8th Games will make children bad!?
Back in the 1980s, when I was in elementary school, Nintendo's Family Computer (Famicom) was on the rise. It seemed like all the kids at school were talking about video games and baseball. I’m part of the video game generation myself, but back then, the adults often said, “Video games are ruining children.”
Here were some of their main arguments:
・Video games prevent kids from playing outside, which negatively impacts their physical health.
・Most video games are solitary activities, so kids won’t develop teamwork or social skills.
・Playing video games makes your eyesight worse.
・Kids spend so much time gaming that they neglect studying.
・Games are too violent. They show scenes where people are killed, which might encourage kids to imitate such behavior.
While the details might vary, the general sentiment was as outlined above. However, looking back now, I think most of these arguments were completely off the mark—excluding extreme cases, like issues with gaming addiction. I’ve never encountered a case where games made someone more violent. The process by which gaming supposedly worsens eyesight is still not fully understood. As for the claim that gaming hinders teamwork, it’s no different from suggesting that studying alone also erodes social skills.
Humans seem to have an innate tendency to reject new technology, tools, or concepts at first. Is it conservatism? Self-preservation? Perhaps a fear of change? This tendency seems particularly pronounced among Japanese people.
The generation that grew up during the golden age of gaming now uses PCs for business as a matter of course. They’ve grown comfortable with actions like pressing a button and hitting enter to execute commands. This familiarity likely stems from their early exposure to computers through gaming. On the other hand, many people from older generations—those over 70—who had little to no experience with games, often struggle with computers and mobile phones. Of course, in today’s world, business without computers is unimaginable. Employees who can type quickly or code efficiently are invaluable to companies. Those who can create polished materials quickly using tools like Excel are often considered highly competent.
For these reasons, the argument that video games ruin children is completely unfounded.