Essay about Controlling Adolescents' Exposure to Violence in Media

A huge controversy in today’s society is violent video games and their behavioral effect on the children and adults who play them. Violent video games have been blamed for bullying, school shootings, and even violence towards women. Many have fought that violent video games desensitize players to real-life violence, and that they are teaching the youth that violence is an acceptable conflict-solving strategy. Other sources have stated otherwise. The 2004 Secret Service has stated that only one-eighth of attackers have exhibited interests in video games. Violent Video games do not cause violent behavior or behavior problems because it has not been proven that there is a link between violent video games and behavioral issues, playing video games provide a safe outlet for aggressive and angry feelings and reduces violence in young children, and violent juvenile crime has actually gone down since the violent video game popularity has increased.

“According to data recently released by The NPD Group, in 2012, U.S. video game software sales reached $6.7 billion (174.8 million units) and computer game sales were $380 million (13.2 million units)” (Improving Economy). To many, the violent video game industry has turned all adolescents into mass murderers. However, they’re absolutely wrong. Very seldom do adolescents who play violent video games commit acts of violence, and the ones who do usually have a mental disorder. Instead of blaming the tragedies that occur on violent video games, the news media should explain to people that a large percentage of young males play violent video games, indicating that the two are uncorrelated. They should alternatively research other possible solutions to the crisis. In lieu of negatively affecting people’s lives, video games could potentially improve their lives!

Some say that video games give them a break from what is happening in their life, and others use video games as entertainment with friends. “It is just as likely that young people with primary, aggressive behavior or antisocial traits preferentially select to play violent video games for recreational purposes” (Porter & Starcevic, 2007). Many adolescents can see it as a way to get rid of their anger and frustration by being able to kill fictional characters. Along with this, studies have shown that with the amount of violence seen, teenagers are more accepting and tolerant of violent behavior (Nowak, Kremar, & Farrar, 2008). The more time that players spend on violent video games, there is a bigger chance that they are going to act violently when provoked. Not only do violent games contribute to the increase of violent actions, but also the profanity that the characters say can increase violent acts (Ivory & Kaestle, 2013). The make up of violent video games is causing aggressive behavior in teenagers, especially because they are the age group that spends the most time playing the games (Anderson, 2011). People are starting to realize what actions can be picked up by playing video games. The state of California tried to help stop the trend of teenagers being influenced by video games, but they were soon shot down.

Video games are prevalent among impressionable children and teenagers. There has been a great deal of controversy surrounding the violent themes used in video games. Teenage shootings in schools have led society to question the relationship between video violence and criminal activity. After considerable research, expert opinions, and research findings, the American Psychological Association found that there is no link between gaming and criminal behavior (Casey). With this, the pursuit of video violent games continues to grow in our society. With games that show execution style murders, blood oozing from gunshot wounds, and victims moaning from wounds, it certainly is gratifying for the indulgent player. The ongoing concern about aggression and violence has once again been proven to be non-existent (Alert). My thoughts are that this cartoon like violence is appeals to the need for violence in an artificially designed environment. In this manner, violence is contained within the boundaries of fantasy. This is unlike “The Crucible” which occurs in with real people, events, and situations. Thus, directing violence in the realm of societal dysfunction that has endured with

Content analyses show that 89% of video games have some violent content. Half of the video games on the market have extreme violent actions toward other characters. Games, today, are allowing players to not only connect with the game physically, but also emotionally and psychologically. In essence, the player becomes the character. According to Nielson Media Research, at least 45 million households in the United States have at least one video game console (Markey & Charlotte, 2010). The average age of video game players has increased to age 34, and 60% of Americans play interactive games on a regular basis. However, researchers believe that younger children are more susceptible to the negative effects of playing violent video games compared to older teenagers and adults. Furthermore, games that include violence have raised serious concerns among

The authors continue to point out the various influences that media violence is affecting the youth and studies that back up their arguments. Huesmann and Taylor then shift to another source of violent influence, videogames. The various ratings categories of video games, Everyone, Teen, and Mature, are mentioned and the fact that all three of them allow some sort of violence. It is mentioned that the Teen category consists of roughly 94% violent games which is astonishing. This turns out to become a major issue because of the amount of time that teenagers spend playing video games. The authors then mention studies that show that teenagers who play violent video games demonstrated

