A lot of people day that video games are
bad for you well I don’t totally agree with that, but after reading a few
articles about it I can see why others may believe that this is true. I read
the article “The Impact of Video Games on Children” by Andrea Norcia, college
student writer. Norcia is trying to convince people that when children or adolescents
send too much time playing violent video games they tend to become more
aggressive, fight with peers, and have confrontation with parents and teachers.
There are of course positives to children and adolescents playing video games
like improving computer literacy, and better understanding of technology.
Some supporting evidence are in
studies that have been conducted to show the effects video games have. In a
study by D. Walsh (2000) he observed and asked teens how much time they spend
playing video games. Most of these teens even admitted that their parents don’t
enforce a time limit on how long they can or can’t play video games. His study
also showed that most parents don’t even know the content and rating of the
video games their children are playing.
One study by Gentile & Anderson
(2003) they state that playing video games may increase aggressive behavior,
because violent acts are continually repeated throughout the video game. The constant
repeating of the same action over and over again throughout the game tends to
stick with the child that is play. It’s like brushing your teeth every day
twice a day once you learn to do it over and over you do it all the time.
In a Joint Statement, (2000) they cautioned
parents about violence in the media and the effect it can have on children and adolescents.
Their report states that exposure to violent media can elevate aggressive
feelings and thoughts, these effects on aggressive behavior can be long-term as
well. Evidence has suggests that playing violent video games may have a more
dramatic influence on the behavior of children and adolescents. Most teenage
boys spend an average of 13 hours a week playing video games.
At the end of this article Andrea
Norcia listed all her references, while some where hard to find but most of the
studies were used as examples in multiple other articles about the same topic. For
the Joint Statement (2000) I found a link to the site that it was affiliated
with the link is http://www2.aap.org/advocacy/releases/jstmtevc.htm.
This site had the whole statement that was given on its web page. While I was
trying to verify the studies spoken about in this article I googled all the
references she had listed. Most of what I had found where just more articles on
the same topic repeating a lot of what Andrea Norcia had said in her article.
We may all be doomed one day if people continue to make violent games and if children start spending even more time on them but that won't happen for along time.
The big problem i see with video games is the fact that parents aren't monitoring the time spent playing them or the content that is contained in these games. When I was younger, my parents only allowed me to watching about three hours of television a day, granted i finished all of my homework. It should be the same way for kids who like playing video games. Time spent doing something other then homework and socializing with friends should always be monitored. Also, parents should be familiar with what they're kids are playing. Most parents wouldn't let their children see rated R movies and some of these video games are just as violent or inappropriate as a rated R movie. That being said, if the content of the games as well as the length of time spent playing theses games was monitored, I don't think people would consider video games to be so harmful to children.
ReplyDelete