Essay on The Negative Effects of Violent Video Games on Children

Since violent video games, like Mortal Kombat, were created, adolescents who play these games become more aggressive than before. To me, playing violent video games is unsafe for these people since they have the negative influence on these people. I believe that researching on that topic would help us get the sense of what problems to avoid. I wish to know what are the possible effects of violent video games on adolescents’ aggression. The independent variable is violent video games, and the dependent variable is adolescents’ aggression. My hypothesis is that adolescents who play violent video games become very aggressive than those who don’t. For this essay, I would like to present the findings from each article that will answer

While anchormen and angry parents point fingers at video games for the source of all aggression in youth, studies show that the amount aggression video games cause is actually quite low. Christofer Ferguson, an associate professor at Texas A&M, studied video game violence and aggression in youth. He discovered that the effects the games had were “generally very low” and people were “overestimating the influence of violent games on aggression.” ( Jayson 3.) Instead, the main source of aggression was among peers, natural personality traits, mental disorders and, of all places, the home. Family life plays a huge part in a child’s behavior and while a violent game may add to aggression, it is not the main source and should not be to blame. For most, video games are relaxing. Eric Beaudoin, a twenty five year old graduate student in psychology says that he plays to relax and forget about his “dissertation, practicum, and clients and shoot some monsters.” (Jayson 2.) Gaming, no matter how violent, relaxes him enough so that he may deal with the people he faces everyday. However, it can be agreed upon by both sides of the argument that certain games are not healthy for certain age groups. A seven year old should

(White, 2009, p. 2) Video games also cause children to develop social problems. Their empathy decreases and they are less willing to help others. Children become antisocial spending less and less time interacting with family members, friends, and playing. They are controlled by what is occurring on the screen in front of them, locking themselves up in their rooms, or away from others just to play endless hours of video games. Video games have progressed over recent years becoming far more violent, sophisticated, and addictive. Studies have shown that the effects of video games and aggressive behavior follow almost the same pattern as that of studies with violent media such as cartoons.

Video games have grown immensely since the beginning of the millennium. Consumers spent a total of $20.77 million dollars on video game related technology (Trang).With almost 51% of Americans having a gaming device of some kind, and each console, a major piece of hardware designed and produced solely for gaming, having several different gaming genres to choose from, it 's no wonder the industry has had such a big boom (Trang). The problem is that too much time spent with video games can be damaging. Children are one of the primary sources of funding for the gaming industry, and the American Academy of Pediatrics recommends that children spend no more than fourteen hours per week in front of any type of electronic screen, yet it’s also reported that the average school age child spends more than thirty-seven hours per week in front of an electronic screen (Gentile). Video games are becoming easier to access; the revolution of smart phones has made thousands of

According to the article “Shooting in the Dark” author, Benedict Carey, states that studies today on violent video games show no concrete evidence on actually long term negative effects on gamers. Mr. Carey is not a researcher or scientist but is a veteran writer of neuroscience, neurology, and psychology. Throughout this article he gives factual evidence and quotes from scholarly sources such as doctors and researchers in the fields of behavior and psychology. The author gives ample explanation on evidence used from his sources to give the optimal understanding to the reader of the results and/or findings given by the sources. The article connects to the modern age of gamers with examples from big name video

In recent years, technological advances have introduced many new forms of entertainment, one of the most popular being video games. Since their introduction, professionals and parents have become concerned with the addictive power that video games can have on people, particularly children and adolescents. Today, concern has shifted from the addictive effects of video game playing to the possible effects that they have on players’ aggression levels. As defining aggression as any thoughts or behaviors related with the intention to cause harm. Many scholars have been researching videogames' effects on children. The most popular aspect of videogame research is whether or not games increase aggression.

