Essay on Examining the Impact of Violent Video Games on Children's Behaviour

"We don't benefit from ignorance. We don't benefit from not knowing the science of this epidemic of violence." These are the words of the former US President Barrack Obama during a press briefing held on Jan 3rd, 2013, where he outlined a $10 million plan to research the effects violent video games had on children. This came less than a month after the Sandy Hook elementary school shooting in Newton. The impact of violent video games does not only affect children's behavior but also their psychological wellbeing, thus affecting their psychological state in their adult age. Today, more than 90% of US children play some video games. In this regard, I will be discussing the impacts of violent video games on children by first highlighting the psychological problems linked to playing violent video games, followed by the factors promoting their exposure to children, and finally, the solution to protect our children.

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First of all, to fully comprehend how these video games affect a child's psychology, We must understand the process of human psychological development. During childhood, children learn how to solve problems, classify ideas and understand seriation logically. Exposure to violence teaches children that violence is a logical way to solve problems to ascend or attain a set prize. Additionally, as stated in 2003 in the book Media, Violence and Children, Anderson et al. explain that playing violent video games demands continuous activation of aggressive scripts, which can promote the belief that the use of aggression is effective conflict resolution.

Now that I have stated the psychological effect, I am going to discuss the factors that promote children's exposure to violent video games. The most common of all is peer pressure, as explained by Bandura et al. in 1977, in their book Social Learning Theory. They assert that learning occurs through direct observation and experience of people’s cnoduct. Consequently, the promotion and advertising of new games on the social media platform and their availability on the internet have highly increased the number of video-game-playing children.

This brings me to the last issue. How do we prevent this from happening to our children? One effective way is through legislation. Several states, including California, Georgia, and Washington, have enacted regulative laws prohibiting the sale of sexually explicit and violent video games. However, there has been a limited effort by the legislative and judiciary in the topic. For instance, since 2001, there has been no legislation proposed in states such as Connecticut. This support would provide the required framework on the creation, sale, and distribution of such games.

In conclusion, I started by explaining the psychological effects of violent video games to children; secondly, I highlighted the main factors promoting the playing of such games and finished off by proposing the main solution to protecting our children. So now, its time for you to join in and promote our children's mental wellbeing by taking an interest in what games our children play. Children exposed to prosocial video games have been seen to have a healthy social and emotional life than those exposed to violence. It is up to you to decide which side you are on.

Works Cited

Bandura, Albert, and Richard H. Walters. Social learning theory. Vol. 1. Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Prentice-hall, 1977. http://www.asecib.ase.ro/mps/Bandura_SocialLearningTheory.pdf

Gentile, Douglas A., and Craig A. Anderson. "Violent video games: The newest media violence hazard." Media violence and children (2003): 131-152. https://books.google.co.ke/books?hl=en&lr=&id=4B-J0U2TIwcC&oi=fnd&pg=PA131&dq=craig+anderson+2003+impacts+of+violent+video+games+on+children&ots=Crj0VaSF-b&sig=RvEDKoD2TZ56iw8PTMyr3h064ow&redir_esc=y#v=onepage&q=craig%20anderson%202003%20impacts%20of%20violent%20video%20games%20on%20children&f=false