Children are spending too much time playing video games | IELTS Essay Samples
Essay topic
Nowadays children spend more time playing computer games than doing sports. Why is it happening? Does it have a positive or negative effect on their development?
Band 9 essay sample
Physical activity plays an important role in the physical and psychological development of children during the initial years of their life. However, urbanization and modernization have replaced outdoor games with indoor games and thus increased the number of couch potatoes among the current generation. In my view this is a negative development that affects the physical and mental development of children.
Firstly, urbanization eliminated public playgrounds from cities and towns. Thanks to the development of all those housing complexes and shopping centres the cities have become more congested than ever leaving no room for little ones to enjoy outdoor games like cricket or football. Since playing such sports in narrow streets cause disturbance to apartment dwellers parents are forced to keep their children indoors.
The security of children has also become a cause for concern. Parents are becoming wary of letting their children play outside. So, to keep them engaged indoors they equip their children with video games, computers and smart phones. As a result, children are getting detached from the benefits of playing outside. This, unfortunately, affects their physical and intellectual development. Sitting in front of a computer or gaming console for long hours can affect the eyesight of children and make them obese.
Studies have shown that physical activity helps the development of cognitive abilities like decision-making and problem-solving. Sports and games also teach children crucial life skills such as team spirit and the ability to take success and failure alike. When children do not engage in sports, they are losing an opportunity to master these life lessons.
To conclude, video games might keep children engaged for hours on end, but they do not help the overall development of children. So I strongly believe that spending too much time on playing computer games can be very harmful for the upcoming generation.
Here is another essay on this topic.
Band 8 IELTS essay sample
With the advent of technological advancements computers have become commonplace. Most children these days prefer playing games on a computer to engaging in physical sports. There are several factors behind this phenomenon. In my opinion, playing computer games instead of outdoor sports is disadvantageous for the children.
Firstly, in this modern era parents have less time for their kids due to their hectic schedule. This limits children’s access to outdoor activities and makes them inclined to play virtual games. They have provided their children all electronic gadgets to keep them occupied in their absence. Also, computer games are addictive with various levels to conquer and points to collect. Secondly, youngsters spend about 8 hours in school and another 3 or 4 hours in tuition classes and therefore they do not have enough time to play outside.
Being glued to the screen all the time could lead to adverse impact on the children’s personality. For instance, violent games may cause aggression and impatience in them. There are many entertaining games like ‘PUBG’ which provoke players to hit and kill a random unknown player playing from unknown location. Such games with violent content foster criminal tendencies in children. Furthermore, excessive sitting in front of the digital equipment can hurt the health of a child. For instance, it can affect eye-sight, cause headaches and insomnia.
In short, children are spending more time playing on the computer because their access to outdoor playgrounds is limited. Other factors contributing to this development are the addictive nature of computer games and lack of parental supervision. Unfortunately, spending too much time playing computer games is disadvantageous for children as it affects their health and grades. It could even encourage criminal tendencies in them.
