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ESSAY ON Do violent video games affect children...

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Do violent video games affect children? Introduction Video games are the best part time for children and young adults. Since the video games were first invented, the industry has taken over with a bang. In the past decade, over one million more advanced video games have been created. These games can be very addictive to children especially if they are not supervised. The most important activity for children these days is playing video games; they spend more time on video games than they do on their schoolwork and other chores. They affect not only children but also adults and young adults as well, and with good reason. The advancement in the technology of these games has come to a new level state of the arts; it’s now more exciting than ever, players can challenge each other in a more intense and exciting way and best of all, the players advance their reflexes and eye hands coordination. The games sound effects, three-dimensional graphics, and virtual reality has made the gaming experience feel more real[ CITATION Won121 \l 1033 ]. Players can now play with other players from anywhere in the world in real time, and this makes it exciting for the players. Some players take gaming very seriously that they take it as a sport and compete at an international level[ CITATION Won121 \l 1033 ]. As much as these games are very exciting,

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they have several disadvantages, and the biggest one is their addiction. One of the most addictive games is the violent ones, and kids find them very exciting, and that’s where video games pose a problem. In this research, I will show the negative impacts of video games on children, and as stated earlier video games are very addictive, and this is very common among children[ CITATION Jor141 \l 1033 ]. Addiction to video games will reduce the children’s productivity in their chores; this means that the children cannot concentrate on their studies nor do their assignments while they are at home. Without any doubt their performance in school will go down and most probably the children may leave out their talents like sports and focus on indoor video games[ CITATION Kar161 \l 1033 ]. Some research has been done to investigate the relation between violent behavior in children and violent video games[ CITATION Kar161 \l 1033 ]. In this research, we will see how violent video games affect people and how hostility and aggressiveness accumulate over a period[ CITATION Kar161 \l 1033 ]. Investigations show that playing violent video games for a consecutive period or days will increase the chances of hostile behavior compared to people who did not play violent video games. Although further scientific research shows that playing violent video games in short period will increase short-term aggression[ CITATION Kar161 \l 1033 ]. Young people need to learn the long-term effects of violent video games because they are at the most risk. The worst effect of video games is the negative impact it has on children’s physical health[ CITATION Gue12 \l 1033 ]. These children spend most of their free time on video games and forget some of the important activities of the day like eating, which in turn causes them to be

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malnutrition and hence cause other illnesses[ CITATION Gue12 \l 1033 ]. Children in their adolescence today are mostly at school viewing media events, on their phone, on computers, listening to music, watching movies or playing video games. They spend eighty percent of their time on technology. Research has proved that video games are the main course of physical health, and the greatest health risk affecting the children of America these days is obesity[ CITATION Kar161 \l 1033 ]. Obesity has become a pandemic in the United States; four of every ten children suffer from obesity. Other illnesses’ cursed by video games include skeletal disorders,

video-induced

seizures,

nerve

compression

in

children

and

postural

disorders[ CITATION Gue12 \l 1033 ]. Video games affect children mentally, according to some research done on children who play video games, their minds are always destructed and become habitual that they don’t prioritize school work and in turn, their school performance deteriorates[ CITATION Kut16 \l 1033 ]. The huge amount of time spent playing video games have bad effects on children’s general performance in school work[ CITATION Kut16 \l 1033 ]. This games teach students obsessive languages and also some violent behavior and tactics, and as a result, they corrupt the mind of the children. The content found in these video games does play important roles in children’s development[ CITATION Kut16 \l 1033 ]. If the content of the video games is negative, the effects on the child’s development will be negative, and if the content of the video games is positive they will have a positive impact on children’s minds[ CITATION Kut16 \l 1033 ]. These happen because children at the adolescences stage pick up on a lot of things and are easily carried away. Recent research shows that almost forty percent of video games have violence in them and another 30 percent have violent actions on characters in the game.

