Is video game violence to blame for youth violence - Essay Example

It is the responsibility of the elders of the society to safeguard interests of their youngsters. Negativities exist in every era and in every society. It is essential that steps should be taken to curb these negative aspects. One of the matters that are affecting the present day youth negatively as a side effect is the indulgence of these youth in unnecessary and moral diminishing video games. Background. The early advent of video games dates back to the mid 1990s. The first commercially available computer game was produced in the year 1971.

Their introduction as ‘house games’ initiated in the late 1970s. It has been since then that the popularity of video games has grown at a rapid rate. (See Exhibit 1). These games, at present, are inevitable in a household that has children and adolescents in it. Youngsters prefer playing video games over any other leisure activity. About 60% of Americans play video games. Their average age is 28. IMPORTANCE OF GAMES The learning of a man initiates from his birth and continues on till his demise.

The knowledge grabbing capacity however, is at the peak during the first quarter of a man’s life. The learning environment is considered to be incomplete without the inclusion of games in it. It has been for long that the importance of playing games has been emphasized upon. From the very early days of a child’s education efforts are done to make learning fun for him. Different kind of colorful learning toys are bought for the child. This practice modifies into the purchase of attractive games as the child grows.

Since intellectual simulation promotes effective learning board games have lost their value in front of computer games. Studies done by scientists indicate that technology, specifically interaction with computers, can assist in the actual decision making processes of individuals. It is imperative that the interaction of individuals with video games, and that too at such a high frequency, would not have effects on the decision making capabilities of individuals playing them. These effects could be favorable as well as non favorable.

The favorable aspects of playing video games extensively could be numerous ranging from enhanced analytical capabilities to sharpening of vision etc. The non favorable effects, however, are of a more extreme nature. Among them the most important non favorable effect is the indulgence of youth in violent activities in real life. The intensity of the non- favorability of the video games can be assessed by the fact that a California State Ruling promulgated in November 2010 stated that it is not permissible for youth under the age of 18 years to purchase or take for rent violent video games from the market.

YOUTH VIOLENCE Youth violence has become extremely common in the present times. May it be the neighborhood or back alley or just the end of the street youth seem to be indulged in violent physical and verbal activities just about everywhere. This is not the limit of the violence witnessed. There have been certain severely tragic and highly publicized events in the recent past. It is essential that it should be mentioned at this point that the currently available video games portray the most violent activities in them that one could ever imagine.

Embedded with all sorts of physical fights these games are filled commonly with scenes like the banging of each other’