Senior Capstone ℅ 2018

5-24-2018

Fortnite? How about goodnight. You have school tomorrow: An

Autoethnography

Jose Sanchez
Los Angeles Leadership Academy HS, josesanchez9675@gmail.com
 Sanchez 1

Senior Capstone ℅ 2018

Fortnite? How About Goodnight. You Have School Tomorrow

Abstract

Whether gaming is beneficial for students has been a long debated topic. Gaming is a way for

teens to have to feel excited and relax at the same time while being at home. Over the years

research has indicated that gaming isn’t really beneficial for students. Some theories state that

gaming has a negative effect on kids. Modern day research furthermore indicates that gaming

does not have such bad effects on students as long as they have the ability to control how much

time they spend on it.

Keywords: beneficial, influenced, research, gaming, time,

Acknowledgements
I want to thank my teachers for pushing me hard to work on this final. As well as my parent for
providing me with the guidance and materials all throughout this process.
 Sanchez 2

Fortnite? How about goodnight, you have school tomorrow.

Jose Sanchez
Los Angeles Leadership Academy HS, Los Angeles, California, USA

Whether gaming is beneficial for students has been a long debated topic. Over the years

research has indicated that gaming isn’t really that beneficial for students. Some theories state

that gaming has a negative effect on kids. Modern day research furthermore indicates that

gaming does not have such bad effect on students as long as they have the ability to control how

much time they spend on it.

The Incident
The summer before senior year started consisted of video games, basketball at the park,

and hanging out with friends. It was one bright, sunny morning, when I woke up to the delicious

smell of chocolate. My mom had been cooking chocolate chip pancakes for my dad and I. As I

layed in bed scrolling through my Instagram feed, my mother yelled, “Mijo ya vente a comer!”

The smell of the melted chocolate reached my nostrils and flooded my brain with images of

fluffy, warm goodness. I walked into the kitchen and enjoyed the very delicious pancakes. After

I had finished eating, I started to watch Netflix and embarked on to watch one of my favorite

shows. After watching about two to three episodes, I switched to playing video games. I played

the game that was last left in the disc tray, Tom Clancy’s Rainbow Six Siege. As I played in an

intense match, my dogs suddenly started barking at the front door for no apparent reason.

Frustrated by the distraction my dogs created, I turned to them and yelled, “Shut up!” Only to

find out that they were barking at the mailman. After acknowledging his presence, I paused the
 Sanchez 3

match and went outside to collect the mail. Shuffling through each letter, I saw an envelope

from Los Angeles Leadership Academy. I was unsure about opening it, but I was very curious

on what it held within. Opening the envelope, I saw that it was my final report card, my grade

point average was a 3.7. I was astonished because for most of the school year I was heavily

invested playing video games because it was so much fun. I would have my assignments on the

side so when I would die, I can work on them. Multitasking was very efficient for me because

whenever I died I was able to work on my school assignments I then came to a realization that I

proved everyone wrong. I maintained a high GPA while still managing to have fun and play

video games with my friends.

Analysis
Introduction
The evolution of video games has heavily influenced millions of people. Many parents

frown upon video games because they think that is it a waste of time. Video games have grown

from nothing to one of the primary means of entertainment for adolescents. Technology has

advanced a lot and you can find games anywhere you look, they're on phones, laptops, tvs, just

about anywhere you can think of. While plenty of these activities can benefit the development

of the mind, there is still no scientific proof that it is because video games. Although games do

bring plenty of benefits, they also have some drawbacks that are uncontrollable. Video games

have become a norm and whether they are completely good for someone or not remains

unknown.

Study of focus
 Sanchez 4

The study of focus for this paper is the effects of video games on teenagers and how it

affects their daily lives. As well as knowing the impacts are of playing several hours a day and

how kids grow as individuals. Whether it is beneficial or not, video games are rising because

that is the ongoing trend for teens.

Claim #1

Parents are mainly concerned with violent video games because they don't want their

son to adapt those acts, video games have shown to introduce teenagers to violent thoughts

overtime. In the Psychology Today article, it stated “the effects of studies focussing on

consequences of short-term video gameplay (mostly conducted on college student populations)

are mainly the result of priming effects, meaning that exposure to violent content increases the

accessibility of aggressive thoughts and affect when participants are in the immediate situation”

(Kühn, 2018, para. 4). This means that shortly after violent gameplay, students show results of

violent behavior. A survey shows otherwise claiming that:

Teens who played mostly solitary games (in which they were the only player) tended to

be more engaged academically and have better peer relationships than others in the

study. Teens who gravitated toward multi-player and competitive games tended to have

fewer internalized problems (which generally is used to describe such issues as anxiety,

loneliness and withdrawal). No link was found between playing violent games and being

involved in real-world violence or conflict or between violent games and the teens’

academic performance (Searing, 2015, para. 3).

This evidence shows there is no signs of violent behavior due to playing video games. There is

no way to actually tell what someone is feeling, but studies do show that gaming is beneficial

toward critical thinking, relationship building, and social skills.

