I revised this project by going back and trying to remove all the grammar and repetitive details that I was including.
Jawad Awada
Video Game Introduction
Some of the most common activities that people think cause violence amongst children is the music that kids listen to and the video games they play. The most interesting topic is video games, people tend to think that violent video games (games that contain a lot of killing, shootings and violent scenes) is a very big cause for why children become so violent. In my opinion I believe that saying video games makes kids violent is an excuse, and that the kid has been dealing with something far worse in his life and it has nothing to do with violent games. I believe kids go through worse experiences and are sometimes put in difficult situations that may affect them greatly and may turn them violent. Some of the most common causes are depression and family problems. A lot of teenagers deal with personal problems and many people might not notice that a teen might be depressed and going through a rough time so they automatically consider that his actions (mainly school shootings) are because of violent games without looking at the bigger picture. A lot of research has been done and the outcome always comes back showing that there is no link between teen aggression and violent video games.
A lot of research has been done to try to connect these two together but it’s really hard to to find a theory with evidence when it comes to behavior. According to Jessica Conditt, “There is no scientific, consensus-backed research supporting the idea that playing video games — even bloody, realistic shooters — leads to real-life acts of brutality.” I found that this article is very useful but specifically this quote got my attention because it can play a big role in trying to help people realize and understand that video games don’t cause violence. I picked this certain quote mainly because it says that no matter how bloody and violent the game might be it has never been scientifically proven that it can have an effect on real life violence. Another article that also helps show that there is no connection is an article from Forbes.According to this article from Forbes “In yet another study on the subject, it shows that there is no link between playing violent video games and aggression in adolescents.” This was published on February 15, 2019 so it’s relatively new. Many people disagree and have their own opinions regarding this topic and are always looking for some sort of proof that can help their claim, while this article is a little over 3 months old it still shows that there has not been any progress for trying to find a link between violent video games and aggression in teenagers. It’s hard to find a link between something that doesn’t exist (violent video games and aggression in teenagers) just because people assume that violent games can cause teens to turn violent because in there mind it makes sense even though there totally wrong. A lot of these sources have relatively similar conclusions stating that no evidence has been found to be able to connect them. According to The University Of Queensland (Australia) “Several new studies reinforce that video game violence does not cause real-world violence, adding to the already robust body of research that shows that there is simply no link between violence and game play.” This verifies that, for example school shootings which is a real-world violent action, can not be linked to these violent video games after all the research that has been done. Overall it’s looking more and more likely that there could possibly never be a connection between the two because of how difficult it is to try to prove something that can’t be proved. This is a behavior concept and extremely hard to be able to find a link. Even though there is no actual theories that have concrete evidence that can help support the fact that violent video games cause teen aggression, people are still going to say and assume that there’s a connection.
(https://www.engadget.com/2018/03/07/video-game-violence-trump-meeting-esa-nra/)
(http://www.theesa.com/article/new-research-underscores-video-games-not-lead-real-world-violence/)
Teen Aggression
Teen aggression is a big problem that society is facing in today’s world. These aggression are leading to many violent acts by the teens and many people look at video games as the reason for their actions. However since there is no evidence of that being the problem many people are wondering why do teens become so angry and aggressive. According to the author of this article Cheryl Schafer “Physical and emotional changes occur at a rapid pace, and the need for acceptance gains importance in a teenager’s life.” “Learning to adapt to these changes can create anger and sometimes even aggression in some teenagers.” In other words, a teenager might be going through personal issues which leads to him becoming more aggressive and starts to have certain signs in his behavior that would end up leading towards violent acts.
(https://www.livestrong.com/article/119628-anger-aggressive-behavior-teens/)
Positives About Video Games
Even though many people tend to focus on the negative aspects when it comes to video games there are a lot of positive effects that comes with it. Playing video games can be a sense of escape for certain people by that I mean they can be able to get their mind off of certain situations and just be able to relax and enjoy something that they like to do. It also helps people capture and improve coordination. According to Sheila Eugenio “When an adult or child is playing a video game, he or she is not only staring at the computer inactively. The activities and actions on the screen provide a lot of mental stimulation. For one to play, he or she will need to coordinate their visual, audial and physical movement.” This quote helps show that coordination does improve with the use of video games. There are many more positive effects such as enhancing memory, improving concentration, improves the brain speed, and it helps enhance multitasking skills. Sheila Eugenio makes a good statement when it comes to improving brain speed “While gaming, the brain receives multiple simulations, both Visual and audial. According to research, individuals who play video games frequently can process these stimulators faster than others. These stimulators ensure that the brain is continuously working to interpret them.” From this one can infer that the positive effects can make a very big difference in trying to develop certain traits in certain people.
(https://www.engadget.com/2017/02/09/8-cognitive-benefits-of-playing-video-games-for-kids/)
Conclusion
We tend to lean heavily on proven scientific theories, which in this case proves that all claims made that say that video games cause violence are completely false claims. All research that has been done shows no connection at all between teen aggression and violent video games. Even though this is a topic that won’t go away it’s something that seems near impossible to prove. This is a very engaging topic, It’s hard to prove a point with no evidence so because of that I hope this can help people realize that there is no connection between the two and anyone who keeps looking for a link between these two should stop because all there doing is chasing a ghost. There are many positives effects that come with playing video games and those effects out way the negative ones.