Video game violence has been a wildly debated topic since the beginnings of the industry. The topic evolved from the debate on media violence or violence in print media. However, the video game debate brings a new angle. Video games, because of their immersive nature, are said to have more impact on children. The proponents and opponents of video game censorship do not really fall into traditional political boundaries. The proponents of censorship tend to be some parents and doctors. Those opposed to censorship tend to be those who play the video games themselves. There is a center faction, however. The center faction consists of those doctors and psychologists who evaluate media violence on a

In today’s society there has been an ongoing debate regarding the effects of violent video games and the development of today’s youth. Many people believe that the violence in video games promotes aggression. According to Doctor Brad Bushman’s article, "Do Violent Video Games Increase Aggression?" he claims that violent video games leads to aggression because it is interactive process that teaches and rewards violent behavior. Yet others believe that this not the case. Gregg Toppo of the Scientific American, writes in his article, “Do Video Games Inspire Violent Behavior?” that video games are not a significant issue because teenagers know how differentiate between reality and fantasy. Because of the controversy surrounding this topic, I decided to research the question, “Does exposure to violent video games cause aggressive behavior among teenagers between the ages of 13 and 18?” Initially before performing any extensive research on this subject, I hypothesized that violent video games do cause aggressive behavior. I then proceeded to study different scholarly works that both supported and opposed my hypothesis. What I learned from those works eventually gave me a more complete understanding of the topic and allowed me to take a more educated stance.

A significantly large portion of the video games created within the past 5 to 10 years contain some form of violence. On top of that, some of the most popular video games out in the market today are extremely violent and warrant an “M” rating for mature. Video game developers are well aware of this trend and continue to produce more graphic, interactive, and realistic content. Therefore, there is a concern that the vast amount of violence in video games is changing how youth develop and what they perceive as normal. Many researchers believe that there is a link between video games and increased aggression in the people who play them.

From the late 1970s until the present day, the video game industry has been growing in popularity and profit at an amazing rate, with profits exceeding $10 billion in 1999 (Senate Commitee on the Judiciary, 1999). As time has progressed, the content of these games has become more and more realistic, and the violence in them has become more realistic. Concerns about this violence, from the relatively tame Pac-Man of the early 1980s to the near photo-realistic bestsellers of today, have been around since video games first enter the public consciousness. Video game violence appears in nearly all genres of game, from fantasy, to action, to sports and children of both genders have indicated a preference for video games containing violent content (Funk J. , 1993).

Over the years and continuing through present day, video games have increased in violence, becoming a topic that has recently exploded the media, especially when the violence in these games is linked to violence in real life. Violence in video games can motivate teenagers to be violent in their daily lives because of the use of an avatar, reward and punishment, and gaming situations that are unsettlingly realistic.

Violence now of days is honored, glorified, and yet celebrated in mass media and motions to society that violence is normal, glamorous, and widespread in our culture (Caron, 113). Violence is not only present in television shows and movies, but also in other forms such as cartoons, and video games (Caron, 121). Children are playing more and more violent video games at younger ages because the parents are not paying enough attention to what is going on in their child’s life.

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

“Recent contents analyses of video games show that many as 89% of games contain some violent contents” (Gentile, Lynch, Linder, Walsh 3). More than half of video games being sold around the world contain some form of violence. All of the violence involved in the video games being played by children is a pattern leading to aggression. Aggression can be caused by many things; however, violent video games are the main cause of aggression in young adults. “If a child began playing violent video games at a young age, then he might think that violence in real life is the same as the game violence and that it doesn’t have a real impact on others” (Gilad, Alto 1). Thinking that violence in the virtual world is the same as in the real world is the first step to showing aggression. Aggression in children caused by video games is the biggest effect parents and researchers worry about. Violent video games teach children that shooting and killing people are

The second source of violence is in the form of video games. This has become one of the most popular forms of entertainment in the United States for our children. They depict horrific acts of violence, whether it is from blowing the head off of an enemy with an automatic rifle to running over people with a car. In a recent study, researchers examined 357 seventh and eighth graders. They were asked what type of game they like to play. “The two most preferred categories were games that involved fantasy violence, preferred by almost 32% of subjects; and sports games, some of which contained violent subthemes, which were preferred by more than 29%. Nearly 20% of the students expressed a preference for games with a general entertainment theme, while another 17% favored games that involved human violence. Fewer than 2% of the adolescents preferred games with educational content.” These statistics gained from the study show that most children enjoy the games with violent content. The exposure that our children are facing from playing these violent video games is bound to have negative results on the way the interact both with others and their environment. When they are playing these games, they are seeing graphic scenes with blood,