She also writes some about politicians and the Juvenile Justice system. Sternheimer points to other possible reasons for the violent acts of the youth such as, the home life. While it may be that juvenile crimes have declined and personal backgrounds effect actions, it cannot be said this proves video game violence has no effect on youth. Sternheimer begins by explaining how video games violence has become a “folk devil” (204) to explain unexplainable happenings of youth shootings and this is just the one to follow the many other explanations the media and politicians have given for problem youth. She then brings up the issue of unnerving newspaper headlines such as “Bloodlust Video Games Put Kids in the Crosshairs” (205).
Many studies and statistics will back up both sides to this debate leaving the controversy still being debated. This paper will cover three articles that cover both sides to this debate as well as some statistics that will still not prove which side is correct. Video games such as shooting games that demonstrate violent behavior have been linked to many violent acts that teens and children have done. The Columbine high school shooting that took place in 1999 the victim’s families blamed video games for the acts of the shooters (Cate, 2013). Every bad experience or violent act that has been seen in the public somehow will get linked to violent video games causing the violent acts of the people that do the crimes.
News spread that one of the gunmen, Dylan Klebold, spent much of his time playing violent video games. Other similar situations have occurred in history. Michael Carneal and Adam Lanza, both participants in two different school shootings, have both been said to be imitating violence they witnessed in video games. Senator Chuck Grassley, who graduated from the University of Northern Iowa with a Ph.D., states, “There are too many video games that celebrate the mass killing of innocent people — games that despite attempts at industry self-regulation find their way into the hands of children.” Video games offer “rewards” to players who annihilate their opponents, giving children the mindset that violence in real life may bring the same effect. The link between video games and school shootings is prominent.
Statistics have shown that the violence among young people is increasing every year. Many people blame musicians and other types of artists who portray negative actions as something positive. Others might blame the parents for not watching over their children. But many people fall short to bring up technology as an issue. With the new DVD that shows sex and violence or computers that gives kids access to unauthorized sites, technology is something that many parents need to look out for.
The youth will buy these games, play them and without realizing it take what they have seen on the games and remember it. There are numerous games that have extreme violence in them such as Grand Theft Auto , Assassins Creed, Halo, Call of duty, Left for dead and so on. Of those games, a murder case arose. Two teenage brothers shot both of their siblings, murdering their brother and wounding their sister. The boys told the investigators that they decided to go on a shooting spree after playing the video game Grand Theft Auto III.
In this article, McGoey starts by talking about the violence that have taken place in our schools in the recent years. He does not feel that the solution to America’s problem is as easy and blunt as banning all guns nor adding more regulation because it would easily increase the black market(2). To stop such horrific violence, it must be pulled out at the roots. Careful look at the past incidents shows that evidence of potential violence is found in different areas of the ones that are committing such acts; home, computer, notebook, and school lockers (7). Video games have become more real than ever before.
Teen Violence and Video Games As a teen, I would spend hours sitting in front of the television playing Space Invaders on the original Atari Game System and that was over thirty years ago. The games and graphics from the mid-eighties don’t compare to the high definition graphics and realistic game play of today’s game systems. However, because of their realistic graphics and game play, video games are being accused of distorting teen’s minds into not being able to distinguish reality from fantasy. This distortion of the mind is said to cause aggressive and violent behaviors in teens. In some cases, it was alleged to be the cause for the teen to kill.
Violent Video Games and Their Effect On Children In 1999, the shootings at Columbine High School seemed to spark the debate about many things wrong with our youth but one thing in particular was violent video games. Parents claimed that these violent video games were a catalyst for the violent actions that these young men committed that day. According to Sean P. Neubert of Rochester Institute of Technology, a person who is biologically predisposed to aggression will be more strongly influenced by violent scenes and thus will have a greater risk for carrying out destructive actions. For example someone with Antisocial personality disorder has a greater risk of going out and shooting someone after playing hours of Grand Theft Auto or a game of a similar nature. [1] Also, Barlett, Branch, Rodeheffer, and Harris, (2009) found that a violent video game produced greater elevations in heart rate, hostility, aggressive thoughts, and aggressive behavior compared with a nonviolent video game.
Violence in Mass Media: Do Violent Video Games Contribute to Youth Violence? Tracy Brown January 18, 2013 English Composition III Dr. Kay South University Recent shooting tragedies have sparked the controversial topic of whether playing violent video games has contributed to the increasing youth violence in today’s society. Video games are a very popular form of entertainment for today’s youth, which in turn has raised the question whether playing violent video games causes negative effects on children; this will be the topic addressed. Most popular video games feature aggressiveness or violence as the primary theme in the game but most parents do not restrict the types of games they are allowed to play. Critics of violent video games argue that these games desensitize players to violence, reward players for simulating violence, and teach children that violence is an acceptable way to resolve conflict.
Many would say and some may agree that the reason is that video games these days are too close to reality. Victor Strasburger, a professor of pediatrics at the University of New Mexico, Albuquerque, submitted his expert opinion stating “By any objective standard, video games have become more violent.” Congress has never allocated any funds for research on the influence of these games on children who spend seven to 12 hours a day playing them. One opinion is that games make violent actions normal for the player, therefore making the player desensitized and unremorseful. In this case the realistic video game appears to be the cause of violence. Consequently, realistic violence exists in the reality of a violent video game.