In society, there are a lot of controversies about the way people are judged and how they appear within that society, such as body images, financial stability, and mental functions. However, there is just as big of a controversy towards video games as those other things. Video games are widely believed to be a source of violence among children and teenagers. In this controversy there are two sides; one side argues that video games do produce violence, and the other side argues that they do not. In the United States, ninety percent of teenagers play video games averaging four to five hours per day. This is partially the reason people believe video games cause children to act out in violence when agitated. Violent video games are proven to not cause violent tendencies within people. Video games do not cause violent tendencies.
One of the most popular industries in our society is the video game industry. It is also one of the most
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In this study, children aged nine to fourteen years old played three different types of video games. They were first assessed for aggression in order to avoid confounding. Afterwards, they completed a puzzle task and then assigned Tangrams to a fictitious person in another room. The children were told that the person in the other room, who they did not know was not actually real, had an opportunity to win a prize. The children were told they were not eligible for the gift card, but the person in the other room was. The measure for helpful or hurtful behavior was based on how many easy or difficult Tangrams they assigned to the fictitious person. Results indicated that playing pro-social games showed significantly more helpful behaviors in children than those who played violent video games, which had shown more hurtful tendencies and
At this day in age we bask in the luxury of having easy access to advanced technology at our disposal. From the World Wide Web, to cell phones, music, movies and video games the human race has thought of any and everything to keep us entertained. Over the years studies have shown reasonable concerns regarding the long-term effects of video games. These games can desensitize gamers to real life violence, which is usually seen in the younger crowd. The studies especially hit on the games containing player-on-player violence. Though these games are extremely entertaining and can get kids to settle down for a while, if not properly supervised, they can produce adverse effects. Other studies have shown that video games can be used as way to yield positive outcomes such as, good problem solving skills, cooperation in a group and the ability to flow. Although there has been psychological research on children learning through the actions of others some believe that children are automatically able to distinguish between what is just a game and what is reality. The longer they are allowed on their game system the more they become convinced that their games are real. Some researchers believe violent video games can channel the aggression of the child but the parents are to blame for what happens to the child after playing an excessive amount over a period of time. Children can become preoccupied with these violent video games which have been proven to be the cause of poor social skills, uncontrollable aggression and a false reality.
North American society is one that exploits people’s fears. When people are afraid, there is a desire to place blame on someone or something; to project our problems on to a issue so that we feel less responsibility. Modern media has found an easy scapegoat for this in the form of video games. Being a billion dollar industry that targets young people, video games naturally became the target of many news stories promoting fear and hostility to the gaming industry. News organizations, looking to capitalize on fear, realize that fear brings viewers, and may be too hasty in their reports against gaming. Because these for-profit companies often focus on violence, crude language and the impression that this will have on the children, it is easy to forget the good things that video games have to offer. I am by no means suggesting that parents should start exposing their children to sources of entertainment that they don’t see fit consumption, but rather to a closer look at the positives that gaming and technology has brought to medical fields such as
People have always been looking for a reason why horrible things happen. The media is quick to blame video games as the target and cause of many shootings that have occurred, ever since Columbine and Quake. People have been blaming video games for violence for years now, ever since violent video games have been made. News reports blame video games more and more for each shooting, telling the public how this person played video games for x amount of hours a day, and that video games caused him or her to shoot people, and how video games encourage and reward violence. Anti-video game lobbyists have been campaigning to have violence removed from video games, citing resources that they themselves have created as reasons for such, poorly done studies where they confirm that kids are more aggressive through how much hot sauce they put on someone’s fries. While unbiased studies of video games and their links to violence are hard to come by, recent research has shown that video games do not in fact have a casual link to violence, and may even have the opposite effect. Violent video games have nearly no link to violence in teens or adults.
In today’s society, video games have played a huge part in the children and teen demographic. Revolutionizing the future, popular titles have implemented realistic values and experiences to players all around the world. As the quality of graphics improve and the plot thickens, so does the violence, gore, and bloodshed. Individuals who devote countless hours staring at the television screen trying to triumph the top high score and levels do not realize the amount damage and violent acts they are causing whether it is secluded in a virtual world or to their brains. Simulating unarmed fist fights, gun shootings, and war could lead to aggression and actual real-life violent conduct. Violent actions and behaviors in these titles could also desensitize
Scott, D. The Effect of Video Games on Feelings of Aggression. The Journal of Psychology. March 1995 v129 n2 p121-132.
Not every video game causes post game aggression, but documented in his article, “Players who enacted in-game violence through a heroic character exhibited less postgame aggression than players who enacted comparable levels of in-game violence through an antiheroic character” (Sauer 205). As a graduate of Radboud University, Isabela Granic brings to light the reasons why the youth actually benefit from playing violent video games. For example, in her article, “The Benefits of Playing Video Games,” Granic illustrates the fact that children gain social skills, highly efficient motor skills, and the understanding of the human body as a whole. Noted by the author, “Whereas adolescents and adults often use self-disclosure and direct discussion with close friends to resolve emotional issues, children use play to work them out through pretend-based narratives enacted either alone or with others” (Granic 67).
