Gaming Disorder Research Paper

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.

Violent video games are the main causes of mass shootings in the U.S. Over the years as technology gets better we have more video games coming out leading to more shootings occurring around the world. For this reason teenagers are protesting about gun violence. Not only does it bring more violence, but it brings issues and behavior problems too.

Violent video games do not cause mass shootings. There are over 150 million Americans who play video games today. There may seem like there are a lot of crimes, but compared to the amount of kids playing violent video games, the number is minuscule. From 1982 to 2016, there has been 71 major mass shootings. Out of those 71 shootings, only 10% were teenagers (“Journal of Adolescent Health”). A study from Psychiatric Quarterly found that violent video games have absolutely no impact on the tempers in people 18 and under.

Are violent video games directly correlated to teen violence? This is the burning question many researchers are dedicated to answering. The common form of the question is “Is the increase in violence in games creating killer kids?” The simple answer is no. Instead the opposite has occurred, as games became more violent, the players became calmer. The games create a “safe” outlet for any anger or angst that young people possess. Crime rates in the teen population have lowered and violent teens admit to having little to no interest in violent video games. The games that most people fear are destroying the youth may actually be one of the things helping them grow and become “normal” members in society.

There are billions of gamers, many of which play daily. There are not a billion school shooters, there are not a million school shooters, there is not even hundreds of school shooters. There are many health benefits associated with games many people don’t receive. Many people have improved reactions from videogames. Skills not used everyday are used playing some video games. These skills can prove very useful in later life. Stimulating games and activities, with simulated violence are diverting and positive activities for teens, because the benefits outway the

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.

Due to the recent shooting in Newton, Connecticut at Sandy Hook elementary school, a nation question arises. That question is why the shooting occurred in the first place. One of the leading causes on why the killing-spree happened in the first lace is violent video games. As more violent video games are being distributed, the worse this problem is going to get. This problem may even get to a point which can cause another shooting which appears on national news again. Violent video games cause aggression, murder, and bullying.

It is agreeable that there are some correlation between teenagers playing video games and how it affects the youth mentally. Heavy consumption of violence video games does indeed stimulate a change reaction in the brain waves, but there is no hard evidence stating that those changes causes teenagers to act aggressively and violently. On the contrary, it is a popular beliefs that violence video games does indeed causes teenagers to displayed unpleasant behaviors and actions because that is what they learned and observed from the games. Therefore, parents should limit and regulate the amount of time their teenagers are playing violence video games so that they can protect their children from negative behaviors.

In today?s world more and more teens are playing video games. Many people think its effecting the way teens behave. There are reports that mature video games are the cause of shootings, but there is much more evidence that entails a different cause. In ?10-Country Comparisons Suggest Little Or No Link Between Video Games And Gun Murders? written by Max Fisher states ?Data suggest a slight downward shift in violence as video game consumption increases?. This suggest that video games have a positive effect on gun violence. School shootings have been blamed on violent video games but there are many other things not included, like they may have been bullied at school or a mental issue. So some of the blame is left not answered for. The amount of video game consumption in America is much like other places in the world that has significantly fewer gun deaths. (Kain, Eric Violent Video Games 2015) According to Kain and Eric,? The number of violent youth offenders in the United States fell by more than half between 1994 and 2010 while video game sales doubled

A common myth about gaming is it often makes kids more aggressive or directly causes ADHD. Yes, video games have been proven to raise aggression in some children but many kids were already irritable and the aggression roots from frustration with the games themselves, not because they are fulfilling their fantasy of being extremely violent in a simulation against other players. Where this theory has facts, it is presented as a blanket that covers all. Maybe if parents weren't so aggressive with their children, they wouldn't follow in their footsteps. Lastly, causing ADHD: In this situation correlation does not imply causation. In other words, it's more common now days that children develop adhd because of overloaded schedules and a variety of other

With the popularity and production of video games constantly rising since the mid 90s, you would also imagine that the violent and illegal acts in teens would have also risen, but that is not the case. In fact, violent acts in youth have steadily decreased during the past 20 years, and are projected to continue to fall. While there could be many reasons for this drop in violence, the most likely one is that the inclusion of violence in video games actually provides an outlet for frustrated and angry teens to safely discharge their anger in the digital world, and not upon anyone in the real world. Video games offer an area in which your mind can explore and wander with no fear of consequences, so in

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)

“Life is a video game. No matter how good you get, you are always zapped in the end” (“Video Game Quotes” 1). Over time researchers, psychiatrists, and parents have often wondered how damaging violent video games can be to the youth in society. This is an important matter to people with children in their personal lives or work environment. These games have become a large risk factor for aggressive behavior in children. Researchers have been saying that video games do affect adults as well; however, they have even more effect on younger brains in early development. Video games have negative effects on childrens’ behavior. Some effects that video games have are reduced academic performance, aggression, obesity, and emotional disorder.

While gaming can seem harmless compared to the dangerous and lasting effects of drugs or alcohol overdoses, it has the chance to ruin many lives. People, who play, specifically children, are forgetting about

Douglas Gentile, an Iowa State University associate professor of psychology conducted research to identify gaming addiction among youth ages 8 to 18. Gentile summarized his research, stating, “We’re starting to see a number of studies from different cultures—in Europe, the U.S. and Asia—and they’re all showing that somewhere around 7 to 11 percent of players seem to be having real problems to the point that they’re considered pathological gamers” (qtd. in “Risks”). As a result, gaming addiction is attracting attention; however, more action must be taken to raise awareness.