A doctor has named the negative effects on children from video games with aggression plots

Video games, which contain scenes of aggression and violence, negatively affect the mental health of children and cause overload of the nervous system, Elena Alekentseva, a general practitioner and pediatrician of INVITRO - Voronezh, told Izvestia on January 10.

She also noted that constant being in a fixed posture accompanied by tension causes muscle spasm, as a consequence there is a headache, increased fatigue, vision and posture disorders.

"Children should move, show their natural activity, and long sitting at video games leads to hypodynamia, metabolic disorders and excess weight gain," - emphasized the doctor.

According to the specialist, such video games with aggression are dangerous for children aged from 6-7 years to 12-13 years, when the most active formation of the psyche and personality formation is underway.

"I believe that such video games are contraindicated for children at least up to the age of 14, because immature children's psyche is very susceptible, and such video games can cause aggressive behavior and the use of violence already in real life. Most often this happens at the age of 7 to 12 years, when there is an active formation of the psyche: the child goes to school, learns to communicate and show themselves in the team. Therefore, children may well transfer plots from video games to real life, which can end up in a deplorable way," Alexentseva explained.

The specialist recommended parents to show their child by example that real life is very interesting and diverse. According to her, the family should be cohesive, with a sufficient number of joint activities.

"It is also worth being concerned about finding interests in the child: give him to circles, sections, organize a variety of leisure activities in addition to school. Here will even be appropriate some coercion to the right activity - but, of course, with a joint consensus. It is also important to talk to the child: ask him to tell about what game he is playing, what is the plot, characters, who of his friends or Internet acquaintances together with him plays on the network. It is important to maintain live contact with the child," added the pediatrician.

At the same time, Alexentseva stressed that it is necessary to load the child with the right activities, thus minimizing the free time he could spend on destructive video games.

Earlier in the day, Duma Speaker Vyacheslav Volodin said in his Telegram channel that the lower house of parliament may decide to protect minors from destructive content. He added that the State Duma has received appeals that many modern video games contain aggression, violence and "propaganda of alien values".