For the past twenty years whenever there has been a shooting of any kind, committed by a young male, people have blamed video games. They say that video games make people violent. But that isn’t true. Video games may make people violent while playing them but that violence never leads any further than yelling at the television screen. Video games should not be put down. In fact video games help people better their motor skills, the military uses video games for training exercises, and a lot of people use video games to relieve stress.
A lot of people view video games as being bad and say that they rot your brain and cause violence but research shows that they can indeed help you. Video games have been shown to help with hand-eye coordination. You better hope that if you’re having a procedure done that your surgeon plays video games. They found that if a surgeon plays video games they make 37% fewer mistakes, were 20% faster, scored 42% better on laparoscopic surgery (laparoscopic surgery is when a small incision is made in the abdomen instead of a big one to perform surgery) and suturing drills than those surgeons who never played video games (Hampton). A study conducted in a Florida hospital showed that physicians who played video games for six minutes before performing virtual surgery improved their patient outcome results. A surgeon at the hospital conducted an experiment in which there were 300 surgeons participating. 150 of them played video games for six minutes before performing virtual surgery and the other 150 surgeons did not. The surgeons who played the video games before surgery scored higher than the surgeons who didn’t play them. Now thanks to that study the hospitals surgeon lounge now includes a gaming lounge so t...
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Helping kids with stress is also a good thing that video games can do. Studies show that video games can increase a child’s resilience in four different areas; mental, physical, emotional, and social. If children are playing online games and being surrounded by supportive people that provide encouragement, affiliation, and endorsement help them be more resilient. Video games also help children in learning healthy behavior, learning from mistakes, mastery, and interpersonal connections that also help with resilience (Kulman).
Video games have been known as a healthy outlet of aggression or for just overall stress relief. Video games are like books and movies; they provide a sort of ‘escape’ from reality, and escape for the world of troubles. Video games have been known to be of a huge help to those that have been in traumatic and stressful situations (Meixsell).
At this day in age we bask in the luxury of having easy access to advanced technology at our disposal. From the World Wide Web, to cell phones, music, movies and video games the human race has thought of any and everything to keep us entertained. Over the years studies have shown reasonable concerns regarding the long-term effects of video games. These games can desensitize gamers to real life violence, which is usually seen in the younger crowd. The studies especially hit on the games containing player-on-player violence. Though these games are extremely entertaining and can get kids to settle down for a while, if not properly supervised, they can produce adverse effects. Other studies have shown that video games can be used as way to yield positive outcomes such as, good problem solving skills, cooperation in a group and the ability to flow. Although there has been psychological research on children learning through the actions of others some believe that children are automatically able to distinguish between what is just a game and what is reality. The longer they are allowed on their game system the more they become convinced that their games are real. Some researchers believe violent video games can channel the aggression of the child but the parents are to blame for what happens to the child after playing an excessive amount over a period of time. Children can become preoccupied with these violent video games which have been proven to be the cause of poor social skills, uncontrollable aggression and a false reality.
...While there are violent games out there, children could, with the help of their parents, play cleaner games such as The Legend of Zelda or any game in the Mario series, and in the end, be benefited from it. Whether their stress is relieved, their brains stronger, or their connections with their families made unbreakable, video games can truly be a good thing for kids.
People have always been looking for a reason why horrible things happen. The media is quick to blame video games as the target and cause of many shootings that have occurred, ever since Columbine and Quake. People have been blaming video games for violence for years now, ever since violent video games have been made. News reports blame video games more and more for each shooting, telling the public how this person played video games for x amount of hours a day, and that video games caused him or her to shoot people, and how video games encourage and reward violence. Anti-video game lobbyists have been campaigning to have violence removed from video games, citing resources that they themselves have created as reasons for such, poorly done studies where they confirm that kids are more aggressive through how much hot sauce they put on someone’s fries. While unbiased studies of video games and their links to violence are hard to come by, recent research has shown that video games do not in fact have a casual link to violence, and may even have the opposite effect. Violent video games have nearly no link to violence in teens or adults.
Not every video game causes post game aggression, but documented in his article, “Players who enacted in-game violence through a heroic character exhibited less postgame aggression than players who enacted comparable levels of in-game violence through an antiheroic character” (Sauer 205). As a graduate of Radboud University, Isabela Granic brings to light the reasons why the youth actually benefit from playing violent video games. For example, in her article, “The Benefits of Playing Video Games,” Granic illustrates the fact that children gain social skills, highly efficient motor skills, and the understanding of the human body as a whole. Noted by the author, “Whereas adolescents and adults often use self-disclosure and direct discussion with close friends to resolve emotional issues, children use play to work them out through pretend-based narratives enacted either alone or with others” (Granic 67).
