{"id":11522,"date":"2023-01-30T21:00:48","date_gmt":"2023-01-30T21:00:48","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sites.jsums.edu\/jsuflash\/?p=11522"},"modified":"2023-01-30T21:00:48","modified_gmt":"2023-01-30T21:00:48","slug":"gamers-at-jsu-discuss-the-pros-and-cons-of-playing-video-games","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sites.jsums.edu\/theflash\/index.php\/2023\/01\/30\/gamers-at-jsu-discuss-the-pros-and-cons-of-playing-video-games\/","title":{"rendered":"Gamers at JSU discuss the pros and cons of playing video games"},"content":{"rendered":"

Google Image<\/em><\/p>\n

Levon Campbell
\n<\/b>Staff Writer\u00a0<\/b><\/p>\n

As technology advances it brings forth a large increase in screen time in both children and young adults and there is speculation that it could be having a negative impact on society.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Research has proven too much screen time can be detrimental to students across the globe. According to the Mayo Clinic Health System, too much screen time can be linked to <\/span>obesity, poor sleep or insomnia, behavioral problems, violence, eye strain, neck and back problems, anxiety, depression, and difficulties with work or school.<\/span><\/p>\n

This presses an issue among college students because in their free time, video game usage is one of the preferred pastimes. Because students are expected to <\/span>balance work, home, and school life in a way that is not overwhelming to them, this can put a lot of pressure on students and lead some to relieve themselves with video games.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Some students say they use video games as entertainment, skill building, or just simply to escape from their real life issues.<\/span><\/p>\n

Game Quitters, a website dedicated to showing the effects of gaming, reported a total of 92 percent of college students play video games regularly and 40 percent of them play more than 30 hours a week.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Nathan Towery, PhD., JSU department of journalism and media studies professor and Esports coach, does not think that videogames are bad, as long as students balance themselves properly, it will not yield negative effects.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cPlaying video games becomes unhealthy once you start putting it ahead of necessities. For example, replacing sleep or eating because you want to stay up all night playing video games when you have to be at work\/school early the next morning. Or, calling out of work or skipping class to play longer. Or, neglecting familial needs so that you can play a game,\u201d said Towery.<\/span><\/p>\n

He added, \u201c It is important to note that playing video games in a responsible way can be very healthy for you. When it gets out of hand, that\u2019s when it becomes unhealthy. The WHO recognized video game addiction as a mental illness in 2018, so it can get to that level in rare cases.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

Towery also said that he plays video games in his free time and he encourages students to do the same, but not if it will affect their day-to-day productivity.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Jackson State students seem to agree with Towery, expressing their love for gaming but claiming that school is the number one priority.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Onix Haynes, a senior computer science major from Jackson, Miss., said he likes to think he maintains a healthy balance of school time and downtime.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cThere can be a healthy relationship between playing video games and downtimes when you\u2019re not doing class work,\u201d Haynes said.<\/span><\/p>\n

Walter White, a freshman computer science major from Jackson, Miss., said he only uses video games in his spare time or when waiting for his next class to begin.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s good to play games in my downtime just to kill time as a goal,\u201d White said.<\/span><\/p>\n

No matter the genre of the game, most gamers agree that moderate usage of video games that do not affect academic performance is not a bad habit.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Towery said he invites all students with an interest in video games to join the Esports club, located on the second floor of the library.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cOur drive and goal is to connect student gamers and provide a space where we can be ourselves and hang out and compete,\u201d Towery said.<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Google Image Levon Campbell Staff Writer\u00a0 As technology advances it brings forth a large increase in screen time in both children and young adults and there is speculation that it could be having a negative impact on society.\u00a0 Research has proven too much screen time can be detrimental to students across the globe. According to […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5,"featured_media":11527,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[12],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-11522","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-variety"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/sites.jsums.edu\/theflash\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11522","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/sites.jsums.edu\/theflash\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/sites.jsums.edu\/theflash\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sites.jsums.edu\/theflash\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/5"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sites.jsums.edu\/theflash\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=11522"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/sites.jsums.edu\/theflash\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11522\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":11528,"href":"https:\/\/sites.jsums.edu\/theflash\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11522\/revisions\/11528"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sites.jsums.edu\/theflash\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/11527"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/sites.jsums.edu\/theflash\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=11522"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sites.jsums.edu\/theflash\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=11522"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sites.jsums.edu\/theflash\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=11522"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}