The Impact of Violent Video Games on Children’s Behavior and Cognition

Introduction

Do video games affect the way kids think? Adam Larson (2012) said ‘some violent games lead to aggressive behavior, attention problems, or poor school performance.’ Can video games help kids in some ways too? It was said that video games improve our coordination, improves problem-solving skills, and so on. Video games can have a bad or good effect, but students can’t let the game take over them or mess up the way they think. Bravely, video games such as Call of Duty make kids become violent.

Body

The Negative Influence of Violent Video Games

There are violent games that catch a lot of kids’ attention, but they become very violent and what they do. Darcia F. Narvaez Ph.D.(2010) “states violent video games have an even more powerful influence than violent television and movies, whose detrimental effects have been documented for decades.” Kids feel like it’s not a problem, but more kids participate in bad behavior because of violent video games. Kids see the things going on in GTA or Call of Duty and think it’s cool. Kids get influenced by these violent video games all the time, but we must make sure the children population doesn’t take it into action.

Some teachers see kids’ behavior change because of violent video games. Alice Park (2014) said, “Behavioral studies have shown an increase in aggressive behavior after violent video games, and what we show is the physiological explanation for what the behavioral studies are showing.” More kids even fight because the children population thinks it’s fun and funny. Alice Park (2014) states again that “The violent-game players, meanwhile, showed similar brain activity in the baseline tests, but after a week of playing violent games, they revealed significantly less activation of their emotional brain centers.” This is becoming a serious issue, especially in schools. A large number of referrals are being written each year.

Excessive Gaming Habits and Academic Performance

Kids are spending more time playing violent video games than going outside or doing other things. Emily Hughes (2014) said, “From the quote above, it is evident that kids involved with video games are spending 13 and 14 hours a week playing them rather than just an hour here and there.” Emily Hughes (2014) also states that “Results found that” “for boys, but not for girls, a stronger preference for each of the three types of violent games was associated with lower self-competence scores in one or more developmentally important areas, including academic, interpersonal, and behavioral skills” Cesarone (1998). Spending so much time on the games messes up the kid’s grades because kids don’t do their homework. The reason for this result is kids are always in the game. The parents must get serious and command kids to do homework and stop always playing video games.

How can we solve the problems we have with kids and violent video games? Anthony Pernaci (2015) said, “Move the computer and gaming stuff out of kids’ rooms and into public spaces in the home, like the living room, so they can keep an eye on what their child is up to.” Parents can stop buying these violent games and have the kids play games that will make the children’s population more happy and not aggressive. If the parent is not home, have whoever is with the kid watch him or/ she. The time is now we can stop this violence.

Influence on Academic Performance and Social Behavior

Video games are affecting kids’ cognition or the way the kids think. More of them are becoming more violent than ever. Also, to stop all the issues, we got to have someone to watch the kid threw the time playing the video game. Parents are not even serious about the situation. Parents think it’s all right, but do they know it’s affecting the kids terribly? Always remember that violent games are not good for kids, and people need to help to ensure safety and good behavior for the kids.

Violent video games affect young boys’ grades. Anna Jacobi (2012) said, “The results show that boys at the lower academic level preferred violent games significantly more than the boys at the medium or higher levels.” violent video games are taking over boys’ thoughts which is affecting them with their school work. Anna Jacobi (2012) also states, “So the results of this study suggest that boys at the lower education level are more at risk for the negative effects of violent video games.” This makes a lot of people mad because kids are not getting the push they need to do better, and parents are letting their kids play violent games all day with their child’s grades all messed up.

However, some video games can help kids in some ways as well. Vince (2018) states, “Recent studies completed by several noted research and scientific organizations have proven that playing video games could help improve the quality of life for the disabled and mentally ill.” Video games help kids’ vision too. Brian Handwerk (2009) said, “Previous research shows that gaming improves other visual skills, such as the ability to track several objects at the same time and pay attention to a series of fast-moving events, Bavelier said.” Most importantly, after all, video games do help kids with different things other than the brain.

The Positive Aspects and Responsible Gaming

Lastly, video games have negative and positive affect on kids. Also, the parents still must watch the kids even though there’s a good effect. Kids under the age of 12 shouldn’t be playing violent games but play games that will give kids a benefit. People should sit back and think, is playing video games that important? Video games shouldn’t be more important than homework; that’s the first result. Parents just don’t realize the kids are really failing because of the negative gaming. The issues things must stop parents need to keep their children away from violent games and let the kids play some helpful, beneficial games.

Lastly, there is another thing violent video games do to kids. Kids become so aggressive in many ways. Some of these shootings in school can be because of violent video games. Tibi Puiu (2018) “Yes, it is true that those responsible for school shootings in America have been players of video games.” this is crazy because kids let a game control the kid’s minds and what the kids do which makes the children end up in a bad situation. It’s sad to say they are blaming the game for these acts, but it’s true. In fact, tibi puiu (2018) also states, “Up until now, however, we’ve yet to come across any meaningful evidence that suggests that violent video games promote excessive aggression (as mentioned earlier, any video game, sport or challenging task will invariably cause temporary aggressive thought and potential behavior issues due to frustration), let alone criminal behavior.”

Conclusion

Extremely, why are you guys waiting? Do you need to go and change this before your child becomes the next criminal? Additionally, your child can also intentionally hurt another kid from the acts they see on the violent video game. To conclude, I’m begging please watch your kids because anything can happen at any time, and you guys know that you don’t want it to be your kids, so fix it and the time is now.

References

1. Darcia F. Narvaez Ph.D. (2010) https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/blog/moral-landscapes/201011/playing-violent-
2. Adam Larson(2012). https://prezi.com/lzizjhk-opia/how-do-video-games-affect-the-mind/
3. Alice Park (2014). http://time.com/34075/how-violent-video-games-change-kids-attitudes-about- aggression/
4. Emily Hughes (2014).https://my.vanderbilt.edu/developmentalpsychologyblog/2014/04/effect-of-video- games-on-child-development/
5. Anthony Pernaci (2015). https://prezi.com/snhrbvdbhteb/video-game-violent-problem-and-solution/