Are Video Games Killing Your Self-esteem?

Video games are the number one form of entertainment, bigger than movie theatres. For most people there is more money being spent on games than education. Interestingly the biggest growth segments is 25-35 year olds. How do these games affect our self-confidence? I have a contact at the highest levels of the video gaming world and I asked this person what kind of games are the most popular. Can you guess what they said? Anything violent, I doubt anyone is surprised by that piece of information. This exposure to violence affects our fight or flight response and can seriously change how we perceive people around us. Are they going to attack me, if only I could just hit my boss with a ray gun? You may laugh but there are plenty of new reports of people re-enacting video game violence in real life. These people have had their self-concept, or how they think of themselves, so changed they act in ways they never would have in the past. The other interesting thing spending time playing games on a two-dimensional screen is how it changes brain function. The brain likes things in three-dimensions, it is set up to process information as we would see it in nature, not on a TV screen. There are some interesting therapies that help learning disabled children that involve doing everything in three dimensions and nothing in two. When a person spends a lot of time working with just two dimensions, like monitors or books, it can change how they think. That change will affect how they feel about themselves. What can a person do? Join a sports team. I do not think video games are going away any time soon. I saw a new type of TV that has a full three-dimensional picture. It will make home entertainment even more popular. As we are not going to throw the TVs away getting outside into an activity will help a lot to combat it's negative effect. You need to move your body and be using your minds. This will allow your minds to work as designed and when they do that we feel better and that will help our self concept and self confidence. The bottom line is watch less TV, play as few video games as possible and get into a team sport it will do wonders for your self-confidence.