With an increase in the number of teens that have unrestricted internet access, it is clear that today we have a bigger problem with video game addiction than ever. According to this source, “97% of teens ages 12 to 17 play computer, Web, or console games.” with this high video game usage it is safe to assume that video games may be causing teens not to do their homework or study.

Video games are meant to grab your attention and keep you locked in for as long as possible, and they are very accessible to teens, teens can play on many different devices from phones, to computers, and consoles. According to this source, “it was found that boys aged eight to 18 years old in the United States spent an average of 2 hours and 17 minutes video gaming daily”.

Homework is very important in school, especially when it comes to learning the material, without doing your homework you can come to class unprepared or receive a bad grade. According to this source, “study found that those individuals who indicated that they did play video games had significantly lower GPAs than students who indicated that they did not play video games.” This shows a direct correlation between playing video games and receiving worse grades.

Video games can not only distract you from getting your homework done but can distract you in the classroom as well, it is not uncommon for kids to play games on their school laptops or phones while the teacher is not looking or even when they should be listening to instructions.

We asked Tahoma High School senior Brayden Wahlstrom what he thought about this issue and this is what he had to say. Do you spend too much time playing video games? “75% of the time, yes.” Do you think video games get in the way of getting schoolwork done? “Yes, so after a whole day of school, you don’t wanna go home and do school work, hopping on a game is a zen.” Do you play video games in school to avoid doing schoolwork? “If I don’t need to do the schoolwork in class yes.” Do you go to school tired because you stayed up too late playing video games? “Yes, if I’m like in the middle of something in the game I don’t wanna stop, it almost hooks you to stay on longer than you want to.”‘

This interview is a great example of how video games are impacting teens and their schoolwork, like Brayden said, video games hook you and get you to play longer than you should, this can cause a lack of sleep, motivation to get schoolwork done, and a decrease in grades. It is important to regulate gaming time as a teen.