased through media coverage and unwilling to test for themselves the so called "violent effects of games"

Ayla

I think it should be remembered that the OP was asking about health affects of gaming (and in context of his/her comments, I'd imagine physical health was in question).

As with anything, any sort of sedentary activity will have an impact on physical (and mental, emotional & social) health. It's the same as vegging in front of the tv for hours, or burying your head in a book for days on end (which I'm quite guilty of )

This issue really boils down to balance of gaming vs other activities. If it's in balance, I'd imagine physical health shouldn't be harmed.

Morag

This site started as a place for gamers who played quake which is running around shooting other players and the site grew and those gamers grew up and had kids, which was the premiss for this forum being started up.

If a person/child has anger/aggression/attend ion issues yes playing those types of games will effect them, but not cause those issues.

Everything in moderation but honest that study reeks of bullshít in my estimation.

Fittle

RedXIV wrote: »

as long as the only "one" assuming is you, fine. I played every major title that was released for approx 12 years of my life. EVERY one. And I started as long ago as I can remember. Had to slow down when halfway through college and since I've had kids, it's slowed down again.

I'm not a manic, I've never contemplated mass murder, I've never had the illusion that I was a game character and could do what they do without consequence.

If anyone honestly thinks their children are capable of becoming something like this, then video games should be the least of your worries. They won't turn your normal average kid into a raging machine.

There have been over a billion games consoles sold since the industry started and a handful of cases of violence that people are attributing to games. And yet still, after the amount of people constantly condemning games, there is NO definitive proof that games cause long term effects, but there ARE generations of people now who have played games and are fine. And I've been on the look out for definitive proof. Plenty of speculation, feck all statistics. In fact if you look at US juvenile crime rates, they are at an all time low for the last 30 years.

I'd wonder now, just how many people here who condemn games have actually spent a serious amount of time on them? And I don't mean sit down for an hour, I mean find a couple of games and play them properly.

I think its worthwhile you have a read of this.

I'm not here to tell anyone how they should raise their kids. But as someone who enjoyed this industry, studied the industry and worked in the industry, I find the vast majority of people who condemn games completely misinformed, biased through media coverage and unwilling to test for themselves the so called "violent effects of games"

Don't think I said they would turn into mass murderers or rage machines.

Slight aggressive tone in your post there, if you don't mind me saying - my post wasn't an attack on you, or anyone who plays war games.

manic mailman

dimiec wrote: »

I am hoping to get some advise / help. I have a 13 year old son who is overall a good lad, pretty easy going, loves playing games (always did) and is very good at it. During the week (of a school day) he plays two hours on the xbox, usually from 7-9pm, and he goes to bed around 10pm - 10.30pm on a weeknight. During the weekends the amount of time on the xbox is considerably higher. I used to restrict it to 4 hours a day with a break into between eg: 2 hours, then off for 2 hours, then 2 hours again. Some days if we go out he has that mount of time, other times he could spend as much as 6-8 hours a day on a Sat or Sun if the weather is bad. I am concerned that he is on it too much and this amount of time will affect his health. He also looks very tired all the time at the moment, not sure if it is growth / the game or what but any advise would be great.

I'm 20 now, had the ps2 when i was in secondary and was able to strike a good balance. But if left to my own devices i probably would have played it a lot more. Then again I always had football training/matches and guitar to distract me from it. Playing it weekdays from 7- 9 everyday seems a bit much in my opinion, especially when you say that he plays it even more at the weekend. Maybe don't let him play it as much during the weekend, that's when he should be out with friends, doing exercise, whatever.

Fair enough it's a different story when it's raining - sadly happens a lot in Ireland!

It's all about balance really.

RedXIV

Fittle wrote: »

Don't think I said they would turn into mass murderers or rage machines.

Slight aggressive tone in your post there, if you don't mind me saying - my post wasn't an attack on you, or anyone who plays war games.

Sorry, I wasn't trying to attack you, its just a common argument thrown at me and it's getting old I apologise if it came across as aggressive

DubOnHoliday

Khannie wrote: »

Gaming also got me into computers (and from there a degree in computer science and from there a good job), though it's more consoles these days so that opportunity to explore computing further when you get curious isn't there.

