Parents Need Help: Restricting Access to Video Games - Essay Example

Parents Need Help: Restricting Access to Video GamesBrief summary:The article “Parents Need Help: Restricting Access to Video Games” has been authored by “Barbara Dafoe Whitehead”. In this article, Whitehead has emphasized upon the need to provide limited access to video games to the children given the widespread violence and sexism projected in the video games. There remains a debate about the distribution of the responsibility to monitor the children between parents and the law enforcing bodies.

Whitehead is of the opinion that the state should take charge of the matter and personally restrict the access of children to violent games through properly designed and implemented strategies. This comes as a threat to the entertainment industry that visualizes such restricting laws as the corner cutters of its revenues and it puts forward the argument that parents should indeed take full responsibility of governing their children. However, the modern age portable technology and tools have made it extremely difficult for the parents to keep a check on their children.

Parents and state jointly share the responsibility of limiting children’s access to games that are too intense and harsh for their age and psychology.Strengths: Whitehead has rightly pointed towards all the potential factors that make it impossible for the parents to be solely responsible for controlling their children’s fantasies. The author has built up his argument in a way that clearly speaks in favor of a dual responsibility to be borne both by the law enforcing bodies and the parents.

The mood of the essay is more realistic and rational than unnecessarily enthusiastic. There is no opinion bias as the argument is based upon the facts and figures. For example, Whitehead has mentioned the successful former implementation of the restricting laws in Chicago by Jane Addams that has met with success and has gained acceptance and accreditation on a large scale. Selection of words in the article is appropriate and the language is reader friendly. By quoting examples of such violent and sex-based games as “Theft Auto: San Andreas”, Whitehead has left the critiques with no point to argue over the gravity of this matter.

Weaknesses: When referring to the case of Jane Addams who implemented laws to restrict the availability of harmful material to children in Chicago, Whitehead should have expanded on it when she stated, “Her work is rightly honored.” It would have been more appealing had the writer explained how the technique worked in Chicago. Whitehead has named certain games that are known for violence and nudity. Although such games form a credible evidence of the subject matter, yet just naming them does not fulfill the purpose.

It would have been more rightly put had the author mentioned some statistics from past researches that said how many children indulged in criminal activities after playing such games. Despite all the weaknesses, the argument built in the article is strong enough to convince the reader to agree with the thesis statement. Overall, it is a good effort by Whitehead to make the law enforcing bodies realize the importance of the matter and take necessary measures.Works cited:Whitehead, Barbara, D. “Parents Need Help: Restricting Access to Video Games.

” Gale Group. 2005. Web. 5 August 2010.