Grand Theft Childhood: Article Analysis

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.

The article, “The Truth About Video Games and Gun Violence” by Erik Kain discusses how video games and gun violence correlates. The author opens up with someone by the name of Aaron Alexis who resorted to gun violence while playing video games that contained violence. There is a violent video game that scares parents and behavioral experts. There has been a debate on whether people who play video games later have violent behavior. Throughout the years, video games continue to show images portraying violence.

Rashawn Blanchard states that “when it truly comes down to it, it would be ludicrous to place the blame of violent, unforgivable actions upon a popular form of entertainment. If it were any bit true then the United States alone would have somewhere in the vicinity of a quarter of its population teetering on the edge of violent explosion from a few hours with Grand Theft Auto III.” Kids play video games all the time. I know I did as a child. It never made me anymore, or any less violent then I already was. Based on the sheer numbers of video games sold, and the highly possibility that most kids have at least one violent game in the home, the united states should be seeing a HUGE increase in school shootings on a daily basis, not just a yearly one. He isn’t bias in his approach though, noting that “video games have long since been defined as a form of entertainment and it would be foolish not to acknowledge the fact that entertainment does influence people, especially children. In the 90's and even still to a degree today, elementary school children can be seen practicing their karate kicks even though they've had no martial arts training. This could be contributed to the amount of live-action costume super heroes that had taken over Saturday morning children's lineups, namely

There is overwhelming scientific research that suggests that playing violent video games are harmful to children and adolescents. The scientific evidence has uncovered several areas in the development of children and adolescent that are negatively impacted because of the exposure to and playing of violent video games. Some of the key areas that are negatively affected include brain activity, stress levels and behavior.

“Violent video games increase aggressive thoughts, angry feelings, and aggressive behaviors and decrease empathic feelings and prosocial behaviors” (Gregory Ferenstein). Gaming devices not only desensitize us, but it heightens our chances of going out and committing acts of violence. Such as, James Holmes because of the games that he played (Call of Duty, Advanced Warfare and etc.) he believed that for every person he killed; he would receive a point for doing so. “There are definitely games kids shouldn't be playing, she said, for example those where hunting down and killing people is the goal)” (Anne Harding, CNN). After playing these games, many kids feel as if the real world is like a game and killing people to earn points is rewarded. Video games have changed our America to believing that death and violence should be rewarded, but with a twist and that includes handcuffs and a prison

(Procon.org) ¨Over 150 million Americans (71% of teens) play video games.¨ 71 mass shootings have occurred between 1982 and Aug. 2015. seven of them involved teens that are 18 years old or younger¨. (Procon.org) Over the years there have been many mass shootings and a very little amount of those include teens that are 18 and younger. The US Secret Service investigated over 30 incidents of focused school violence between 1974 and 2000. (Procon.org) School violence has been a issue over the years and 37 incidents have happened between 1974 and 2000. ¨A Sandy Hook Elementary School gunman had played shooter games back then. It directly resulted in President Obama requesting Congress to allocate $10 million for research on the effects of violent media.¨ (Video Games, Violence, and Crime) Some people that play violent video games can be just fine playing them and not doing anything that is regrettable. But there are some people out in this world who do something that is so far off the margin that they cause mass shootings. When people play violent video games they can get a little out of hand and cause shootings and some of those are teens. But most teens can realize and know the difference between the virtual violence world and the real

It may seem odd that one would think that a video game could possibly have a negative effect on children. Especially when you discover all of the logical fallacies in their argument. Although some people have some decent points, most studies done on this subject have no direct correlation with the violence in children that happen to play violent video games. A study done in 2008, deemed with the title “Grand Theft Childhood” reported that 60% of middle school boys who played at least one M-rated game had previously hit or beat up another

The effects of both violent and non-violent video game playing can be determined by the amount of time playing the video game and by the content of the games being played. The content of the games being played could definitely have a factor in how a child performs in school, and how aggressive they are towards peers and teachers. Obviously if a child is playing hours upon hours of violent video games, this can lead to them acting out violence and having no consequences for it. If a child took the time that they played video games a week and used that time to be engaged in reading, homework or even a creative activity we’d have less issues with our children’s school performances. Parents should really be monitoring how long their child is playing video games, but this doesn’t always happen. A child who plays video games for long periods of time could also build up a social wall, become a loner. It is important for children to interact with other children in order to help develop their social skills, which without will make it very difficult to make it in this world. At the age children start playing video games, it is hard for them to distinguish what is reality and what is not. So in some cases the violent acts in video games could make the child believe the world is a scary place.

