A mayor’s initiative to ban the playing of mobile games during work hours of government employees was praised online given the often slow-paced services of local government offices.
Mayor Gerard Roger Espina of the municipality of Naval in Biliran province warned of a possible termination following reported cases of government employees playing mobile games during office hours.
So ordered.
Posted by GeraRd Espina Full on Thursday, February 28, 2019
Espina said mobile games Mobile Legends and Player Unknown’s Battlegrounds as the ones being played.
“Let it be known to all municipal employees that this act is not included in your responsibility, obligation and duty as public servants,” he said in a memo dated March 1, 2019.
“Under this circumstance, I hereby order that employees who are caught playing mobile games during office hours will be terminated upon proven guilty,” he added.
This development was commended in the comments section.
However, there are others who questioned if this includes break time of the workers.
Video games and employee competency
It is evident that playing video games whether in the desktop or smart phones are not limited to children and teenagers.
An article from Science Daily explained that playing video games in general can change how a brain functions or performs.
“For example, playing video games affects our attention, and some studies found that gamers show improvements in several types of attention, such as sustained attention or selective attention,” the article said.
However, this can also be addictive due to the resulting “functional and structural changes” on the brain’s reward system.
“These neural changes are basically the same as those seen in other addictive disorders,” it said.
PsychGuide, a psychology reference website, said that missing out on important daily events or activities is often an indication of addiction to gaming.
“Video games and video game equipment can be very expensive, especially when factoring in recurring costs such as the high-speed Internet connection required for online multiplayer games. These games can also be very time-consuming, leaving addicted gamers with less time to focus on their education or career,” the article said.
