November 2017
Violent Video Games and Youth Violence
The number of video games played by kids has been on the rise globally. Some of these games are associated with scenes of violence. Interestingly more than half of top-selling video games contain violence. Whereas there are those, who have advocated for video games, some of the authors in this subject argue that violent video games may cause aggression in the child which ends up resulting in bullying and even fighting not only in a school setting but also at home. Although children and teenagers may find it thrilling to play these games, there are high chances that a significant number of them may be affected psychologically or regarding their behaviors. I think it is the time that video game developers consider shifting from videos involving violence to educational ones. This paper aims to explore how violent video games can be associated with adverse traits or behaviors in young children and the youth. Violent video games will have an effect on the mind, behavior, and health of the children and teens as justified below in this paper.
Whereas some of the video games feature educational contents others feature;
• Killings
• Abuse of drug and alcohol
• Criminal behaviors such as disrespect for the authority
• Gender stereotypes and obscene gestures among others.
As a result, the young children or teens playing these violent video games may end up imitating the violence in different scenes of the game or even show aggressiveness in their behaviors. Additionally, the young children with emotional or behavioral problems may end up being influenced by the images portrayed in these games. Thus, it means that there is a significant impact of violent video games in the development of behaviors in the children and the teens.
Video games tend to isolate the players which inculcate a negative behavior in them. From this perspective, the child/teenager may develop a negative trait towards others as they do not interact frequently. Although video games tend to develop sharpness in any kid, it is true that the violent video games negatively affect the behaviors of the kids. Mostly, those playing these games will be associated with antisocial traits and aggressiveness. Additionally, it is unfortunate that video games end up causing addiction not only to children but teenagers. This has been realized in the number of hours spent in these games. It can be observed that most of the children spend many hours playing these games.
Many violent video games have been developed some years back, but my interest has been in a video game named Condemned. Right from looking at it one would predict that the game is deadly. If then, one can determine that this is not a game to look at, then what effects does it pose on the psychology of the children and teens who play it? Well, I guess if the child does not end up becoming violent then he will tend to develop such traits related to violent. It may seem fun to play this game, but the resultant attitude developed in the children and teens will have a negative consequence on the behaviors of them in the future.
Although it may not be prudent to associate any particular video game with criminal activities, a few people have tried to draw comparisons between the violent video games played and the crime taking place in the school environment. It is so unfortunate that some schools have witnessed violent and aggressive children instead of calm and willing learn. Well, this may be associated with mental health problems that the children may have had as a result of playing violent video games.
Regarding the amount of time devoted to playing these games, children and teens have failed to resist the addiction associated with these games. Interestingly, one will end up finding the child trading other things at the expense of these games. The time to associate with other people is as a result suppressed. The resultant effects are isolation, poor social skills, less reading and lower grades among others. Well, some researchers associate video games with cognitive skills in the kids. Antisocial behaviors tend to develop slowly in the child or teen as interaction time with others keeps on reducing. Why are lower grades observed in many schools and most of the kids tend to be associated with violent video games? This implies that the flip side of video games impacts on the learning behaviors of the students and thus their general performance.
Jeanne Funk and Debra Buchman on their, “Playing Violent Video and Computer Games and Adolescent Self-Concept”, found a significant relationship between violent video games and exploitive behavior of those engaged in violent video games in the social interactions (par.44). In any setting, there tend to be certain traits that draw a group together. The successful interaction is heavily dependent on the individual behaviors in the group. In case the individual behaviors in the said group tend to match, then a cooperative behavior is inculcated. Interestingly, only children or teens with the same behaviors will associate with their fellows. Therefore, those affected by violent video games will tend to segregate themselves from other groups.
Brad Bushman research, “Effects of Violent Video Games on Aggressive Behavior, Aggressive Cognition, Aggressive Affect, Physiological Arousal, and Prosocial Behavior, writes of a correlation between violent video games and the aggressive behaviors found in those who participate in this kind of games (par.44). Psychologically, the children and teens are aroused with aggression-related thoughts and feelings.
There are different ways in which parents and teachers may help reduce the effects of violent games at homes. For example, while playing games, parents should join their children in ensuring that the child is enlightened on the game’s contents. Additionally, parents would stand a chance of sharing the experience of the video games with their children. In the same perspective, the number of hours that the children use while playing these games will be controlled. This would have an effect of ensuring that the children are involved in other activities which may end up facilitating social interactions.
Finally, parents may opt to incorporate other educative video games in trying to get rid of addiction to violent video games in their children. However, this does not imply that violent video games should not be allowed, in fact, video-spatial skills can be cited as one of the positive effects especially when a player can extract spatial information from the screen as required by the game. Conclusively, the main idea of the essay was to explore the effects of violent video games in children and teens. Although it cannot be ascertained that the aggressive behaviors observed in children and teens are brought about by violent video games, it is clear that that violent scenes or images affect the psychology of the child. Additionally, some behaviors such as being antisocial have been noted. Therefore, video games can be blamed for violence in the youth. The only option to fight violent video games will be to introduce educative video games.
Works Cited
Paragraph 44. Jeanne Funk and Debra Buchman, Playing Violent Video and Computer Games and Adolescent Self-Concept, Journal of Communications, 1996.
Paragraph 44. Brad Bushman, “Do Violent Video Games Play a Role in Shootings?,” CNN, September 18, 2013. www.cnn.com.