First off, the type of video game does not matter in causing violence as much as the amount of time spent playing does. As stated in a study by the Oxford Internet Institute at Oxford University, ”Those children who spend more time playing games might be slightly likelier to be hyperactive and to get into fights. But violent video games seem to have no effect on behavior, according to British researchers”. So videogames, both violent and non-violent, when played for too long, can lead to more aggression.In the same study, it’s stated that “The researchers found that the 22 kids who played video games the most each day were the likeliest to have behavioral problems, exhibit hyperactivity and have trouble academically, although the effects were "quite small in magnitude,” So, even though there were behavioral changes in

It has also been revealed in studies that exposure to violence in video games can produce violent behavior, and possibly even lead to violence at school or home. The resolution of this problem is not easy, but one short-term explanation is for government guidelines for game sales. If the government makes retailers keep track of which games are being sold to young kids, then children would not be able to buy violent games. Because video games have a rating system, it would only be needed for retailers to guarantee that minors and young children are unable to buy games with a rating greater than their age limit. I do think that as parents we need to focus on what we let our kids see and the activities they participate in. The debate about whether video games have a negative or positive actions depends on one’s philosophical perspectives. Parents need to reexamine their method on how their kids should interact and engage with video games. This good vs. bad approach might be comfortable, but it also seems to be out of touch with the kinds of thinking that we consider through to be in the highest attention of our kids. Is this exactly how we show our kids to ponder about things? I do not think so! We insist that they learn to be at ease with some level of

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.

According to a 2008 excerpt from Grand Theft Childhood, a Harvard study, “...60% of middle school boys who played at least one Mature-rated game hit or beat up someone, compared to 39% of boys that did not play Mature-rated games.” (Kutner, Olsen). This research shows partial statistics of violent media on boys. For instance, distinguishing fantasy from reality may prove troublesome for some people. Actually, there is no direct correlation between violent video games and crime rate. Juvenile crime rate have been declining as video games gain popularity. For example, between 1995 and 2008 the arrest rate for juvenile murders has fallen 71.9%; in addition, juvenile crime rate declined 49.3% (Malliet). Overall, research shows, video games are inconclusive factors towards

In this age of technology, it's very safe to say that a large majority of the world's population has played at least one video game. This can vary from playing games on console, like Xbox-One, Playstation 4, and for the older generation, the NES to playing mobile games like Tetris. There are many consoles that span from the creation of video games. This has opened opportunities to make several kind of games. These can vary from side-scrollers like Super Mario Bros. on the NES, to Role-playing games (RPG) like Final Fantasy IX on the Playstation 1. While this has caused some great games to surface, it has also allowed intense violence to be let into games. Parents and anti-gaming communities state that this is why kids can become violent. This is false, because violent games can be avoided to prevent this issue, and the Entertainment Software Rating Board (ESRB) has even made various precautions to make sure parents know what they're purchasing. Comprehensible symbols, detailed lists, and age restrictions prevents children from "becoming violent".

The Pew Research Center reported in 2008 that ninety-seven percent of youth ages twelve to seventeen played some types of video game, and that two-thirds of them played action and adventure games that tend to contain violent or vulgar content. A separate analysis found that more than half of all video games rated by the Entertainment Software Rating Board contained violence, including more than ninety percent of those rated as appropriate for children ten years or older. Given how common these games are, it is a small wonder that mental health clinicians often find themselves fielding questions from parents who are worried about the immense impact of violent video games on their children.”, says the Harvard Mental Health Letter (Violent Video Games and Young People, Harvard Health).Violent video games can, and will often result in criminal activity later on in and adolescent’s life. Teenagers witness the things that their video games are telling them to do. It gets stuck in the teen’s mind, and they eventually know how to not only master killing someone in High Definition, but also in real life. Louisiana law enforcement shared a striking story about how an eight-year-old boy intentionally shot and killed his elderly caregiver after playing “Grand Theft

“Head shot! That guy was destroyed!” These are just some examples of the dialogue spoken between children who play video games like “Call of Duty” or “Halo.” Children brag about the number of people they have killed in these games. Playing violent video games may cause children to act violently. First, violent video games train players to act aggressively by repeatedly killing an enemy over and over. Second, children mimic what they see, whether it’s in real life or on a video screen. Third, being exposed to the violent behaviors of the game, dead bodies, and blood, make the players insensitive to violence. Because the violence from video games affects the behavior of children, violent video games should not be available for purchase by anyone under age eighteen.