"Boy!! Stop playing your game and do your homework!"

When you were young, you would probably hear this before and would often say, okay mom! give me 5 more minutes, just 5 more minutes!

First Impression
Here comes the first impression of gaming, be it cyber gaming, social gaming or just video games that is gaming kills. Not that it literally kills us, but it kills our results. Yes. Academic results.

My Past
During my schooling days, before every start of major exams during my primary and secondary school, I would be barred from my computer games. There was one situation where I could still remember vividly, I tried to play Maplestory and didn't really want to study for my paper. Ended up when my dad did a surprise check on me, I didn't "alt+tab" in time, he got so angry that he smashed up my computer keyboard.

Excessive Gaming
I dare not deny that addictive gaming is bad, after all too much of one thing is naturally bad. Ever hear of human skin turning orange because of excessive drinking of carrot juice? Source: http://www.carrotjuice.com/can-drinking-too-much-carrot-juice-turn-my-skin-orange.html

In order for things to benefit you, one must do things in moderation!

A rundown of what excessive gaming do to you!

• Cause one to lose focus
  
• Wastage of time
  
• Addicted to gaming makes one deviate from reality!
  A Korean couple killed their baby because of that! Source: http://www.channelnewsasia.com/stories/afp_asiapacific/view/1059591/1/.html
  
• Aggression & Violence
  (Warning: Please lower down your volume if you plan to watch the video of aggression)

So what does excessive gaming brings to you?

My grandparents is keeping fit with Wii!

I'm not saying about mine grandparents are playing Wii now, but the elderly definitely had reaped some of the benefits that the Wii has to offer for them! Research shown that the elderly who had used the Wii Fit for their entertainment purposes had shown better improvements than younger people who are playing with the console.
Source : http://well.blogs.nytimes.com/2010/12/01/phys-ed-why-wii-fit-is-best-for-grandparents/?partner=rss&emc=rss

Games makes people smart!

• Educational games are made for educational purposes!
  
  
• Mind stimulation games stimulate our mind like bejeweled and crossword puzzles.
  
  
• Social gaming on Facebook like farmville, cityville helps to maintain our social networks!
  
• Gaming does reduce stress! (Play Smart, likewise work smart too!)

But games that made for entertainment purposes? Real-time strategy games like Warcraft III
Well, research has shown that they helps to cognitive skills and people could visualize things and solve problems faster! Source:  http://www.nst.com.my/nst/articles//16game-2/Article/

Now that you know both sides of the story, kindly vote your opinion below this post!

Causes of addictive gaming

Source: http://www.videojug.com/expertanswer/computer-gaming-addiction/why-are-computer-games-so-addictive

Now that you have seen the video, have you identified the path to gaming addiction?

• Games are addictive because they create a fantasy world which people like!
  
• People are in power and in control of everything once they are in a fantasy world
  
• Similar to "Positive Reinforcement" in the psychology context
  
• People are reinforced to do the same thing over and over again and ultimately became addicted to games!

Do things in moderation!

As you all know, gaming is not really beneficial if you abuse it. Like what the health promotion board states "Eat in Moderation", too much of one thing is bad for health. This theory applies practically everything in reality. Remember, the keyword is moderation!

Ways to cut down on excessive gaming

Work smart, play smart too! If you find yourself glued to your gaming platforms for too long you are then considered being addicted to gaming! Addictive gaming is harmful and detrimental not only mentally but socially too! You wouldn't want yourself to deviate from reality by spending too much time in a virtual world right?

• Gaming is not the only way to kill time! There are other alternatives such as doing sports rather than gaming!
  
• Spending your time more often outside rather than cooping yourself up at home helps a lot!
  
• Know when to stop! Set your own limits!
  (Eg : 3 hours of continuous gaming is all you can do in 1 day!)
  
• There's always parenting control! You can ask your parents to control your gaming addiction!
  (Like how the government-public system work on gamblers that are addicted to casinos!)
  

Just remember, the first step to control addictive gaming is to accept responsibility! That's because the problem lies with the individual, if you fail to accept that you are addicted to gaming, no amount of solutions can help you to control your hunger for gaming!

With this, I hope that you guys have an insight about the pros and cons of gaming and the ways to counter excessive gaming! 

Don't forget to vote! (Scroll down to vote)