What was once “Barney” as their hero is now “Ben 10,” an adolescent boy with alien powers and using them to fight “bad guys.” Instead of “sharing is caring” as children’s motto, it is now “justice will prevail.” This will cause social problems with children. If at any time a child with these views sees someone as a “villain” the child will instantly antagonize the individual. This can result in name calling, or in some cases, violent physical contact, exactly what the protagonist does. If the protagonists of cartoons shows continue to exhibit violent behavior, so will the children. Cartoons can cause a fear of the world in children.
Do violent video games lead to actual violence and increased aggression? Some feel that they don’t have any correlation while others feel that they are a direct cause. I believe that that violent video games increase aggression & violence because these gaming systems are mostly played by young children who are easily influenced and create a thin line between reality & fiction. According to Pediatric Nursing volume 26 issue 6 most children of both genders prefer games with violent content. When electronic video games were first introduced in the late 1970’s, they were basic animated interactive games such as Atari’s Pong.
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.
She also admits that one of the problems with video games is that there is no standard for rating video games, so any content that is profitable is acceptable. One thing that she states is that the violence in video games has been linked to violence in the lives of the viewers, and that people who play video games naturally have a more aggressive personality. Though TV has also been known to show violence, Wrights says that video games are worse because they’re interactive. She also asserts that though people may like to deny the negative effects of video games, they cannot deny that the media is a manipulative tool that is used to trigger emotions. Wright’s closing statement is a warning to parents; she says that they need to educate themselves to keep their children safe.
Neil Postman strongly believes that due to the extent of technology we have today compared to the past 50 years, the idea of childhood is disappearing. This is caused by children being able to easily access ‘the content of the adult world’ through television that is unfolded all at once, making it hard to control the socialization of the young. Postman backs up his argument with figures that show in particular that children are fully engaged in crime and stresses how children lack a real childhood compared to the past 50 years. Although he tries and creates a stronger argument with statistics there is no definite relationship between crime and watching TV, this is just a correlation as other factors may be increasing crime. Sue Palmer is another sociologist that believes the increasing impact of technology and the media over the past 50 years is causing childhood to deteriorate.
Children are meeting sexual predators on the internet and forming relationships with them and unknowingly allowing them into their lives. Parents must talk to their children about the dangers of the internet. Technology is a great learning tool for them and they will be far more advanced than we were as children, but it also opens the door for unwanted predators who will take advantage of children. With a society more focused on wealth and having a good job and long lasting careers some children are often left in the care of daycare providers. You can often look on the internet and find video after video of the abuse and neglect that goes on in daycares.
Some experts conclude that the recent trends of violence in video games and on TV are manipulating children. Nearly half of the video games a typical seventh grader plays are violent or involve killing. The shooters of the Columbine Tragedy, Dylan Klebold and Eric Harris, were avid players of the games Doom and Quake (Keegan). Both of which are controversial games that have been referred to as “ultraviolent video games” (Sternheimer). But normal, healthy children do not play these games just for the thrill of shooting someone.
Spanking is however still widely used as a means to punish kids across the world. Some have opposed it as a great idea to punish kids owing to it being able to affect their emotions as well as psychology. After being beaten so much the child will only behave when subjected to pain. This only result in more pain as a way to deal with those kids found to have hardened leading to abuse. Most of those found to result to spanking may be frustrated, and only trying to express their emotions.
The future of entertainment revolves around technology. Video games become more and more realistic. The main consumers for violent video games are teens. These games encourage killing and fighting enemies. More ways of playing violent video games are created each year, but most of us have this question in mind.
The wasted time could be used in activities to help in their growth and development as well as coping with life’s challenges. It all depends on the amount of video game exposure and play time (Matt, 2013). Excessive playing of video games especially by young children encourages competition that one must win to move so as to progress. In addition, continued playing of these games makes users aggressive as most of them are usually ‘unforgiving’; for example, if one gets shot and ‘dies’ while playing Call of Duty, the situation cannot be reversed. The aggression can pass on to their real world lives (Douglas, 2011).