The Violent Effects Of Children’S Video Games

The violent effects of children’s video games

Video games have changed entertainment mode since the early seventies. The Supreme Court is weighing the arguments for and against a California law that organizes the sale of violent video games. The dispute is about whether it is a violation of freedom of expression prohibit them. But the problem is really public health: the health of those who play and the health of all who are.

Certainly, it is good for children to play;In fact, children do not have enough free game today, which leads to high TDAh rates and decreased social capacities. Children learn many things through the game, especially friendly game, which helps the brain develop in multiple ways, including the construction of social competence.

Some people argue that activities such as video game game that, for their nominal value, seem bad for you, are really good for you. Steven Johnson points out that popular culture is much more complex today than in the past, including the complexity of video games (compare Pacman with Sims games). Argues that the greatest complexity promotes intelligence. For example, when you play a video game, it is often a frustrating learning experience that requires that you solve problems repeatedly to learn the game. In fact, James

Paul Gee suggests that you even learn ‘the scientific method’ through the test and error necessary to discover how to meet the objectives in the game.

According to these criteria, play constructive and prosocial games such as the Sims can be ‘good for you’ with at least one warning, as long as you have a balanced life with friendships face to face of real life and enjoy socializing.

Why worry about the latest? Because playing video games normally keeps active the primitive parts of the brain that are not social or cognitively sophisticated. So you need to balance the game time of video games with the experiences used by these parts of the brain. Or you can develop a ‘play brain’.

Playing violent video games is different from playing positive and constructive games. In fact, violent video games have an even more powerful influence than television and violent films, whose harmful effects have been documented for decades. While violent video games can also promote some complex problems resolving and coordination skills, they have multiple negative effects. Here are three related to moral functioning.

First, in the violent video game game, the player learns to associate violence with pleasure (rewards for hurting another character). This undermines moral sensitivity. Under normal conditions, human emotional wiring is designed to hate violence and feel rewarded for helping others. Those who play violent video games develop opposite intuitions that lead to the rest of life (I can see the effects on our society, right?). What intuitions would you prefer that your child had?

Second, children practice again and again the actions available in a game. The player practices violent behavior, if not thousands of times, much more practice than normal activities receive. What a person practices repeatedly becomes an automatic response. Violent games teach children.Third, video games can be addictive because they give immediate rewards to learn. Children and adolescents are usually susceptible to addictions since their brains are under development until the mid -twenties. Recent research on the brain suggest that any addictive behavior (drugs, alcohol, pornography, gambling, violence) can damage the final stages of brain development in young adults, leaving them with a very mature decision -making system and reducing empathy byothers. Is this what we want to encourage?

So, less empathy, pleasure in the pain of others, well -practiced criminal behavior, diminished capacity for mature decision making are just some of the potential side effects of the violent video game game. This type of moral character is far from the character of our forage ancestors that allegedly avoided violence, were cooperative and intelligent.

The evidence is conclusive for the negative effects of violent video games. Craig Anderson and his colleagues have been studying violent media for decades. They and others have discovered negative effects in the short and long term when seeing or reproducing violent means that include an increase in aggressive thoughts, feelings and behaviors and a decrease in prosocial behavior.

Neuroscientific studies show reduced cognitive brain functions in individuals exposed to violent media. The greater the experience with the violent media, the lower the activation of the areas of the brain for thought, learning, reasoning and emotional control. Talk about numb the children!

In my opinion, violent media should be considered a health risk as large as the use of tobacco (in reality, the effects are stronger for violent media). And society should comment on the availability of violent media. It is unfairpersonal products) and parents do not. receive the information they need to help make decisions. Parents can spend 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, being body guards of each movement of their children due to the endless attack of harmful products and media.

Instead, we help parents and socially control violent media supply. This will not only protect minors but will protect ourselves. Public health risks are too big to do the opposite. I would prefer to have neighbors who have empathy and complete abilities to make decisions, isn’t it?