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The article “Do Video Games Kill” written by Karen Sternheimer addresses the widespread question; are video games the cause for “young killers”? (220) Sternheimer believes concern for the influence of video games may have on youth is spiraling out of control. She puts most of the blame for this out of control concern on the media. She also writes some about the politicians and the Juvenile Justice System. Sternheimer suggests that there are other factors to blame for violent behavior: poverty, the neighborhood, unemployment, family violence, divorced parents and mental illness (218). While it may be that juvenile crimes have declined, and personal backgrounds effect actions, it cannot be proven that video game violence has no to little effect on …show more content…
She states a British study involving working-class boys boasting about how many horror films they have seen as a way to “construct their sense of masculinity by appearing too tough to be scared” (218). Sternheimer makes a valid point when mentioning the personal problems of the person who has committed a crime is overlooked in media and research studies. She continuously makes it known there is more to the picture. Video games alone cannot teach children to kill. She states “we need to look beyond the games they play” (220). However this does not mean that video games play no part in the violence of America’s youth. Several statistics she gives such as “Hundreds of studies in recent decades have revealed a direct correlation between exposure to media violence – now including video games – and increase aggression” (217). This is just one of the examples Sternheimer making a concession with the other side. This one statistic contradicts her point on video games not being blamed for school shootings. After this statistic is mentioned by Sternheimer, no correlation was reinforced as to why this shouldn’t be
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.
Since the 1970 video games have become more popular than ever before. Generating 11.7 billions of dollars of sells every year or more, the video game industry is considered one of the largest industries in this century. However, video games have been a topic of controversy. With the sales of violent video games going up and the increased violence in schools and teenagers, video games are always to blame. Many people speculate that video games are the cause on why many teenagers have developed aggressive and violent behavior, are desensitize to violence, and the increase violence in schools and public places. In contradiction, video games have little or no fault in teenagers’ violent behavior and shouldn’t always be blamed.
One would be hard-pressed to find a household without any video gaming devices. In fact, over eighty percent of American households some sort of gaming device. On top of all that, violent video games have surged in popularity, occupying over 50% of the 30 top video games sold in 2015 (Kain). In light of recent mass shootings, video games are routinely accused as the culprit that influences one to violence. Researchers all over the world have tried to establish a causal relationship between video games and violence. Some researchers have come to the conclusion that video games, specifically violent ones, spark aggression. However, other researchers have come up with the opposite conclusion, that the studies that portray video games as detrimental
“The Columbine shooters played violent video games; that has to be a factor in their decision to brutally murder their classmates!” Society is quick to point fingers and approach unknown situations with a causal mentality that often results in a false accusation of an innocent bystander. With the advent of the video game era, psychologists have debated their effect on the minds of their youthful audience. Throughout the multitude of studies and the perpetual debate, society still lacks an absolute answer. With this knowledge, when it comes to video games and their impact on the minds of children, researchers must consult a wide variety of subjects with an open mind about the potential outcomes. I conducted my research by examining my personal experience, analyzing studies refuting both sides of the argument, trying to view the American fascination with violence through an outside perspective, and reviewing the thought processes that lead the members of the Entertainment Software Rating Board (ESRB) in order to gain a full perspective of the issue. What correlation exists, if any, between violent video games and the violent tendencies that children exhibit after exposure to said media? Throughout my research, I have discovered that a trend does exist, but it manifests after the child has encountered puberty because of the heightened levels of testosterone that accompany this phase of development, and the trend relies heavily on other factors in a violent disposition. The age factor generally fails to exist in the violent tendencies argument; this is intriguing in that the majority of violent videogames are targeted toward an older audience. In order to truly understand the violent tendencies of mankind, we must first analyze these ...
“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)
The authors demonstrate how the thoughts of people can be guided towards ways of thinking from peers, leaders, the news, and media. In Do Video Games Kill? Sternheimer gives evidence that shows how easily people will believe information and develop an opinion about it without doing their own research or hearing information from a primary source. Sternheimer says that “only seven articles identified sociologist experts” and that “ the majority of studies produced evidence that is inconsistent or even contradicts”( 207). Sternheimer’s essay discussed how video games may be influencing teens in using violence but “Their research was was based on college undergraduates, not troubled teens”(Sternheimer 207), making the data inaccurate for high school
Although violent video games are thought to encourage real world violence, they actually help to prevent it. I am focusing on violent video games and how they affect juveniles because I feel that this issue needs to be looked at in the criminal justice community. It is an unnecessary distraction to blame the actions of a disturbed youth on a form of entertainment that has been used by millions of people without incident. A review article published in The Psychiatric Quarterly found that many studies which claim to indicate an increase in aggression due to video games are, in fact, biased! Once the bias is taken into account, the studies no longer find any correlation between youths who play violent video games and youths who demonstrate aggression and violent behavior.
It is human nature to believe that you are less susceptible to being fooled than anyone else. Many people believe themselves to be practical, logical, and unbiased. Karen Sternheimer, the author of “Do Video Games Kill,” and world renowned positive psychologist Dan Gilbert, the author of “Immune to reality” challenge this idea. The human psychology has a keen ability to be fooled, whether it be the psychological immune a system or flawed research. Karen Sternheimer used “Do Video Games Kill,” to show the underlying nature of human psychology.