As we enter the 21st Century, video games are becoming more popular each and everyday. People of all ages can and do enjoy video games as a way to spend there free-time. These games allow the player to live in the game whether it's about sports or a role playing game. The problem with the video games in the market is that they are becoming too violent in some people's minds. Also, many of these violent video games are being advertised and directed to America's children. This is my question for America; can video games influence violence and aggression in children? In this paper, I will include American's view on this issue, what tests have shown and what the video game industry has to say

Findings supporting these claims also show that with an increase in violence comes other negative health risks such as an increased likelihood of substance abuse, sexual activity, and obesity(Denniston, Swahn, Feldman, and Romero). Media use, and subsequent exposure to violent content is extremely prevalent among 8 to 18 year old children who spend, on average, 7.4 hours a day using media or computers and 80% of teens have some type of gaming console(Denniston, Swahn, Feldman, and Romero) These claims and the amount of media children are exposed to were concerning enough that the American Academy of Pediatrics started making advisory statements about violent video games and media being health risks for children in 2001. (Hall, Day, and Hall) Since then the link between violent games and violent behavior in youths has been researched across many “population groups”(Denniston, Swahn, Feldman, and Romero). The second theory revolves around any positive effects that might be gained from playing these games (Hall, Day, and Hall). Stating that these may offer “safe” outlets for negative emotions and thusly allowing players to be more emotionally balanced. (Hall, Day, and Hall)

In recent years our society has experienced many tragic school shootings in which teens have committed heinous crimes for no apparent reason. The question has become who is to blame or what inspired these attacks on these innocent victims? This question has become an epidemic in our country. We live in a violent world and young people have easy access to it whether it's on television, in music or on the Internet. But with the explosion of media entertainment in recent years, video games have come under scrutiny as to whether or not violence in video games numbs children and teens to the consequences of real-life violence. The answer to this question is yes. Young children and teens are very easily influenced, especially in a society in

Diverse surveys have presented uniform clues suggesting that publicity of violence is a vital risk component pertaining to hostile attitudes. Aggressive video game controversies are consequential on irregular grounds, ranging from the depiction of hostility, sexism, as well as ethnicity, alongside constructive portrayal of offensive conducts among others. Video gaming has been undeniably, evaluated for its connections to addiction along with hostility however, traditional varying assessments notably attained conflicting results. On the contrary, contemporary analysis have reported that exposure to insensitive video games would impose particularly a gradual rise in hostility, which might accordingly integrate with the actual

Playing violent video games increases the chances of a child becoming a more aggressive person. Violence in video games has been linked to aggression, this is presented when children try to imitate the violent acts from their fictional games in a non-fictional world. American Psychological Association (APA) task force, “research demonstrates a consistent relationship between violent video game use

sensitivity to aggression.” Studies has shown that children that play violent video games desensitize players to real-life acts of violence, the Journal of Experimental Social Psychology says that it is "a reduction in emotion-related physiological reactivity to real violence." It is also proven that people who are desensitized to violence are likely to commit a violent crime of some type. In 2011 there was a study that resulted in the finding of a link between the exposure of violent video games and an increase in aggression it was the result of “reduction of the brains response to depictions of real like violence” In 2005 there was another study conducted where they found that “violent video game exposure was linked to reduced P300 amplitudes in the brain, which is associated with desensitization to violence and increases in aggressive behavior”

Seven hours. That is the amount of hours a day the average American child plays a video games (Anderson 354), and with technology advancing and games becoming more graphic, the concern over a violent game’s effect over a child’s development is growing. What does playing video games for seven hours do to a child’s development? Violent, role-playing video games adversely affects a child’s development and causes aggression in children and adolescents; these games desensitize players, reward hurt and destruction, and glorify dangerous weapons.

In today’s world, violence has become a very persistent and unwavering problem. In fact, not a day goes by that one doesn’t see a story about violence on the local and/or national news stations. Unfortunately, the rise of violent massacres has become all too common in the present day. What could potentially be causing all these fits of violence and rage? Although there are many factors to consider when answering this question, one potential factor could be due to the increased violence in today’s video games. Though this topic is controversial, there is current research available to suggest that video game violence can affect behavior based on at least three reasons: violent video games can affect human behavior by skewing their reality, being exposed to violent graphic depictions can lead to a decrease in empathy and sensitivity, and violent video games could lead to an increase in aggression and anger problems.

Some people want to play video games which causes many negative side effects on children, but video games can also be good for developing cognitive, physical, and many more hidden skills. Furthermore, they can also be cheaper than television. Although there are the negative side effects of video games, I have found evidence of many positive effects games have on children. Video games are looked down upon by parents as time waster, and worse, some education experts think that these games corrupt the brain. Violent video games are readily blamed by the media and some experts as the reason why some youth become violent or commit extreme anti social behaviour. However, many scientists and psychologists find that video games can actually have many benefits, the main one being making kids smart. Video games may actually teach kids high-level thinking skill that they will need in the future.