Effects of Violent Video Games in Adolescents

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Kenneth Fagan English 1010 Professor Jones 27/11/2012 Ever since their inception, decades of research have been done on the effects of violent video games on its players. Video games are a form of entertainment originated in the 1970’s with the invention of the Atari gaming system by Nolan Bushnell and Ted Dabney, who had also refined some early prototypes of video game systems like a coin-operated game called Spacewar! and Galaxy Game. Video games would continue to evolve through the years through mainframe and home computer systems, and now encompass the Playstation 3 and Xbox 360, among others. 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. Video games are a positive and fun way to become something one could not in real life and help aid with creativity. The proposals that video games can cause increased violence, addiction, prejudice, and sexual instability in most adolescents are absurd, and the flaws in those arguments are almost too Fagan 2 obvious. First, what is to say that these effects are life-long? These affects may only last a little bit, and can thus be cured. Second, “most” is not “all”, and these effects may not be experienced by all gamers. However, the idea that video game addiction exists is real and very dangerous. According to Mark Griffiths, "all

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