Written by: Benit Shrestha - 21105, Grade XII
Posted on: 27 August, 2020
ENIAC, the first computer was about the size of a room. Now, over half a century later we have computers that fit in the palm of our hands. With such a massive leap in technology, people of all ages have been acquainted with using computers. As of the last decade, the trend of playing video-games has been somewhat of a culture; mostly, popular among children and teenagers. And, youngsters can benefit greatly from the appropriate use of computers and video-games.
First and foremost, early exposure to computers and video-games can act as motivation for children to pursue a career in the computer industry. Children are enthusiastic in nature. They are curious to learn about how things work and sometimes grow to admire the same things. In regard to this, we can take examples of tech entrepreneurs like Elon Musk and Bill Gates. They have commented about being intellectually invested in computers from a young age, which in turn has helped them to lead successful careers. Likewise, being well-acquainted with computers from a young age will heavily merit people interested in that particular field. So, the use of computers for children may actually be a bigger advantage than a hindrance.
Similarly, surprising as it may sound, people are actually establishing successful careers by playing video games. Children may play video-games for fun at first, but most are likely to develop this as a passion. And if they are able to fuel this passion into entertaining an audience as well as playing competitively against other people, they are likely to establish themselves as professional gamers, which is a very successful and lucrative line of work in today’s time. Gamers admit being introduced to games as children were the main reason for pursuing such a risky yet decorated career. Likewise, as per a survey, people who play video-games have a heightened sense of hand-eye coordination. This special talent is useful for jobs like surgeons, artists and so on. Hence, video-games are not totally harmful to children.
However, video-games do have a bad side to them. Once, children get hooked to playing video games, they abandon all responsibilities and develop a severe case of addiction. Likewise, playing video-games excessively will lead to a series of health issues. Staring at a computer screen all day will cause children to be victims of myopia, hypermetropia, and other eye ailments. In addition to this, children who play violent video-games are likely to show impulsive behavior as adults. Video-game addiction makes children prone to being social outcasts that can’t find a way to adjust to society. So, computers and video-games do possess a threat to the cognitive development of children.
Finally, with modernization and automation in, not all but most, sectors of work the fluency in using computers is quite essential. In regard to this, children familiar with computers can be self-reliant and useful individuals who are able to help themselves as well as others. Computer skills are sure to come handy in any occupation. Being able to effectively work your way around computers can prove productive, time-saving, and convenient for any sort of job. Not just this, there are people employed for maintaining computer systems as well. Likewise, youngsters can best utilize such a skill to solve academic work as well as gain additional knowledge of respective topics or subjects. Therefore, computers being made available to children can be beneficial for self-convenience
To sum it up, under a filtered point of view children using computers and playing video-games is advantageous in context to pursuing a valid career of one’s choice as well as helping oneself with technical problems. In the long run, exposure to computers at an early age is likely to be useful for most individuals.
