Kids Should Play Outside

3021 Words13 Pages
“Play is a powerful way to impart social skills.” Not so long ago acres of cornfields stood where brand-new subdivisions roll on and on now, a new one every month. I drive by them all the time. This is where young families live. But the streets and sidewalks are eerily quiet. You hardly ever see a child. No kids riding bikes. No kids playing tag. No kids running wild until their moms call them in for supper. It’s as if the kids have vanished. Where are they? Indoors, doing homework or playing video games. For many parents, the mere mention of video games conjures visions of kids’ little brains turning to mush from staring at a screen all day. 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

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