Experiences and Aspirations of Students on the Effects of c to Physical & Mental Health: Basis for Students' Wellness Development Program

Authors

  • Haren Joash B. Martinez

Keywords:

Online Gaming

Abstract

INTRODUCTION

One of the technological developments affecting education in the last several decades is the video game. It has been shown that playing pro-social games led to more " ̃helping' behavior, but also that playing a violent game led to more " ̃harming' behavior. In the case of Malungon National High School, a survey showed that 68% of the students in the Special Science Curriculum were engaged in video games. In this study, the researcher described the experiences and aspirations of high school students on video gaming and how it affects them physically and mentally. The following research questions were formulated1. How many hours do students spend each day playing online gaming?2. What are the effects of online gaming to students' physical health?

 

METHODS

Research Design. The researcher u sed quantitative an d qualitative method s. Data Gathering Procedure. The student researcher administered a survey questionnaire to the identified high school students of Malungon National High School who were officially enrolled in the school year 2016-2017. The interview was also conducted to twenty randomly selected samples. Sampling Method. This study employed purposive sampling where 27 students from Special Science Class were used in the study. Twenty-five students from each grade level were considered as respondents of the study. Data Analysis. To determine the effects of online gaming to the physical and mental health status of the students, mean, frequency count and percentage were used. To describe the experiences and aspirations of the students, a semi-structured interview was employed.

 

RESULTS

The result implies that the respondents spend time on online gaming for at least one hour per day. This supports the explanation of Anderson & Dill (2000) playing violent games increases accessibility to a subset of cognition specifically related to violence and aggression, which later can be transferred to real-world aggressive behaviors. With regard to the long term effects of violent games on aggressive cognition, it has been proposed that continuous exposure to violent games makes aggressive thoughts more chronically accessible to players (Bushman, 1998).The data gathered also implies that online gaming has adverse effects on the physical health of the students showing 63% suffering hand and wrist pains; 27% irregular eating habits; and 10% poor hygiene. This suggests that parents and school must do something to help students improve their physical wellness. Online gaming also affects the mental health of students showing sleeplessness at 74%, absentmindedness at 21% and irritability at 5%

 

DISCUSSIONS

The study reveals that students of the Special Science Class of Malungon National High School are in the early stage of online gaming obsession. Both quantitative and qualitative data imply that these students need attention and support. Thus, this study suggests that the school must craft a students' wellness development program that would engage both parents and students

Published

2019-01-18