Video games have been proven to help kids deal with stress and anger. An article written in the Psychiatric Times by Cheryl K. Olson, ScD, Lawrence Kutner, PhD, and Eugene V. Beresin, MD. Who all are experts in their fields of Child development, Psychology, and Psychiatry discussed how a foundation surveyed a number of kids to better understand why they play games and how it affects them. The survey showed some really valid points which sheds light on some of the benefits of video games. For example, “‘To relax’ was chosen as a reason to play by the majority of boys and close to half of girls. ‘To get my anger out’; was selected by 45% of boys and 29% of girls; 25% of boys and 11% of girls said that they played to ‘cope with anger.’ Violent video games might provide a safe outlet for aggressive and angry feelings”. The kids that were surveyed also said that they would play these games after having a really tough day at school and it would help relieve the stress. Everyone has some outlet, which they use to relieve stress and anxiety even younger people. I’ve personally used video games to relieve stress. When I 'm having a bad day or just am really angry about something I can go play a game and it takes my mind off of it and then I start to calm down and feel one hundred times
There is much persistent debate throughout culture these days concerning video games. Common questions asked are things like ?Where should the lines be drawn in terms of content? and What audience, if any, is this appropriate for? As lawyers fight, bizarre crimes are blamed on video games, constant studies take place, and technology continues to evolve, the video game world continues to thrive and be extremely profitable. While there is near-constant focus on the supposed ?negatives? of games like simulated killing, drug use, or sex, most people, especially those completely outside of gaming circles, fail to acknowledge that gaming of any kind can possibly have positive effects on players. While increased hand-eye coordination is a common benefit attributed to gaming, one particular study conducted revealed a mixed bag of possibly positive and negative effects.
BANG! You fire another round into the horde of zombies’ lurching toward you, and reach for another clip. Then you realize that you’re out of ammo, and there’s still loads of rotting corpses walking right at you. You take out your handy combat knife and prepare for a fight.
The allegation that videogames cause violent behavior in children has been present as long as videogames themselves. Some researchers said that the Sandy Hook shooter, Adam Lanza, was one intense gamer. “Seung-Hui Cho, the Virginia Tech Shooter was seen by his roomates as odd because he never joined them in video games.”(Beresin) This debate will continue to go on in this country as long as there are horrific crimes that occur. There is much written in the research regarding this issue, and many differing views. The research that is presented in the next few paragraphs supports the theory that it is not the graphic video games that produce aggressive behavior, but other factors in a child’s life that create violent actions.
In recent years, technology has developed very rapidly. This has led to many arguably both positive and negative changes in our everyday lives. One such change was the increased accessibility of personal computers and gaming consoles as well as the introduction of numerous video games. Due to their entertainment value, these games gained popularity among children and teenagers. Although many concerns have been voiced related to playing video games, especially those that are violent, [e.g., increases in aggressive behavior in children (Anderson & Bushman, 2001)], this paper will argue that certain video games also have beneficial effects. They should thus be played by children, teenagers and adults alike albeit with caution.
Playing violent video games is considered to have negative effects on the players. Violent video games create an aggressive behavior in the people who play them. Experimental, correlation, and longitudinal studies have supported the idea of an increased aggressive behavior due to playing violent video games. Based on experimental studies, “. . . individuals in laboratory environments have demonstrated short-term increased levels of physiological arousal, hostile feelings, hostile attitudes and aggressive behavior following sessions of playing violent video games compared to non-violent video games.” In addition, correlation studies “. . . have demonstrated a significant relationship between exposure to violent video games, trait hostility, and aggressive or antisocial behavior,” which support...
By far the largest concern of technology today is video games. There have been so many experiments and studies to try and figure out if video games have a negative or positive effect on our children. A growing body of research is linking violent video game play to aggressive cognitive, attitudes and behaviors (D.A. Gentile, 2004). Video games can obviously be dangerous for our children causing aggression, bad performances in school and obesity. Although we cant blame all of these problems on the use of video game...
“Contrary to the claims that violent video games are linked to aggressive assaults and homicides, no evidence was found to suggest that this medium was a major (or minor) contributing cause of violence in the United States.” (Markey, 290)
In the end, people still assume that violent video games contribute to real world violence. If all the violent video games are gone, then youth will not have a way to vent their frustrations. If the case is that “Since 1994 - 2014, the total amount of games and hardware increased 204%, while violent crimes fell 37% and murders by juveniles fell by 76%,” then we can’t blame video games. People instead should encourage others to play more games than play less. Don’t we all want to live in a less violent
Video games have been argued about for decades. Some people have argued that video games are linked to violence. However, new research shows that video games can be used for therapeutic purposes, exercise, stress relievers, positive interactive learning, hand eye coordination, and different types of patient treatment for people all around the world.
First of all video games can benefit the person playing the game. Video games strengthen reading and visual skills. In the article “what video games can teach us” by Emily Sohn, Sohn says “because kids are interested in the game, they often end up reading at a level well above their grade.” This statement is true about anything, a person will do things as long as they think it benefits them. In a kids case they believe that reading during the game will help them beat the game. Therefore they will read even though they may not realize that they are improving their literacy skills at the same time as playing the game.A game may improve your visual skills as well. A study made by researchers from the University of Rochester came to the conclusion that video game players gain better visual skills than people that don’t play them. Video game players can keep track of more objects at a time. As well as pick out objects quicker out of a cluttered environment.