When it comes to writing, there is the need for an individual to master the necessary skills as this is the only way through which an individual can communicate effectively through print media. This calls for proficiency in language understanding. Two major skills are needed for this. First there is the need for a proper understanding of language as a narrative, and also the use of research. The essay below looks at these two forms of communication and how they can be effectively utilized.
Narrative
The issue of addiction to given issues in life is a common topic of discussion among different people. Every now and then, there are issues of people recovering from such and such addictions. By far, the most common form of addiction that affects many is the addiction to drugs and pornography, among other minor forms of addiction. For quite a long time, I thought that addiction was a thing for other people, since I had never seen an addicted person and neither did I imagine that I could one day be an addict as well. However, I was surprised to find myself addicted to the online games, an issue that I never preconceived that it could present a challenge to me at all.
It all started when I joined High School. It is well known that the 3 years at high school are quite formative and important in an individual’s life. However, there is also the likelihood that some youngsters do waste these years, only to regret when it is too late to do anything about it. It was when I registered as a student at my hometown when I met XiangHong who went on to become my greatest friend. Xiang’s father was a great enthusiast of the online games and it is no wonder that he had introduced his son to the technology at a tender age. By the time he joined high school, he was already so proficient with the computers and the internet that he always was on the games.
One afternoon as I walked along, I met Xiang in the corridors rushing to the classroom.
“Hey pal,” I enquired, “What’s all the hurry?”
Xiang replied, “Do you have minute? I could show you something very interesting. Come along”
That was how it all started. Xiang and I went to the classroom where he connected his PC and started playing The Legend of Mr3. Of course, the game was very exciting and tempting as well. In no time at all, Xiang had introduced me into the game and we became great friends, plying the game together every minute we were free. With time, I became very good at the game and could easily deal with the code cheating program. Xiang was my tutor, and his father was also quiet interested in the games. We made a trio of online game lovers, who had nothing else to do whenever they could spare some minutes, rather than rush to the computer and start playing, spending at least 4 hours in a day playing.
Soon we started getting into more complex games, such as the War of Warcraft (WOW), which included trying to crack some war tactics. It was so interesting that one could easily get absorbed by the successes, moving on to the next challenge; hence becoming addicted. This was quite a hard game to crack, even for me. Xiang’s father, on the other hand, could not make anything from this game. It was simply so complicated and hard for him that he could not comprehend. Xiang and I invested our time in trying to crack the codes, deriving much excitement from the successes we made.
Our wake up call was not far off, but by the time it finally dawned on us, the damage had already been done. Our grades in class were gravely affected with our performance really going down. However, we just could not free ourselves of the urge to play the games. It was then that it fully downed on us: we had actually gotten addicted to the online games. The effects of the addiction manifested in various ways in our lives.
On my part, I realized that my academic performance dropped below what I considered to be my average. Due to the much time spend on the games rather than studying, my grades dropped by a margin of two grades. I understood that something was wrong, but I simply could not deviate from the routine. I kept on promising myself that every other game was the last, but I always went back again. The same was happening to Xiang, even though his father constantly reminded us that we needed to put more efforts in our studies. He argued that we should balance our time well if we wanted the best from both sides. The dropping grades affected my life in different ways. For instance, my self esteem dropped and I felt ashamed to be with my peers, my teachers at school were cross with me, claiming that I was not doing my best. This was communicated to my parents, who took it very seriously, especially my father who told me to watch my step.
“Boys, if you neglect your academics for the games, you are likely to regret for quite a long time. You would rather be cautious on how you spend your time”, he advised.
Well, we knew that all he said was true, but we had already been ensnared. Getting out was the major problem. If only we knew what we were getting ourselves into, I gather we would have exercised more caution. By the end of the 3 High School years, we had really gotten lost in the games, finding no pleasure in nothing else but what we could derive from these online games. Our academic performance continued taking a dip, and our proficiency in the games rose by the days. Our priorities were totally misplaced.
Eventually, the summer breaks came and everyone was keen thinking of how to get a summer job to supplement their incomes. Of course, Xiang and I should also have been as vigilant as the others, but this was not the case. I just continued playing the games and so did Xiang. Eventually, I never got the summer job and my comfort was in the fact that I had mort time to improve my skills on the game. I never considered that this was actually becoming a major problem; an addiction.
With much struggles in the academic sense, we eventually graduated from High School and were awaiting the college or university years. This is where I realized that I had actually dived head-first into a problem and I needed to be helped out of it. I could not do anything else than sit at the computer trying out new games, cracking the codes and accumulating the points. All the while, my friends and colleagues were doing something more useful with their lives. It was then that I actually accepted that I was an addict and I needed help out of the muddle. I had to seek professional advice.
There is a counseling institution in my hometown. Somehow, I believed that the only solution to my problem was going for professional counseling so that my addiction could be done away with. With this belief, I booked an appointment and started attending two sessions every week. I found this quite effective as it helped me realize what I could do whenever the craving for the games hit. Take a walk, deviate the mind to think of other things, read a book, do some gardening, and take a shower and so on. The main idea was to have a plan which could help in ensuring that whenever the craving for the games hit, there was an alternative way out. I tried this but with several disappointments where I would eventually get back to the game rather than take the precautionary measure. Xiang was also going through the same problem. He even had a greater challenge since his father was an addict as well and there was no one to guide him on how to go about finding a solution to the problem.