My story is this: The youngfella wanted a bunch of xbox games for Christmas this year. Within days of getting them (and we let him play quite a bit over the few days since it was his Christmas present) he turned into an ass (he is normally the nicest kid you'll ever meet). We called him on it and pointed out that we thought it was directly related to the gaming. He acknowledged it and snapped out of it pretty quickly after that. Now he's 13, so I can't say hand on heart that it's not the hormones running amok on him. There just seemed to be a direct correlation at the time.

Some gaming is fine, too much of anything isn't so great IMO.

Simliar story, got my young fella an xbox at Christmas, it came with medal of honour and a few other similar games. Thought nothing of it, had played lots of halo before with him and ghost recon etc. Fast forward a couple of weeks and I chance upon his copy book where he's writing a story for english class, it was 12 pages of machine guns, mini-guns, shotguns, shooting zombies in the head, baseball bats etc. Sat him down, explained he's gone a bit mad and nipped it in the bud right there. He wont have anymore 18's games until he's, well 18

Connavar

DubOnHoliday wrote: »

Simliar story, got my young fella an xbox at Christmas, it came with medal of honour and a few other similar games. Thought nothing of it, had played lots of halo before with him and ghost recon etc. Fast forward a couple of weeks and I chance upon his copy book where he's writing a story for english class, it was 12 pages of machine guns, mini-guns, shotguns, shooting zombies in the head, baseball bats etc. Sat him down, explained he's gone a bit mad and nipped it in the bud right there. He wont have anymore 18's games until he's, well 18

Thats a pretty standard kind of storie for young guys to be writing to be honest.
(Also good luck stopping a teenager playing 18+ games. They will always find some source for them such as other friends.)

Columc

Fittle wrote: »

I agree.

And obviously if one hour of playing a violent game has that affect on a growing childs brain, one can only assume that playing these games more frequently, would have long-term affects. I'm referring specifically to the war-type games here btw...

Im gonna break this reply up into two parts, one with the violent ascpet of computer games and then the other to go back on topic about children playing to much and affecting mood / health.

Firstly, towards violent video games, Each video game has a rated age in which the game is rated for. The amount of people I have heared of parents giving out about there kids playing terrible games with violance and other such dont look at what age that game is for. I had a discussion with a mother befor when she was complaining about Grand theft auto and how its terrible for her kid, I asked her how old the child was and she told me 12. That game is for 18+ yea olds not a 12 year old of course the material in it isnt suitable, and the game developers know that and it was rated at 18. Whould you show your 12 year old a 18 rated movie with violence/sex/drug usage in it? no then why show them a game with it? If you heared of a parent showing their kids the exorcist at the age of 12 you think they were cruel, but yet they would buy them computer games.

Most violent games like this have a high age rating on them, MOST parents ignore this and then complain about how violent they are. The most played game on Xbox at the moment is Modern Warefare 2. The age rating on this game is 18, But yet you see children as young as 8 playing this game. Is this due to the game developer making a violent game? Is it due to the parents using the computer game as a babysitter?

The study of does violent video games affect children has been a long and tedious journey with no real show to a certain degree. Video games have gotten the sharp edge of the stick that rock and roll music did a few decades ago.

Regarding the child moods and health with computer games. Regarding health wise, you just have to be a proper parent, don't use the xbox as a baby sitting device, make sure your children are getting enough fresh air. are they properly exercising have they eaten well making sure they are not just sitting infront of it eating taytos and drinking coke all day, Playing video games is actualy time better spent then just sitting down watching tv shows on the television, computer games require the player to interact so the kid will always be thinking and increase skills.

Mood wise, this is a tricky question, this all depeneds on the type of child, how he reacts in certain situations and what games he plays. Diffrent gaming genres can generate diffrent moods in a child depending on the childs past behaviour. If the child has an addictive personality mmo games should not be played, if he has a violent personitly violent games shouldnt be played, this is just common sense not you want to defuse not motivate bad personailties with children.

The main thing for any parent and I give this advice to anyone I meet, is intreact with your child and the games, make sure your know what games your child are playing, join in with them, just dont let the computer game be a babysitter!

Video games are the largest entertainment market in the world now. They grow so far that there are olympic style games were countires compete to win tournamnets in games. Profesional Gamers win tournamnets all around the world having a 300k+ annual pay.