In the past fifty years media has played a major role in the development of the American society. Due to our modern era, video games of all types are played on a daily basis by a large amount of children. However, some of these games, especially the extremely violent ones, can be detrimental to a child’s thought processes and behavior. In my investigation of whether or not violent video games negatively affect children, I read two articles about the effects of violent video games on the youth. The first text was an article entitled, “Children and Violent Video Games”, which was found on the Dr. Phil’s website. The second text was an article by Christopher J. Ferguson and Cheryl K. Olson entitled “Video Game Violence Use Among “Vulnerable” Populations: The Impact of Violent Games on Delinquency and Bullying Among Children with Clinically Elevated Depression or Attention Deficit Symptoms.” The first article from Dr. Phil’s website explains how these violent video games install aggression and hatred towards others. The second article shows how research has proven that such accusations are false, and in fact, some of these types of aggressive media actually help children release anger and frustration they possess.
By: Paul Adachi and Teena Willoughby the article talks about how violent video are influencing people in general and causing them to become influenced by the video game creating conflict to society. In this study, the article did not say how many participants there were, but there were two different groups. One group will play violent video games and the second group will play nonviolent video games. The point this study as mentioned before is to see if video games cause aggression to children, adolescence and even adults. For example, thirty-one percent of adolescents play video every day and another twenty-one percent plays games for about five days a week. What is most concerning is the fact that almost half of the population plays violent, plus five out of ten play violent video games (Adachi, Willoughby, 2011). Both the articles that are mention both have a connection to the perspective theory of conflict and symbolic interactionism when being exposed to video games it causes a major conflict with others around them. Another example was the columbine shooting the shooters were teen boys and had been exposed to video games giving them that opportunity to learn on what they are play. By playing video games it cause danger to society and become highly aggressive (Adachi, Willoughby, 2011). Both articles talk about how video games are a negative influence and how it is being affected in
By an unknown author it states that “ Numerous studies have demonstrated that playing violent video games leads to increased aggression; thus, such games should be subjected to laws restricting children 's access to them. Violent video games are not like other forms of expression, because the user is an actual participant in the events portrayed in the game. Some forms of speech can be regulated under the First Amendment to the U.S.” There are many ways that people see video games aggressive and are concern about where is going to lead their sons and other kids. Families and friends are terrified with what is going to happen. In the article it mentions that “The debate over violent video games has raged since the 1970s, when such games first became common” there is a lot of different issues going around this topic but we never get to the right answer. In the passage it mentions that “ they claim, distinguishes them from other violent media. Far from serving any useful purpose, violent video games can alienate and isolate children, they contend, and potentially provide the impetus that transforms a troubled youth into a mass murderer”. We are able to contribute to a different perspective because when we see our kids playing violent video games we think that everything is alright but then we start seeing changes in their attitude, their dress code and the most important their thinking into a conflict between them and another friend. That why “In May 2003, Washington governor Gary Locke (D) signed into law a measure prohibiting the sale of video games depicting violence against police or other law enforcement personnel to those under the age of 17.” The concern that people were having came to a limit for the young but there is still more because young people always find a way to gain those video games with someone more bigger than them.
There is no doubt that the media can spin a story into a shocking and scary account produced solely with the intent to sell. This information, force-fed to the public, can cause fear and hatred to develop within our country and result in gun violence and bloodshed. One reason for the amount of youth violence in America is the violent content in many video games. The average adolescent spends a major part of the normal week watching or interacting with some form of the media’s products. Video games are one of these media-based mediums and have become increasingly popular since the 1980’s.
When Adam Lanza walked into Sandy Hook Elementary School last year and murdered 26 people, the majority of them small children, the nation was horrified. The latest in a series of mass shootings perpetrated by children against other children, the media coverage of the event sent news outlets into a familiar refrain: Lanza loved guns and violent video games, just like the Columbine killers and other disturbed teenagers who kill their classmates. Repeatedly, when trying to understand why these children kill, graphic violence in video games emerges as one of the elements that shoulders the blame. It would be wonderful if merely eliminating graphic violence in video games would solve the problem, but doing so would not solve the problem. No study has ever established that graphic media violence causes teenagers to commit murder. Although, some studies have established a link between aggressive behavior and exposure to violent video games, such games should not be legislatively banned because it is the prerogative of parents and guardians to monitor video game usage in the home.
Thirty that is the average age of people who play video games in America according to the ESRB. Yet when people talk about video games as a bad thing the topic that always comes up is that video games are bad for children and is going to rot their brains. But if people looked just at the numbers it could be seen that if video games really did rot people’s brains there would be millions of average American’s that would not fit in with the average public in the slightest. Why does this not happen. Because Video games are not harmful because society still functions, video games are used for training and for teaching, and video games bring people together.
Many people say that women have earned many rights and privilgies than previously; however, despite having all these privligies and rights such as voting or working, women are still degraded. Stereotypes and violence towards has been a major issue for many years, but men still continue to violate or judge a women in inappropriate ways. Today, the world is advanced in terms of science and technology, but the world is not advanced in terms of respecting females. I am not saying that all men degrade women or that all females respect each other; however, majority are men that belittle a women. Interestingly, most of science and technology is used to please men. For example, why are video games such as Grand Theft Auto portraying women as these