Negative Effects of Online Games on Academic Performance

Abstract

This paper attempted to study the negative effects of online games on students’ academic performance. The respondents were the 154 Grade 11 senior high school students in Pangasinan State University-Lingayen Campus in SY 2017-2018. As a descriptive-correlational research, the study utilized a questionnaire that asked the respondents about their playing online games and the level of negative effect on their academic performance. The paper sought to determine the level of effect of playing online games on the respondents’ performance in assignments, quizzes, class recitation, paper works and examinations, and correlate said negative effects with their culture on playing online games. They were asked to rate the level of effect as severe, moderate and negligible. The study found out that majority of the respondents played online games. Online games players had an average academic performance while non-players had a high academic performance. The predominantly male players preferred multi-player online games and they spent an average 2.14 hours a day and 4.45 days a week in playing. Their primary motivation in playing was for entertainment. There was a moderate negative effect of playing online games on their academic performance in assignments, quizzes, class recitation, paper works and examinations. There was a significant correlation between the respondents’ GPA in Grade 10, their daily and weekly hours spent in playing, their motivation in playing online games and the level of negative effects on their academic performance. Based on the findings of the study, the researchers recommended that parents should do something in limiting their children’s fondness in online games and that computer shop owners should prohibit students from playing online games during class hours.