Media 3

Media 3

1. The Effects of Computers and Video Games: Negative Effects

   • Negative effects of Video Games
     • Addiction Social Withdrawal Lost sense of reality Depression Medial issues Death Debt Increased aggressive behaviour Breakdown in family relationships
     • Gentile and Anderson (2003)
       • Findings - violent game play caused aggressive behaviour, with larger effects on newer studies as violent games have become more violent over time.
   • Negative Effects of Computers: Facebook use
     • Misinterpretation Impact on future employment lack of privacy Legal implications naivety information hacking/scams Anxiety Depression
     • Charles (2011)
       • Findings - Majority who have more friends reported higher anxiety; high stress levels from deleting friends. Rejected friend requests causes feelings of guilt
   • Evaluation
     • Weakness
       • Lab experiments - cannot measure real life aggression and only measure short term effects, research has yet to establish a reliable casual link between game play and aggressive behaviour. Some research related to Facebook only shows link, not a direct cause

2. The Effects of Computers and Video Games: Positive Effects

   • Positive Effects of Video Games
     • Better Vision Ability to track objects Better attention Reduces conflicts faster Ability to change attention Focus better Increase ability to multi task Encourage teamwork social commitment helping behaviours
     • Greitemeyer and Osswald (2010)
       • Findings - Those who played the prosocial game, 67% helped pick up the pencils, whereas only 33% of those who had played the neutral game helped
   • Positive Effects of Computers: Facebook use
     • Family connections Comfort - leaving posts for the dead Communication Positive Feedback Improve self esteem Business Networking Develop relationships
     • Gonzales and Hancock (2011)
       • Findings - Facebook walls have a positive impact on self esteem. As feedback posted on them by others tends to be overwhelmingly positive
   • Evaluation
     • Strengths
       • Video games have been successfully used in the treatment of post - traumatic stress. Facebook increases self esteem and has a positive influence
     • Weaknesses
       • Methodological issues - 85% of video games have violence. Games that only contain prosocial content are less attractive, and we dont know if some of the games have some kind of violence. Methodological issues - research does not consider other factors, such as participants prior prosocial activities, are people volunteering because they want to or are they helping because of the video game