In this time of highly developed technology, when the computer has become a publicly available and necessary element of everyday life, the question arises about its impact on the person. Is it a useful or a negative factor? This question is particularly acute when it comes to the impact of computer games on children, because it is steadily replacing all other activities of the children’s world.

The answer to this question can not be straightforward, because even useful and vital things can become dangerous … The same can happen with computer technology, particularly with computer games.

Remember, first there were simple games, created for entertainment and recreation. They developed attention, reaction time. As they matured, the child began to be interested in more complex – intellectual games. Thus, the passage of the mazes can be a good mental exercise, developing logical thinking.

They were replaced by more complicated games – strategy (strategy), they are quite different from the previous ones, as simulated reality in which the player was. Or rather, they set the path, creating this reality on their own. Based on the name, we can say that these games teach planning, well-developed analytical thinking. Therefore, children playing computer games, have a broad outlook: they have a well-developed idea of the world around them, and it is more in line with the world outlook of adults.

Such “computer-advanced” children are usually ahead of their peers in their mental development, they learn educational material more easily, and they are confident in their knowledge. However, there is a negative side of fascination with computer games. This is when cyberspace becomes a reality of life for the child. This is especially evident when a child experiences socially unsuccessful contacts and plunges into the game world, where he feels like a master of the situation. It is in this phantom world that the feeling or anticipation of victory increases self-esteem, compensates for low self-esteem and shapes behavior where the only meaning of life becomes the pleasure of play sessions.

In this way a “computer or game addiction” develops. Such a disease can be characterized as excessive fascination with computer games for the sake of escaping from reality, which leads to qualitative changes in the personality – the person’s social, professional, material and family values are deformed. Especially dangerous in terms of acquiring addiction role-playing computer games (RPG – role playing games), where the player (gamer) takes the role of a computer character.

Virtual reality forms an unreal world of computer games, develops the effect of “presence”. There is what can be called an “Ego decay” into a “I virtual” and “I real. Such games undermine the mental state and can radically change the idea of oneself and the world around. All this contributes to the growth of anxiety and disharmony.

There is an opinion that some computer games, in particular, military strategy and “shooters,” which were originally created for the development of special skills in the military, form brutality. On this point, there have been many studies that confirm this view.

On the one hand, they help the release of aggression and negative emotions outside, on the other hand, on the contrary, they form certain negative stereotypes of behavior. And even affect the psyche more than action movies. And if while watching an action film, the child only follows the events taking place on the screen, experiences the characters and tries on their roles, while playing the game, this happens “interactively”, that is, the player, taking on the role of a character, plunges into his world and becomes that character for a while.

Thinking or acting on behalf of the character, he transfers this experience to real life. Another peculiarity of the game is that the heroes are “immortal”: each time after they have been destroyed, they come to life again and again, and the number of their lives is infinite. This fact inevitably affects the perception of the value of life, removes the boundary between life and death and develops a tendency toward life-threatening behavior. That’s why the problem of computer addiction and the influence of computer games is very urgent.

Therefore, buying a game disc for their children, think and, if you still decide to make such a gift, carefully consider the nature and purpose of the game.