Positive and Negative Effects of Video Games Among Bhutanese Youth

Bhutan is a tiny and a remote kingdom nestling in the Himalayas between its powerful neighbours, India and China. Almost completely isolated for centuries, it has tried to allow some aspects of the outside world while fiercely guarding its ancient traditions. Internet was not introduced to Bhutan until 1999. For years, the country isolated itself, fearing that outside influences would undermine its monarchy and culture (BBC, 2018). The rise in the use of the internet has led to many changes in lives of people. In particular, this rise has led to the rise of online gaming. The gaming culture in Bhutan is relatively new but it is rapidly growing, especially among the youth. Today, online gamings are really advanced. These days, gaming technology has progressed to an amazing extend and have some positive and negative effects of video games. Advancement such as streaming 3-D animation graphics with superb surround sounds have the ability to make people addicted to gaming (Khurana, 2019). Although online gaming seems like a great thing, not everything is good about the online gaming world. Playing online gaming leads to digital addiction, poor academic performance and has adverse effects on health.

Firstly, playing online games has become another digital addiction in recent times. Lately, an online multiplayer battle game called Player Unknown’s Battlegrounds, popularly known as PUBG, has been emerging in the country. PUBG is the most popular online games in the world. Earlier this year, Gujarat, a state in India banned PUBG in few of its cities as it was grappling with the issue of game addiction leading to violent behavior among children and youth (BBS, 2019). According to Dr. Chencho Dorji, a psychiatrist of the National Referral Hospital says he has received informal complaints from parents. For example, parents bring their children because they are not performing well in school or parents realize that their children are not socially interacting at homes or are not going out. Youngsters prefer to stay locked in their rooms with gadgets to occupy their time. Thus, according to him, the main cause of this problem is attributed to children’s addiction to internet and gaming. An addiction therapist has said that “giving your child a Smartphone is like giving them a gram of cocaine.”

Secondly, online gaming has immediate effect on the academic performance of students. Advent of advance gaming practice has become a part of modern culture. Thimphu alone has over 80 gaming parlours, of which around 40 percent are located along Norzin lam (Tshedup, 2016). Tshering Dorji, a class VII student of Lungtenzampa Middle Secondary School, spends almost five hours at the game parlour just below his house in the heart of town during his summer break. As teens get hooked into these games, they often have little or no time for anything else and as a result, are unable to focus or concentrate enough on their studies. A recent study highlighted the fact that most of the school children, nearly 70% play games and out of which nearly half have played or still play role-playing games. Naturally, their academic performance had taken a nosedive as a result of increased focus on these games (Jana, 2019).

Thirdly, online gaming has adverse effect on the health of the people. The World Health Organization (WHO) has classified gaming addiction as a disorder in its 11th revision of the international classification of disease. According to Dr Chencho, some children snack along when they are gaming, eating lots of unhealthy food and gaining weight. Sitting in front of the computer, tablet or mobile screen is incredibly detrimental to student’s health. First of all there is negative influence on eye-sight that is in constant tension. Sometimes it is necessary to wear headphones all the time, so ears are under pressure as well. Secondly, it is the body position. A sitting position influences negatively the back, neck and if not changed regularly, it may result in health troubles (Impact of online games on collage students: Pros and Cons, 2017). Online gaming not only affects our health but also led to death. A dangerous online game the Blue Whale Challenge which is played step by step and you come across a ‘challenge’ that forces you to commit suicide, and many young kids lost their lives because of this game.

To conclude, online gaming is the cause of many negative impacts on the life of the youth. Online gaming leads to addiction making children’s behavior to turn violent and aggressive. Students these days are spending more of their free time playing games, and this addiction is ruining the future and education of the children. The world has become so attached to online gaming that people prefer to interact only through games. Online gaming is a form of media that is often associated with negative health consequences as students get carried away with playing their computer games for excessive amounts of time. It not only affects the physical but also mental health of the students. This trend of online gaming leads to unhealthy lifestyles because it also means sitting in one position all day. Young people should be outside playing actual games and become healthy adults instead of playing online games.

References

1. BBC. (2018, February 14). Bhutan country profile. Retrieved from BBC News: http://www.bbc.com/news/world-south-asia-12480707
2. BBS. (2019, March 19). WHO classifies gaming disorders as a mental health condition. Retrieved from BBS Mobile: http://www.bbs.bt/news/
3. Impact of online games on collage students: Pros and Cons. (2017, December 8). Retrieved from noplag.com: http://nblog.noplag.com
4. Jana, S. (2019, September 11). Positive and negative effects of video games on teenagers. Retrieved from Mon Junction: http://www.momjunction.com/articles/effects-of-video-gaes-on-teenagers_00352668/?amp=1
5. Khurana, A. (2019). The Good and Bas Impact of Online Gaming. Retrieved from streetdirectory.com: http://www.streetdirectory.com/travel_guide/103868/gaming/the_good_and_bad_impacts_of_online_gaming.html
6. Tshedup, Y. (2016, July 4). E-sport: a booming culture. Retrieved from www.Kuensel.com:http://www.kuenselonline.com/e-sport-a-booming-culture/