Many people believe violence in video games result in violent outbreaks and unhealthy behavior in real world. Since the first Nineteen Eighties, violence in video games became a part of a political issue leading advocates to create theories that these styles of games are corrupting society. Studies have been created to seek out if there's a link between violent video games and violent behavior. Are these video games shaping today’s generation of youths to be violent? I believe that there's no correlation between violence in video games and violence in our society. I think this first of all, improves a large form of general skills, secondly, there are several alternative factors that contribute into creating society violent and finally, crime rates decrease because the quality of those forms of games increase.
The allegation that videogames cause violent behavior in children has been present as long as videogames themselves. Some researchers said that the Sandy Hook shooter, Adam Lanza, was one intense gamer. “Seung-Hui Cho, the Virginia Tech Shooter was seen by his roomates as odd because he never joined them in video games.”(Beresin) This debate will continue to go on in this country as long as there are horrific crimes that occur. There is much written in the research regarding this issue, and many differing views. The research that is presented in the next few paragraphs supports the theory that it is not the graphic video games that produce aggressive behavior, but other factors in a child’s life that create violent actions.
Carl Becker “Ideal Democracy” says that people spent so much time trying to sway others to our own way of thinking that we fail to see that working together and compromising could yield much better results. For example “In a May 12, 2000, CNN interview on The World Today, Doug Lowenstein, president of the Inter- active Digital Software Association, said, “I think the issue has been vastly overblown and overstated, often by politicians and others who don’t fully understand, frankly, this industry. There is absolutely no evidence, none, that playing a violent video game leads to aggressive behavior.” (Anderson 353). This means that people just talk without having background information of what is going on and not automatically blaming it on violent video
By far the largest concern of technology today is video games. There have been so many experiments and studies to try and figure out if video games have a negative or positive effect on our children. A growing body of research is linking violent video game play to aggressive cognitive, attitudes and behaviors (D.A. Gentile, 2004). Video games can obviously be dangerous for our children causing aggression, bad performances in school and obesity. Although we cant blame all of these problems on the use of video game...
One article points out that video games have a big impact on children’s lives and that many of the games played are violent. Researchers have found that “nearly all children spend time playing video games” and studies have found that “8th graders spent an average of 17 hours per week playing video games” (Tamborini 336). Moreover, 68% of the most popular video games contain violence (Tamborini 336). So it is clear that many children have access to violent video games and they have a big impact on their lives simply because of the amount of time spent playing them.
Over the past 30 years, playing video games has become one of the most popular hobbies worldwide. Not only has the video game industry become a multi-billion dollar industry, but it has attracted people from all age types. While video games today are played by both kids and adults, there are many issues being raised regarding the effects of video games. More particular, is the effect that violent video games may be having on children. Some critics argue that video games are direct indicators of child aggression while video game supporters argue that there is no direct link between child aggression and violent video games. While many people have their own personal stances, this issue is unique because it is unfolding everyday. Scientists and researchers all over the world are continuously doing research regarding the effects of video games on children. Even though this remains a field of uncertainty for researchers, parents should definitely be involved in being aware of what it is that they’re children are playing when they play video games.
American educational philosopher John Dewey once said, “ Education is not preparation for life; education is life itself.” Education is the foundation of a permanent lifestyle. Parents should desire for their children to have educational stability to build upon. Any concerned parent should want nothing but the best for their child as they are well aware of the new forms of child entertainment. Since the late 1970’s and early 1980’s, children in the United States have become subject to a new type of entertainment: video gaming (Nickson, 2010). Video games have become a big part of the average American household. Parents have begun to wonder how video games are affecting their children’s lifestyles.
Saleem, M., Anderson, C. A., & Gentile, D. A. (2012). Effects of prosocial, neutral, and violent video games on children's helpful and hurtful behaviors. aggressive behavior, 38(4), 281-287. doi:10.1002/ab.21428
Are video games a negative or positive influence on children’s behavior and actions? Several studies have been pointing out that exposure to violence on television, movies, video games, cell phones and the Internet increases the risk of violent behavior in the viewer, like to grow in an environment filled with real violence increases the risk of violent behavior. Plentiful of the research on current media have focused on the violence spread by TV for experts in developmental psychology and John Murray of Kansas State University, United States, it is difficult to conclude otherwise than that violence on television has increased levels of violence and aggression in the society, and that video games have an effect even more powerful. Violent video games are more distress, than the films of the same sign and that the images of violence shown on television because they are interactive, because they use a technology environment that allows the user total immersion in the situation, while producing new objects cultural. The reason is that video games are not limited to violence to show a passive spectator, but require the person to connect with the character and act for him, while violence in film and television images whose exposure is limited only to visual perception. The video game violence has long-term real effects. Children exposed to high levels of violent entertainment can become more aggressive and develop a tremendous face the suffering of others, also increases the likelihood they interact and respond to violence in their social environment. In violent video games as success is clearly defined as killing or take, and failure as die or loses the good and evil as the wicked: they, different from us, it is just revenged, I mate,...