 Sanchez 5

Video games isn’t as big of a threat than some someones own surroundings. Someones

own neighborhood can just give have a bigger impact on violent behavior than video games. Ed

Cara, a science writer at Gizmodo claims that “violent video games are played all over the

world, but certain countries like the US have a much higher rate of mass shootings and gun

violence compared to places like Japan” (Cara, 2018, para. 14). His claim is supported by a new

Harvard study, that has found “a country’s gun laws and amount of firearms have a much higher

impact on gun violence” (Cara, 2018, para. 14). What he is trying to say is that instead of

blaming video games, blame the surroundings, people get influenced by what they are around

physically.

Claim #2

Two other factors that go hand in hand with students progress is time management skills

and study habits. Some students struggle with the responsibility, and have trouble finding

enough time towards academic activities such as studying. Teens would much rather play video

games and have fun rather than work on homework. As a result of this, work does not get

completed. Therefore grades start to drop significantly. In Cumming’s study it shows,

“adolescent video gamers have been found to spend 30% less time reading and 34% less time

doing homework than non gamers” (Cummings, 2007, para. 1). This proves that students who

are playing video games tend to work less on assignments than others who do not. Students can

be playing for hours without even knowing it and have no more time to complete their

homework. Which again also ties to losing sleep when teens stay up late doing homework when

they could have already finished it earlier. However, it is also possible that children who have

trouble at school choose to spend more time playing video games or can be that the student is

already excelling in academics and has more free time.

 Sanchez 6

Claim #3

When kids start to get addicted to video games it will cause them to constantly be

playing more and more games, spending less time moving and exercising, getting unhealthier

by the minute.This can result in losing precious sleep and decreasing

the amount of time dedicated to their studies. “A study held by Flinders

University found that participants who played video games for 150

minutes or more at night experienced a delay in falling asleep of 39

minutes, according to their sleep journals. They also lost an average of

27 minutes in total sleep loss during the night” (Carbone, 2018, para. 5). Losing sleep can have

a large impact on a student’s academic life, as well as long term goals.These conclusions, which

Peri discusses adds weight to the argument that “Lack of sleep hurts these cognitive thinking

processes in many ways like it impairing attention, alertness, concentration, reasoning, and

problem solving” (Peri, 2018, para. 4) This can make it more difficult to learn efficiently, which

then leads to lack of knowledge of the material that is being taught.

Opinion

My opinion is that gaming does not negatively affect students as long as it’s not abused.

Gaming actually help some parts of the cognitive brain. Like with thinking faster, able to work

out problems quicker and as well can help with working well together with other people.

Gaming can help someone grow out of their comfort zone when they are shy in person.

Conclusion
 Sanchez 7

Consequently, video games have developed so much and it has shown that gaming can

actually be pretty beneficial. Video games are really fun and can help kids just take some time

off and enjoy some themselves. Although there are some drawbacks, it is only if you are an

excessive user. Keep an eye on how much time is being put into it because it can be easy to

forget about homework or get a daily workout. Overall gaming has shown to not be harmful but

should be kept to a minimum, to where it doesn't control the individual.

References

“15 Surprising Benefits of Playing Video Games”. (2017, September). Retrieved from

http://mentalfloss.com/article/65008/15-surprising-benefits-playing-video-games

Cara, E. (2018, March 16). “Science Finds Once Again That Violent Video Games Don't

Turn People Into Rage Monsters.” Retrieved from https://gizmodo.com/science-finds-

once-again-that-violent-video-games-dont-182381119

Carbone, M. (2018, April). “This is how video games can screw up your sleep”.
 Sanchez 8

Retrieved from https://sleepjunkies.com/blog/video-games-sleep-habits/

Cummings, M. (2007, July). Relation of Adolescent Video Game Play to Time Spent in Other

Activities. Retrieved from

https://jamanetwork.com/journals/jamapediatrics/fullarticle/570716

Kühn, S., Kugler, D. T., Schmalen, K., Weichenberger, M., Witt, C., & Gallinat, J. (2018,

March). Does playing violent video games cause aggression? A longitudinal intervention

study. Retrieved from https://www.nature.com/articles/s41380-018-0031-7

Nichols, H. (2017, July). How video games affect the brain. Retrieved from

https://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/318345.php

Peri, C. (2005 June.). 10 Things to Hate About Sleep Loss. Retrieved from

https://www.webmd.com/sleep-disorders/features/10-results-sleep-loss#1

Scutti, S. (2018, February). “Do video games lead to violence?” Retrieved from

https://www.cnn.com/2016/07/25/health/video-games-and-violence/index.html

Searing, L. (2015, April). “The effect of video games on kids' behavior and achievement”.

Retrieved from https://www.washingtonpost.com/national/health-science/the-effect-of-

video-games-on-kids-behavior-achievement/2015/04/06/0781f084-d96f-11e4-8103-

fa84725dbf9d_story.html?noredirect=on&utm_term=.e2e9ef617b96