Are Video Games Today Causing Violence Amongst Children?

701 Words3 Pages
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. Commonly, children tend to imitate what they see but what causes a child to actually act out in violence? Some would argue it’s the violent games that are the cause for violence in youths today. Not surprisingly, this theory is not doubted by many. 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. Video games, which are typically for mere entertainment and are the likes of those who crave challenge, have increasingly become more realistic. Today, these same video games are even being used as simulators for learning because of their realistic values. Additionally, the violence experienced in video
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