Children and Violent Videogames - Essay Example

Violent games and effect on children Introduction Our modern world and the development of technology create many temptations for children and young people. In the past children spent much time in the street playing with friends as radio was the only entertaining technology they could use. Now there are many options for children like TV and computer games. Playing computer games turned into a favorite occupation for almost all the children of all ages. Now every family has a computer at home and all the children beginning from the early age play games every day. As it usually happens in many controversies, the opinions concerning the influence videogames impose on children are quite different. Some experts state that violent games make children behave aggressively and express aggression. Others on the contrary argue that such games help children express aggression virtually and prevent causing harm in the real life. The both opinions are well-grounded and confirmed by the scientific research, but the issue is still very controversial and worth-discussing. Thus, the given paper will discuss the influence videogames with the elements of violence impose on children and prove that such videogames really bring a lot of harm to children’s health and perception. First of all, videogames influence children’s outlook. The investigation of American Psychological Institute testifies that the criminals, who commit crimes in videogames, remain unpunished in 73% of cases. The demonstration of the acts of violence teaches young people to consider violence to be the only tool to resolve the problems. Thus, the violence in games is a very serious problem. The score for fulfilling violent acts are the main principle of many videogames. The brain activity of children is also negatively influenced. The fears of American Psychological Institute were strengthened by the results of the investigation, which was held by the State University of Michigan. The investigators studied the brain activity of the volunteers who played games with the elements of violence. Dr. Anderson noticed the existence of the definite connection between the aggressive games and brain activity similar to aggression: “violent video games provide a forum for learning and practicing aggressive solutions to conflict situations. In the short run, playing a violent video game appears to affect aggression by priming aggressive thoughts. Longer-term effects are likely to be longer lasting as well, as the player learns and practices new aggression-related scripts that can become more and more accessible for use when real-life conflict situations arise” (Violent Video Games can Increase Aggression). Videogames with the elements of violence are often criticized for causing negative reactions and behavior. The connection between the violence in games and aggressive mood is proved on the neurobiological level. According to Healy, “A good brain for learning develops strong and widespread neural highways that can quickly and efficiently assign different aspects of a task to the most efficient system...Such efficiency is developed only by active practice in thinking and learning which, in turn, builds increasingly stronger connections. A growing suspicion among brain researchers is that excessive television viewing may affect the development of these kinds of connections. It may also induce habits of using the wrong systems for various types of learning" (Healy). Moreover, the special concern is caused by the sexual content of the modern entertainment industry. The investigators came to the conclusion that the majority of TV programs as well as many computer games have sexual content. In contrast to violence, the influence of sex on the youth is not studied well. However, it is easy to determine what influence can be imposed on the youth if they watch the scenes full of sex elements and violence. Moreover, watching sexual scenes often leads to early start of sexual life. The next important factor to discuss is the influence such games impose on children’s heath. Violent videogames create abnormal conditions for child’s development (Galinsky). This influences the psychological state of children, they become more irritable, uncontrolled and at the same time quickly become tired that decreases their ability to study. It is proved that games with violent scenes affect children’s attention span by creating abnormal conditions for children’s development. According to DeGaetano, “The normal course of human brain development naturally leads to a well-developed attention span. Lets make sure we give our children brain-compatible activities on a regular basis, no matter how challenging that is for us in a media age. If parents and educators start mimicking the unreality of the visual media, we have no one but ourselves to blame when our children cannot effectively deal with their reality” (DeGaetano). Actually the investigations proved that those children, who have TV and computer in their room, study not so well as those who do not have. Playing too many games is dangerous for children’s health and if the games contain violent scenes, this negative influence is doubled (Kessler). Conclusion The majority of studies, which investigate the issues concerning the violence and videogames, make the conclusion about the presence of the direct connection between aggressive behavior of children and the videogames with elements of violence. As we see, children become more aggressive, irritable. They start considering violence to be the only tool to resolve problems, moreover such games negatively influence children’s health. Thus, serious measures should be taken to reduce children’s access to such games. The American Psychological Association insists on the decreasing the level of violence in computer games created for children and youth. Also parents and teachers should help their children make more grounded choice concerning games they are going to play. Modern children need to learn about the critical approach to what they see on the screen. Such instructions will help young people see the exact differences between the fantasy and the reality and not to associate themselves with aggressive heroes. References Bruce, Nya. (2013). What factors affect the attention span of children. Retrieved March 11, 2013 from http://www.wisegeek.com/what-factors-affect-the-attention-span-of-children.htm Galinsky, Ellen. (2012).Texting, TV and Tech Trashing Childrens Attention Spans Retrieved March 11, 2013 from http://www.huffingtonpost.com/ellen-galinsky/kids-and-technology_b_2068862.html Kessler, Sarah. (2012)Attention Spans in 2020: Will Technology Hurt Your Childs Brain? Retrieved April, 7, 2014 from http://mashable.com/2012/02/29/technology-effects-on-childrens-brains/ DeGaetano, Gloria (n.d.) Visual Media and Young Childrens Attention Spans. Retrieved April, 7, 2014 from http://jcp.proscenia.net/publications/articles_mlr/degaetano/visualmedia.html Healy, Jane. (1991). Endangered Minds: Why Our Children Dont Think and What To Do About It. Simon and Schuster Violent Video Games can Increase Aggression. (2002). Retrieved April, 7, 2014 from http://www.apa.org/news/press/releases/2000/04/video-games.aspx Read More