Can any of you remember the “hide and seek” time? Or maybe the “tic-tac-toe” period? Because I for one sure remember the times when I would just not get tired of playing outside with my friends (real friends, not virtual) when games were fun, simple, and non-violent.

Children of today live in a “computer gaming world” which whether we like it or not, has both its advantages and disadvantages .Before starting to say anything about the advantages and the disadvantages presented by this “computer gaming world” I must mention that these games are not only played by children but very often these games are played by grown ups. So the question we need to ask ourselves is whether these games destroy our children youth or maybe whether they resurrect ours.

There are several types of computer games. Every area of our world has a game in a virtual world. And in this “computer gaming world” our real life becomes nicer, easier, lighter but on the other hand can also become worst than the reality one may live in, harder, darker. It depends on every each of us to learn how and especially how much to use these virtual games.

One main advantage of these games is that they improve one’s IT skills. For example children in general (who are known to be very perceptive of everything new) learn easier how to use a computer by playing computer games.

A second advantage is that while children play computer games  (which is mainly an indoor activity) parents don’t have the concern of always asking themselves where their children are knowing them safe in front of the computer, and they don’t have to stop their work to go check on the children.

A third advantage of computer games is that it doesn’t take such a long time  (for example you can make a car race in 5 minutes while an outdoor bicycle race would require at least 15 minutes and another 2-3 friends) and also because children can play it when they are sick and have to stay in or when the weather is bad.
A first disadvantage that I really want and need to talk about is the ADHD.

(Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder).

Having this syndrome a child will not be able to concentrate for a long period of time, will have problems in remembering things, and will not be able to learn as much as it will be expected of him to learn.This syndrome will also create a gap between the child suffering of it and the other children who don’t.

A second disadvantage is the solitude that a child can get into while spending too much time in the „computer gaming world”. A child might get to like more his virtual friends than his real friends and might even not make the difference between what is real and what is virtual.

The third and in my opinion the most important disadvantage of computer gaming is the violence that children can learn from computer gaming and the fact that their social behavior may be very easily destroyed.In order to avoid these things, specialists suggest parents to make a computer program that their child must respect (for example, computer games only 2 hours per day) and to try and create more family activities for the child to be a part of and to be encouraged to socialize with other children by real means not via a computer game in a „computer gaming world”.

In the next article we will see how adults deal with computer games and the „computer gaming world”