Eventually, I managed to beat my addiction, thanks to the numerous sessions that I attended at the counseling center. My life got back on track and I could concentrate more on my studies. Nevertheless, I can attest to the fact that addiction to the online games is a reality, and it can affect anyone. This is also true of any other form of addiction, which can be very dangerous to an individual, especially one in the formative years of life. Xiang, on the other hand, continues struggling with the problem and his father does not even care about getting help. The two need professional help.
Research
In the modern era, most parents feel that it is important to have their children well exposed. The manner in which children are brought up in the modern world has really changed. Technological advancements have led to the evolution of the videogames where children at an early age start interacting with this technology. Eventually, they start interacting with the higher technology which involves computer games and online games.
There is a major risk associated with this development as observed by Brown-Miller (2009). She indicates that the child’s brain develops massively during these formative years. Therefore, if the parents do not regulate the time that the child is exposed to the games, there is likelihood that the child can develop an addiction. Children are at higher risks of developing addiction as compared to the adults. This is mainly because the adults have more control over their emotions and cravings, and they also have other commitments that they have to tale care of. They can prioritize effectively. However, this is not the case with children; children will more often than not fail to fight the urge to do something.
Just as with any addiction, addiction to the online games leads to the misuse of the available resources in an extravagant manner, especially the financial resources. According to Kimberley and De Abreu (2010), this wastage can manifest in various ways. One of them is that most obvious reason that in order to play the game there is the need to get the right equipments. This might not seem as a great deal for many since they spend more money than that in other issues. Nevertheless, it cannot be denied that when children are exposed to such practices, they can exaggerate it by trying to get access to more complicated equipment. They will need the most recent, efficient and complicated equipment. This interprets to greater costs.
Another avenue through which money is wasted is through the billing. As it is well known, there is a connectivity fee charged in order to access the internet. The more the material downloaded, the higher the cost. This means that when an individual, in this case a child, is addicted to these games, they are forced to continuously spend money on something that does not benefit them much. This needs to be controlled.
Though the connectivity fee might not be as high, it accumulates with time. Furthermore, children do not have means of income for which to foot the bills. The responsibility rests on the parents. Due to the fact that the children just access the games, they can be irresponsible where they think that life is just a smooth ride. They should be trained to have value for money by regulating such practices as online games.
Sclafani (2012) observes that technology has both good and negative effects, and it only depends on how an individual utilizes these technologies. Online games can have a positive impact on the parent-child relationship, but only when controlled. This can happen at specific times when the parent and the child play a game together or compete at a given game. This is healthy for their relationship since it helps in ensuring that they bond and even grow closer to each other.
However, if this habit is not observed closely, Sclafani (2012) indicates that it can be quite detrimental to the relationship. For instance, when both the parent and the child are addicted to the games, there is not one that can guide the other. The child cannot listen to the parent since the parent suffers from the same problem. The parent, on the other hand, cannot have the grounds on which to question the child since the parent is supposed to be the role model to the child. The young one only does what the parent does.
On such a front, it emerges that parents should be extra careful on how they interact with the current technologies as this has an impact on their children. A parent who exercises no control is likely to loose the control of his children. This breeds a generation that has no control, and one that cannot prioritize effectively. However, if the parents exercise control in these issues, they are likely to influence their children on the positive as well.
Education is a major factor in life. It is no wonder that communities and governments around the world are always concerned with ensuring that the children get quality education so that they can steer the future generations to the positive direction. In a bid to offer quality education, various technologies have been employed, which is good. However, the technologies also come with a disadvantage which if not addressed can compromise the quality of education that the children get. Such a technology is the online games.
Subrahmanyam and Smahel (2010) posit that the digital youth are at a risk of reaping negative effects from the technological advancements. This happens because at an early age, the children are introduced to the video and computer games, some of which are accessed online. When these children get to school, they cannot fight off the urge to play these games. As such, instead of investing their time in a worthwhile course, they use the computers intended for educational purposes to access the online games.
There is always a form of confusion that arises when it comes to the online games and any other computer games at that. There are different levels such as easy, medium and hard. However, it is often noted that younger people can be more proficient in these games than the elderly people. The reason as to why this can happen is that the expertise in the games comes with experience. Cefrey (2010) indicates that this could be one of the reasons as to why people easily get addicted to the games. They are always trying to get better and better. In the meantime, the addiction slowly develops within. For this reason, people need to exercise caution when adopting the various technologies that came along. The inability to differentiate between a risk and an opportunity can lead to a disaster in an individual’s life.
References
Brown-Miller, A. (2009). The Praeger International Collection on Addictions: Faces of Addiction, Then and Now. ABC-CLIO.
Cefrey, H. (2010). Frequently Asked Questions about Online Gaming Addiction. New York: The Rosen Publishing Group.
Kimberley & De Abreu. (2010). Internet Addiction: A Handbook and Guide to Evaluation and Treatment. New Jersey: John Wiley & Sons.
Sclafani, J.D. (2012). The Education Parent 2: Child Rearing in the 21st Century. ABC-CLIO.
Subrahmanyam, K. & Smahel, D. (2010). Digital Youth: The Role of Media in Development. New York: Springer.
