The imaginary friend that I picked is Lou, the article I think that he would find most convincing is “Don’t Withhold Violent Games” because one of his hobbies is to play games. This is a summary of the article “Don’t Withhold Violent Games” by Jessica Robbins. In this article, Robbins begins by acknowledging how far technology has come and how video games have become more graphic and violent (1). Due to a lot of crazy events that have taken place in the recent years involving violent acts, there has been concerns if violent media games have influence. Robbins spoke on the laws that some states have passed banning minors from viewing or purchasing violent video games without an adult and feels such law should not exist (1).
Both David Grossman and Henry Jenkins have strong opinions on video game violence. According to Grossman, violent video games are not protected under the 1st Amendment, because they teach you to kill. He also says that the military uses these games to train men to fight and kill. Grossman states that there are three solutions to the effects of these games, education, legislation, and litigation. Jenkins, on the other hand, says that Grossman's view only works if "we remove training and education from a meaningful cultural context, we assume learners have no conscious goals and that they show no resistance to what they are being taught, and we assume that they unwittingly apply what they learn in a fantasy environment to real world spaces."
TV’s Effect: Helpful or Harmful? Media is often deemed the scapegoat for all of humanity’s problems; whether it’s obesity, a paucity of morals, people having fallow minds, and most of all, violence. Violence is defined as a behavior using physical force that is meant to hurt, injure, or kill someone or something. Over the years there have been numerous studies about how television can effect a person’s personality and levels of aggression. The studies set out to demonstrate how “awful” violence on television is to the human mind, yet there are some who assert that some of the shows with violence have good morals behind them.
Current cultural discussion concerning the effects of entertainment media violence on society implies that entertainment media violence is a quantifiable phenomenon that can somehow be separated from art, literature and other social narratives. Violence is an inherent part of society and its cultural artifacts, such as video games, television, and movies because aggression is a fundamental human experience. Instead of condemning the depiction of violent acts, there should be broader and deeper discussion about entertainment media constructed violence, so that people can draw meaning from these depictions instead of simply being suspicious and fearful of the video games, television, and movies. Violence in video games, television and movies cannot be isolated from its context nor can it be easily identified, quantified and studied in the laboratory. First to begin with, there is no evidence to support either a causal or co-relational relationship between playing violent video games and aggressive behavior.
We have all heard parents, politicians and other authorial figures saying that television teaches children anti-social behaviour. However other people, especially producers and managers of television programs, claim that the pro-social effects of television are more significant than the antisocial effects. Television can trigger both pro-social and anti-social behaviour. From my point of view pro-social aspects of television outweigh the anti-social aspects. Let’s take the kids program that can be seen between 6 and 9 o'clock in the morning.
It is necessary to take a closer look at whether or not violence in the media really is responsible for this development and then to examine what censorship may entail before taking such a far-reaching decision. Many concerned people, ranging from worried parents through to reputable psychologists, deplore the ever-present nature of violence in the media, claiming that this is the reason why people are increasingly prepared to commit violent acts. They argue that violence is being propagated as normal or even entertaining. Violence is in the newspapers, on the news, in film plots and in cartoons. Violence is a source of laughter in children's programs; films present it as staple fare; it is served as pseudo-information in sensation-hungry newspapers and on reality TV; and it is even glorified by some musicians in their lyrics and performances.
Games about war and games about crime life, even games about fantasy violence are all over the market. It is thought that Children are affected the most by the violence they are exposed to. I tend to agree that violent media affects children the most. Children are less likely to separate right from wrong like most adults can. It is easy for me to see something on TV and know that it wouldn’t be right to replicate it.
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.
Because of this possibility, parents should assume responsibility for evaluating video games and should prohibit young teenagers from purchasing those that are especially violent. Myself being a parent I do research the games my kids want to buy. To begin with, a number of authorities claim that playing a violent video game does present a threat to the user’s psychological health. As early as 1983, Geoffrey and Elizabeth Loftus, in their book Mind at Play: The Psychology of Video Games, warned about the dangers of violent video games: “Although we can never be sure in any individual case, a substantial body of evidence indicates that viewing excessive violence on the screen is associated with aggression and violent behavior among children and teenagers.” More recently, studies have measured changes in behavior and emotional responses to video
Parents should regulate the amount of video games their children play because if your child regularly plays games with plots based on violence and aggression, research shows children at risk for increased aggressive behavior, it inhibits social interaction, and it is not always intellectually stimulating. First, parents, not government, need to monitor video games. Laws don't go far enough to help parents, argues Craig Anderson, a professor at Iowa State University: "The results are really quite clear; regardless of gender... regardless of culture... we know that playing violent videogames increases the likelihood of aggressive behavior and aggressive thinking, decreases the likelihood of pro-social behavior, and increases what you might think of as desensitization... Probably the best solution is to educate parents... but we also need to give parents better tools and the current rating systems don't do that." "One study reveals that young men who are habitually aggressive may be especially vulnerable to the aggression-enhancing effects of repeated exposure to violent games," said psychologists Craig A. Anderson, Ph.D., and Karen E. Dill, Ph.D. "The other study reveals that even a brief exposure to violent video games can