Does Video-Game Play Affect Students Negatively?

By Roger Lopez

College of Southern Nevada students are no strangers to the video-gaming phenomenon. Video games are a part of regular life for most students.

A group of 25 CSN students were surveyed on their experiences playing video games and whether they thought their studies were affected by their play.

Nearly 90 percent of the students said they play video games regularly and 77 percent of those said their studies were not negatively affected by playing those games.

Axen Morales, CSN student, said, “I think video games help me relieve some stress from studying.” Morales confessed that the amount of work and anxiety that school brings can only be countered with some time spent playing video games.

According to a study by Statista Inc., a leading quantitative statistics company, in 2013 the average American spent 23 minutes a day playing video games. On average, students spent three hours a week. The time spent playing video games is expected to increase in the coming years.

CSN student Kelsey Griffin thinks that if a video game is simple, it becomes easier to grow addicted to it. “Although video games don’t have control over me, I do agree that they can be a huge distraction for some students and could eventually cause problems with school.”

Research done by the Pew Research Internet Project, a nonpartisan research center that informs the public about the issues, attitudes and trends shaping America and the world, found, “Gaming is a part of growing up in the U.S. and by the time the current cohort of college students graduates virtually all of them will have had some kind of experience with gaming.”

“According to students, gaming has little impact, either positive or negative, on their academic lives,” the Pew Research report stated. “About two-thirds felt that gaming had no influence on their academic performances.”

Marco Gutierrez, student at CSN, said that in order to be successful in school and still be able to play video games he must have a system in place to do his work first then play. Gutierrez said, “In my opinion, it helps me study because I reward myself with the games.”