Violence in Video Games Increases Violence in Children
Video Game Violence Increases Violence in Children A pair of parents in Reno, Nevada, is being put away behind bars after neglecting to feed their two young children because their attention was being consumed by video games instead (Lee and Finley 2). People have raised the question of the appropriateness of video games and how psychologically influential they are on a child’s mind. The effects of video games manifest themselves in a variety of ways, including psychologically, emotionally, and socially. Psychologists and scientists have done many studies that have linked violence back to video games. They have also uncovered what is in video games that makes the player so attached to the television screen and why they are so influential. Certain violent video games in the past have been found to be the cause of violence in the world. Although it is argued that violent video games have no negative effect on children, research has proved that violent video games do in fact cause children to be more aggressive and violent. While people argue that video games are a good learning source for problem solving, the reality is that video games have a more negative impact than a positive one. Video games act as teachers and are a source of inspiration for children. Just as video games for toddlers teach them the alphabet and basic math, video games for older children and teenagers teach them violence, aggression, and stereotypes. According to Professors Douglas and J. Ronald Gentile, experts on media education, “Video games serve as teachers and are extremely effective at programming people’s ideas and behavior” (Lee and Finley 3). Although not all video games are violent, 90% of the video games on the market have violent scenes. Studies have shown that adolescent children have made violent video games the most popular. Through video games, children are taught to accept violence as an effective solution for problems that arise before them and are, therefore, likely to
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