Are video games causing violence amongst today’s children? Nowadays, video games have caught the attention of both the Media and parents. Increasingly, the media tends to remind people how much violence these games contain, thus blaming them for the violent behavior a child may be imitating. In addition, video games seem to be the scapegoat for a quick point of blame and is a much easier answer rather than finding what truly may lie behind the motives for violence in a child. With RPG (role playing games) becoming ever more so popular, so does the demand for realistic violence in them.
Considering the explosive rise to prominence that video games had, people began to become concerned with the effects, if any, of video games on the health, behavior, and social skills of adolescents. Many say that video games have massively negative impacts on adolescents and sometimes even adults. However that could not be further from the truth. In fact, video games can have some extremely positive impacts on whoever may be playing them, namely physical, mental, and social effects. Video games can help with a person’s hand/eye coordination, aid with stress and anger release, and develop the social capabilities of an individual.
At a young age, children's minds are sponge-like, absorbing everything that surrounds them, which makes them easy targets in terms of manipulation and victimized by violent video games. Violent games might seem like harmless fun, but what if the violence attracts and addicts young players, affecting their behavior and their view of reality? Problem: Should Violent Video Games Be Monitored Some say that violent video games have minimal impact on young teenagers, pointing out that most video-game player’s live completely normal lives. The weaknesses in that argument are almost too obvious: first of all just because a player does not immediately imitate specific violent acts found in video games does not mean the games will not have any long-term negative effect on that player’s views and behavior. Because of this possibility, parents should assume responsibility for evaluating video games and should prohibit young teenagers from purchasing those that are especially violent.
Do video games lead to violence? I totally agree violent video games are not all so bad. I mean they teach you hand-eye coordination and can teach you things to help you one day in a violent situation. Yes it may cause aggression; I will get into depth about this in the next paragraph. But long ago violent games were invented based on violent movies so if someone says it causes aggression then some movies in the world cause aggression too.
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
All around the United States, millions of kids are wasting, ruining their lives, and they’re all doing the same thing. They’re all playing video games. I’ve spent my share of time playing video games and I learned a couple things that they do. One big thing is that at first they’re fun, but after consistently playing, they’re a ton more addicting then actually fun. Another thing I’ve realized is that video games just make you fat.
------------------------------------------------- Justin Bakker Research Paper ENG 1010 March 15, 2012 Video games and there effects on social interactions Video games have been a growing industry since the late 70’s, but researchers say that video games are more than just a trend; they may be a problem to. “Desensitization- Through repetitively committing violent acts, a person can begin to have less of a negative reaction to them. The theory is that in video games, particularly as they become more realistic, violent, and interactive, a person can undergo the same process of desensitization as if they are committing the acts” (personal.georgiasouthern.edu). This raises questions of whether there is or is not a link between changes in social behavior with video games. A major reason for this is that studies show that, for a young child, “Part of the increase in aggressive behavior is linked to the amount of time children are allowed to play video games.
Do video games cause violent behavior in children? COM/225 December 09, 2012 Janet Wright Do video games cause violent behavior in children? Video games have been linked to cause violence or rage in children after an extended time of playing violent video games. This controversy has been debated for decades on whether this is accurate or not. Many studies and statistics will back up both sides to this debate leaving the controversy still being debated.
A Great Screen Time “Video games: they're addictive, they make kids fat and they turn us all into trained murderers. Or, at least, that’s what we’re often told, but what of the positive effects of video games? Surely there must be some” (Reilly 1)? Luke Reilly, an editor on the popular Internet site IGN, had the right idea because there are indeed many positive effects that come from video games. These effects range widely from helping in elderly brain enhancements, to helping teenager control their emotions.
The harm that video games cause can be evaluated by many different factors, and the most obvious among them is the negative effects they can have on physical health. Some experts in the video gaming industry can claim that the first-person shooters and real-time strategies sharpen reflexes, increase concentration and muscle coordination, in reality, youth who spend an ample amount of time playing video games experience effects which are not so beneficial at all. There is a possibility of the vision impairments. “Playing video games for extended amounts of time can cause children to experience many of the same symptoms seen in computer vision syndrome in adults. Extensive viewing of the game screen can lead to eye discomfort, fatigue, blurry vision and headaches.” (Bedinghaus, Troy) Vision impairments can cause many negative effects on a persons quality of life and can last a lifetime.