Steven Johnson: Games

Johnson, S. J. (2005). Games. In S. Cohen (Ed.), 50 Essays: A Portable Anthology (Third ed., pp. 196-202). Boston, New York: Bedford/St. Martin's. 

Gaming has taken the world's youth and even some adults are getting into it now. It has given many people something to do, something to pass the time with. Although has gaming dulled our reading skills? In the book 50 essays, one of the essays by Steven Johnson talks about how gaming has caused many to stop reading novels. Johnson quotes in his essay about games that: "The best that can be said of them is that they may help promote eye-hand coordination in children. The worst that can be said is that they sanction, and even promote aggression and violent responses to conflict. But what can be said with much greater certainty is this: most computer games are a colossal waste of time." (Johnson, 2005) Games truly are a waste of time, but that's what they're here for to waste time. Games in my own opinion are to pass the time, we have to take gaming in moderation so do we with everything else. Some games do promote violence, some don't. Of course this has a very negative effect on the children of today, trying to act out what they do in games. This is the reason for gaming shops and parents to take a look at the level of maturity and age needed in order to play some games. The essay is a good read, about how games have a negative effect on today's youth.