Video Games Causing Youth Violence

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.

With in the last few decades, gaming has gone from something that only the nerdy kids did, into a main stream activity. More then half the people in the United States have played some type of video game. With all these people playing video games most of them are America's youth, teenagers.

Technology is an important aspect of change in our world. As time goes on, we are introduced to more and more technology every year, which includes media such as video games. The increase of technology has also increased and improved the world including ways of communicating and distribution of information. More often used outlets of media are those used for entertainment purposes, like television, internet and video games. The ones who are most likely to engage in these media outlets are millennials and the most recent generation Z, because they have been introduced to these outlets from a young age. In fact, a study found that children spend around 9 hours a week playing video games (Polman, de Castro, & van Aken, 2008). It is evident that video games are progressively becoming more violent in nature, and with children spending as much time as they do playing video games, there are questions that must be asked, is the violent nature of video games effecting today’s youth? And if so in what ways?

While violent video games have increased as a form of entertainment, an issue has begun to form on whether violent video games have a negative impact on children and adolescents. Steven F. Gruel (2010) formed an argument about the negative impacts of violent video games on children. The purpose of this paper is to critique Gruel’s argument by finding flaws and strengths using the methods of claims without data, overgeneralization, failing to cite sources, and considering alternative explanations.

Even federal government research has failed to find a statistically significant correlation between increased aggression and violence in video games.

“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!

“Did ‘Grand Theft Auto’ cause one teenager to kill?” (Leung, 2005) “Monkey See, Monkey Shoot?” (Keim, 2013) The almost countless controversies and fingers pointed at companies such as Rockstar Games, Infinity Ward, and Midway Games blaming them for “Violent Video Games Turning Kids Into Killers” (Johnson, 2011). With all the articles and news outlets that have scolded violent video games and their creators, many have forgot the good. Video games do have the ability to teach and stimulate the brain by engaging users in high social activities, critical thinking skills, relieving stress, and individualized

Throughout history, the American society has suffered from tragic events, from mass school shootings to civil terrorist attacks. The older generation has blamed violent video games such as Grand Theft Auto (GTA), Saints Row, and Mafia for the corruption of the youth and their path towards violence. In addition, mass media has also pointed fingers towards the gaming industry for most of these horrific incidents. Furthering the belief that video games are bad for children which is inaccurate. Because several experts have found videos games to be useful in terms of helping with stress, occupying time, and providing useful lessons.

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".

As we look around in today's society, we are surrounded by technology and as it advances we have relied on these technological advancement as a form of media. A form of media that has been controversial because of it's rapid growth and advancement would be video games. The first video game that was available to play on a console at home was Pong, a simple game that was similar to tennis where two line must hit a dot and score a point. Pong was released in 1972 and after forty-three years video games are still relevant. According to a team in the University of Essex in the UK, " People around the world spend a massive three billion hours per week playing video games." ( Entertainment Software Association) At first

Statistics show that 10 minutes into playing a violent video game the average person becomes desensitized to the fact that they are killing someone. Now it it may seem like nothing when you play these games. But when people, especially children play them often it starts to become the only thing that they think about. Even if it is “just a character” in a game it becomes so to them to pull that trigger. I’ve witnessed this happen in my own household and I don’t hesitate to say: violent video games are poisonous to the brain.

One of my fondest memories as a child was Christmas Day, 1986. I woke up early, as is typical for a child on Christmas morning. I ran to my parent’s room and rustled them out of bed so I could tear into the presents. I immediately ran to a large rectangular present and grabbed it from under the tree. I was hoping with all my might it would be what I had asked Santa to bring me, a Nintendo Entertainment System. As I ripped the paper from the box, I started screaming with excitement. Hidden under the wrapping paper was the NES that I had been gleaming at in the sales catalogs for months. I continued opening presents, getting several games to play on the new system. I received Mike Tyson’s Punch-Out, Contra, and Adventure Island. This was the beginning of my love of video games. Gaming has been a part of my life for the last 30 years. Although I have spent many decades playing these games, I have never had violent outbursts or thoughts of random killing sprees. The link between violent acts and violent games is coincidental at most.

Motorist in Toronto were in shock when a driver was spotted driving so recklessly on a major highway that the local law enforcement had to be alerted. The reckless driver was driving at about 120km/h which was well over the speed limit for the highway. Soon later after the call, local police officers managed to get the car to a halt and keep the situation safe. The police officer would have never anticipated what about to happen when they got the driver out of the car and interviewed the driver. They found out that the driver was “… an 11-year-old boy” who “… had just been finishing playing Grand Theft Auto at home and wanted to find out what it was like

supreme court ruled that violent video games do not cause youth to act aggressively. Violent video games do not cause kids to commit mass shootings this means that just because there is a lot of shooting in today’s games doesn't mean it’ll influence the youth.

Past studies have shown a link between violent video games and an increase in aggressive behaviors. The intent of the present study was to further investigate these findings. It was predicted that players who engage in violent video games would show higher rates of aggression. Participants (N = 20) were asked to complete two short surveys, the Buss and Perry (1992) aggression questionnaire and Anderson and Dill’s (2000) video game exposure scale. The results of the study did not support the prediction, nor did they corroborate the findings from previous research. Identifying the relationship between violent video games and aggression is rather complex. Earlier studies have shown varying results; however, much of the research has shown a positive correlation between video game violence and real-world aggression.