Creative Exposure

Gaming. 

I've never been a big gamer so I wanted to expose myself to media I hadn't really encountered before. Gamers get a bad rap- sitting down all day staring at a screen, sometimes forgetting to eat good meals, staying up late to finish one single accomplishment... It sounds horribly unhealthy until you see the parallels between that lifestyle they live and that of college students. 

My motivation is to get good grades (or sometimes just pass the class), but what are they getting out of this experience? 


I was astounded to learn of real-world benefits that gaming can provide. A much more positive take than what I was anticipating. 

Surprisingly, gaming has many upsides (Granic et al., 2014) :
  • Concentration and memory recall tactics
  • Problem-solving/critical thinking skills
  • Increased creativity
  • Social/interpersonal skills


Evidently this will be dependent on which games are played.  However, video games aren't all bad. They're not all good either though. It would be foolish to assume that these benefits excuse overuse and overexposure.

 Just like anything else we have access to at our fingertips, gaming can be used for good or bad. 



Instead of promoting why people fear it, let's promote gaming as what it is... a tool to gain valuable skills and be an excellent teacher. Let it be a lesson for us all to learn- even education about gaming can cause a level of creative exposure. 




Image from: https://media.istockphoto.com/id/1363290088/vector/hand-holds-gamepad-oldschool-videogame-joystick-gamer-squeeze-in-hand-game-controller-vector.jpg?s=612x612&w=0&k=20&c=HuT78zlxADSV8Cf3z9rxoUnKcprs5aHmVQCHkiewdAw=


Comments

  1. beckiesOctober 9, 2023 at 1:43 PM

    This was super interesting to think about and realized that anything not participated in moderation can be harmful. I think that as college students it is easy to become consumed in classes and homework and connecting this to video games allowed me to have a better understanding for those who participate. Games can be a good tool if we use them correctly.

    ReplyDelete
  2. adelaideOctober 10, 2023 at 8:46 PM

    I love this perspective! I know that I can be too hard on video games sometimes. It is so easy to just see the bad aspects of it. It is important to look at things from all sides and to see the good. I think it is great that there are benefits to those who use video games. It makes me think of my mom's counsel that everything is good in moderation. And that goes for video games! Thanks for sharing your thoughts!

    ReplyDelete
  3. Briella SmithOctober 16, 2023 at 8:24 AM

    I really liked your comparison, it was eye opening. I also enjoyed how you pointed out that video games are not inherently bad! Anything we have can be misused in ways that harm us. There needs to be balance in our lives and if we dive too deep in one area, we miss out on beautiful things in another. I loved how you found good things that come from video games. Thanks for sharing!

    ReplyDelete
  4. MaryOctober 31, 2023 at 9:29 AM

    This is so interesting. Especially how you compared gaming to being a college student. There really are a lot of similarities, and no one seems too worried about college students. I think there are definitely bad effects that can come from skipping meals and sleep to study. But there are also many benefits to getting a good education. The same goes for gaming; there can be benefits and negative effects depending on how it's used.

    ReplyDelete

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