The Effects Of Video Games On Adolescents

Thousands of teens in the United States play violent video games everyday, for hours on end. Teens and children playing violent games are now accepted as a part of life. They sit in front of a screen and watch blood and gore, with no emotions and without cringing. The games become increasingly more violent, as the age that children begin to play these games drops, from twelve to ten to eight. Now, we have six or seven-year-old children playing games rated M, for 17 and older. Teens should not be allowed to play violent role-playing games because it teaches them that violence is acceptable, that it is fun to be violent, as well as desensitizing them to violence.

The twenty-first century has made massive improvements regarding technology. The internet plays a vital role for schools, businesses, and humans. With the improvement of the internet, thousands of video games have arouse and gaming addiction has grew tremendously. These video games are at the tip of one's fingers. Video games are indisputably harmful to adolescents because they harm an adolescents' intellectual and social development.

“Video games are bad for you, that’s what they said about rock-n-roll” (Shigeru Miyamoto). Video gaming is regarded as a ubiquitous part of children and adolescents’ life. Children who are daily involved in this activity in the US account for 97% of their total. Additionally, for those at an average of 8-13 years old, approximately, 8.5% of them are addicted to playing video games. Moreover, children at the age of 13-18 spend 16 hours per week playing. Video games are so prominent in this current world that we cannot prevent them from being involved entirely. While others believe that video games should not be made available to

As we enter the 21st Century, video games are becoming more popular each and every day and children enjoy playing them as a way to spend their free-time. These games allow the player to live in the game by playing a role, in some cases with people from around the world. But the problem with the video games in the market is that they are becoming too violent in some people’s mind and are also affecting them in diverse ways. Also, many of these video games are being advertised and directed to American’s children, which is the main controversy. There have been many studies of how video games can convey possible negative effects. The parents of these young children need to be aware of the effects of these games before letting them spend too much time playing them. Although children and adolescents enjoy playing video games, these games are not healthy to play because they convey various negative effects such as increase on violence, obesity, and anti-social behavior.

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

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.

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.

The number of parents that allow their children to play mature games is very low compared to those that are never allowed. Most of the children that are allowed to play these mature games are generally thirteen and older. (ESRB, 2007)

In the U.S., retail stores will not allow underage teens or minors to purchase violent or mature rated video games without a guardian. 97 percent of teens in the U.S., ages 12-17 play video games. More than half of the best selling games are violent or mature rated. Some Americans believe teens that play mature rated or violent video games could lead to violence. Others believe it may be a way teens can relieve stress or take out

The marketing team will design a new branding label with less offensive graphics that create the only assumption of violence. The rating label will be taken in consideration related to all the studies. A new minimum age identification and purchase program will be enforced. As for violent movies when the game is trying to be purchased it will ask if the person is above a certain age before the purchase is able to be completed. If the customer appears to be under the age, they will not be able to buy the game. “According to the ESRB, the video game ratings system is voluntarily, but nearly all video games sold in stores carry an ESRB rating. “Many U.S. retailers, including most major chains, have policies to only stock or sell games that carry an ESRB rating.” Molina, B. (2013, January 18). Otherwise, they will be sent back.

In recent years, the debate of whether violent video games has any relation on violent behaviors has been gaining momentum. Studies have indicated a link between violent video games and higher levels of aggression but there is not enough evidence to support the risk of criminal or violent behavior. Often the video game is not the brute of the blame but the manufacturer. Video game manufacturers get a rating based upon their content. These ratings leave the choice up to the consumer (or the parents) on the level of violent (adult) content and are as

In the 90’s there was even enough media attention to video game violence that the United States Congress had a hearing on issuing age appropriate labels, much like in movies, to video games to warn parents of the contents of a game. Each of these matters have only helped further tarnish the reputation of video games, and draw worse misconceptions about them.

Are there people who have never played video games at least once in their adolescence? You might recall some happy memories of playing video games with your best friends or that your parents punished you because you spent a lot of time playing video games. Most school teachers and parents are apt to think that playing video games in adolescence might only have negative impacts on adolescents. Playing video games is considered one of the top obstacles to academic performance and maintaining attention spans. Although these facts are partially true, there are positive effects of playing video games in some ways such as entertainment, development of social interaction and movement skills. This essay will cover the positive and negative effects of playing video games on adolescents’ physical, psychological/social aspects. In these divisions, I will discuss about the relationship between playing video games and the level of physical activity which is related to obese, aggressive behavior which is related to violence, social interaction and comfort effect of video games. Also, I will consider the significance of this issue.

Parents often complain how video games are too violent for their children and that it could have a negative impact towards their behavior. That can be true if the child is given a game that is rated higher than its intended audience. Even if it sounds like an unwise choice to give a kid a violent game, it’s up to the parent to decide if their kids get a rated “E” for everyone game or a rated “M” for mature game. Children should defiantly not be given game titles that aren’t intended for them. It can affect them negatively if they are given a game not suitable for them.

Controversy about video games continue to escalate between parents and gamers, regarding the psychological effect of simulated, realistic, and 3D violence on the minds of young children and growing teenagers. Yet, research shows that video games contribute very little to today’s everyday violence, despite complaints and concerns that games influence a child’s normal behavior. Technology is a way of life in today’s world, computers are used by toddlers, adolescents, and adults alike. No matter what career path a person chooses, the computer plays an essential role in the job. The more our technology progresses and as our industry grows stronger, computers and electronic entertainment will grow to be found everywhere around the world. This includes videogames.