Too Many Video Games Are Bad for Children's Development - Admission/Application Essay Example

?[Your full February 28, Too Many Video Games Are Bad for Children’s Development Video games are to be blamed in mutating the minds of youngsters from incorruptibility to violence. Every gaming system that comes in the market arrives with concerns related to addiction, anxiety, dejection, brutality, and aggression, which develop in young minds. Adolescents, because of their aggressive age, love to see violence. They are interested in video games that satisfy their aggressive nature. This paper tends to discuss that too many video games are harmful for children’s normal development as video games normally spread the message of violence and aggression. Nearly every teenager knows the names of some of the most violent video games like Mortal Combat, Resident Evil, Marvel vs. Capcom, Doom, Manhunt, Dead Rising, Gears of War, Grand Theft Auto, and the list continues. All of these games require the player to kill, shoot, slash and stab their enemy using bombs, swords and chainsaw. They have to kill the police officers to get to the target, hit pedestrians, split the opponent using chainsaws, and what not. What influence this activity has on a developing brain is a matter of common sense. Preteens and teens want to play these games more than non-violent ones, and then apply it in their real lives because they are not capable of differentiating the gaming world from the real world. The last decade has shown an increase in the violence rate among children in the United States, and studies show that children are increasingly being treated for anger management due to the growing use of video games. Researchers have found that teenagers who play violent video games have a higher heart rate, get emotionally aroused easily and are more aggressive verbally and physically than those who play non-violent games. The reason is that violent video games succeed in getting the person involved in the character he is playing so much that he starts playing that character in real life. For example, females are normally portrayed as weaker and powerless characters in video games. When children watch this, they apply it in real life because they have learned to disrespect women. Children tend to have less-developed ability of decision-making or critical thinking so they cannot realize what is wrong with what they are viewing and their minds learn or absorb every act they see. Previous generations used to play doctors, police officers, thieves, chefs, and the oomph generated by the flight of the imagination would get used up in playing the game physically. But with video games, when a child watches the violent acts and plays the character using his hands and mind, the energy generated by the flight of the imagination keeps the physical responses from getting expressed. So, when this energy gets its chance, it gets expressed in the real life. This is why children who watch violent video games are violent in their nature too. For example, parents do not know why their child who plays Resident Evil on his PlayStation 3 is becoming violent day by day, beating his younger siblings, with complaints coming from his school that he bullies his class fellows. A check on his routine activities will show that the credit goes to video games if he plays some. Hence, a word of advice for the parents is that they need to keep a proper check on what activities their child is involved in when he is free. If they opt to buy him a video game play system, they should keep track of what kind of video games he plays. There should be zero tolerance on letting him play violent games so that he does not get a chance of acting them in real life. Non-violent and non-aggressive video games are harmless and even advantageous. Let’s discuss some empirical research in support of our argument. Literature has always linked video games with violence. Bartholow and Anderson conducted a research on 43 undergraduate students to determine what effect violent video games had on an individual’s behavior. They set two groups of participants. One was told to play a violent video game and the other was instructed to play a non-violent video game for ten minutes. After the time was over, they were instructed to complete a task that invoked annoyance in them. The punishments they chose for their opponents were a proof of their aggressiveness. The researchers found that the participants who had played violent video games set severe punishments for their opponents, thus proving the fact that violent video game players were more aggressive than those who played non-violent video games. This study helps prove that the nature of video games played has an adverse effect on the nature of the players. This effect is negative and harmful so much that normal psychological development of the individual gets disturbed. Smith, Lachlan and Tamborini conducted a similar research in 2003 in which they analyzed 60 popular games from three gaming systems: Nintendo 64, Sega Dreamcast, and Sony PlayStation. Through content analysis and the coding scheme from the National Television Violence Study, it was found that mature games were more violent that those rated for general audience, and featured child perpetrators with frequent gun violence. Gentile et al. conducted a similar research in 2004 in which they assessed the video game playing habits of children, parental monitoring, effects of video games on behavior, and outcomes in 607 8th and 9th grade students from four schools. They found that children who played violent video games were more hostile than those who did not. Such children got into frequent, aggressive arguments with teachers and showed poor academic performance. In short, empirical research proves our claim that violent video games have a negative effect on children’s behavior which, in turn, hinders their healthy development. Children learn violent acts and practice them in real life. They become aggressive, get indulged in physical fights and arguments, and also experience anxiety and agitation. Parental monitoring is crucially needed to keep a proper check on children who have play stations at home. Hence, it is proved that too many violent video games are bad for children’s healthy development. Works Cited Bartholow, Bruce D., and Craig A. Anderson. “Effects of Violent Video Games on Aggressive Behavior: Potential Sex Differences.” Journal of Experimental Social Psychology 38.3. 2002: 283–290. Print. Gentile, Douglas A., Lynch, Paul J., Linder, Jennifer Ruh, and David A. Walsh. “The Effects of Violent Video Game Habits on Adolescent Hostility, Aggressive Behaviors, and School Performance.” Journal of Adolescence 27. 2004: 5–22. Print. Smith, Stacy L., Lachlanm Ken, and Ron Tamborini. “Popular Video Games: Quantifying the Presentation of Violence and Its Context.” Journal of Broadcasting & Electronic Media 47.1. 2003: 58-76. DOI: 10.1207/s15506878jobem4701_4 Read More