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Violent video games are the second biggest cause of psychosocial problems in America today. Children who play video games are mostly so addicted and into the game that they get isolated from the rest of the world and that they don’t concentrate on what’s happening around them[ CITATION Car12 \l 1033 ]. They don’t socialize or bond with family members to the levels required, this causes psychosocial isolation. The reason as to why these children act aggressively is because the game characters act as their role models and tend to behave like them. Research suggests that increased aggressive behavior and aggressive responses in children are caused by violent video games [ CITATION Car12 \l 1033 ]. During the early childhood years, children learn a lot of things which the will carry on to their adult lives. If children are impacted positively during these early stages, they will be carried forward in their life’s ahead. Children are more vulnerable to long-term psychosocial effects that may get from violent video games because of their age[ CITATION Dun151 \l 1033 ]. The video games virtual reality advancement has made the killing process in these games very real. This has the worst effect on the young children because they are taking the killing role personally. Most parents can’t allow their children to watch R-rated movies but allow them to play these video games and they are the main characters in these violent games. This entire experience is more deadly on the young children’s minds. Violent video games cause vasoconstriction which alters the cardiac system in children’s bodies; the vasoconstriction is majorly caused by sympathetic nervous stimulation[ CITATION Car12 \l 1033 ]. In the nervous system are altered with they cause nausea, headache, and dizziness. In young adults, violent video games cause hostility and aggressive thoughts. This was measured using several students. These students were given virtual reality games to play; the students who played violent games expressed dizzy spells nausea and aggressive thoughts

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compared and the other students who did not play violent games reported no such effects. Scientific studies show that some children are more affected by video games than others. Children who are more vulnerable to the effects of violent video games mostly lack parental guidance and suffer from low self-esteem. Children who are prone to the effects of these games believe that the world is scarier and meaner and hence causes physiological effects on children[ CITATION Car12 \l 1033 ]. Violent video games teach children wrong values for behavior reinforcement. There is something called positive reinforcement in psychology. This is a method used to reward children if they have done something good, either a good deed at a school or a good job. In video games positive reinforcement takes a very bad turn, players are rewarded by killing their opponents or defeating their opponents using any means necessary. The violent video games are the total opposite of positive reinforcement they reward for killings and aggressive acts. This affects a child’s perception of what should be rewarded, they are rewarded for aggressive deeds in games and also rewarded for good deeds in real life, and this causes confusion in children. Success in schools is measured by the grades that children get, but in violent movies, they are measured by their killing rate[ CITATION Won121 \l 1033 ]. This will further confuse the children when it comes to positive reinforcement since in video games success is accomplished by killing other characters. The personal experience felt by a child mostly on violent video games and films can have a huge impact on interpersonal interactions of a child[ CITATION Gue12 \l 1033 ]. Children can internalize unconsciously what’s happening by what they are seeing. The violence they see can be emotionally stressful and alters interpersonal interactions, and they also cast a negative cloud on the children. Most children who play violent video games tend to resolve their problems with

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violence; the violent video games show teach children to express their misunderstanding physically, it’s easier for these children to solve their problems by pushing one another and throwing punches than expressing emotions using words. Research shows that young children mostly preschoolers show emotional distress and fear when shown violent and bloodied scenes mostly from videos and games. Children internalize These videos and affect them unconsciously affects them. When these children are put in such violent situations, they become restless and anxious. Educators and parents argue that despite all the negative effects that video games have they also have some positive impacts on the children’s life. Children who play video games gather more skills than those who do not play[ CITATION Kut16 \l 1033 ]. Parents argue that children who play video games and to counter achieve higher in schools. And to counter even more parents believe that violent videos games relax bodies and a good way to relieve stress. When children play video games, they become independent and busy while parents can work peacefully without disturbance[ CITATION Gue12 \l 1033 ]. Parent in the modern world thinks they should introduce their children to technology during their younger days so as to be updated and stay relevant technology wise. Without any doubt, there are many people who prefer violent video games than any other, because of their interesting and entertaining nature[ CITATION Gue12 \l 1033 ]. This has caused the high rates of increased popularity among the young generation. It is said that they help increase reflexes, hand-eye coordination in greatly increased when playing this games. In playing video games players have to use a lot of logistics planning’s and resource management, the player can plan how to manage their resource and plan how to use the limited resource, this can teach children good valuable life lessons that they can use in future[ CITATION Kar161 \l

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1033 ]. The best skill children can learn from this games is multitasking, they can use several buttons at the same time while staying completely focused on the screen. In conclusion, we can say without any doubt that violent video games have more negative effects on children than it does positive effects. It is essential for parents to learnt the negative effects of video games, and if it’s necessary to give children video games, parents should cross check the video games for violent and disturbing content[ CITATION Jor141 \l 1033 ]. They should ensure that children are well timed; everything that they do should be well balanced to give time for chores, schoolwork and extra curriculum activities[ CITATION Jor141 \l 1033 ]. As much as technology is the new trend and people should stay updated, children should be introduced to technology at the right age when they are strong enough mentally. It’s about time that educators and parents take action on the violent video games in order to stop their negative consequences.

Work cited

Carter, Gregg L. Guns in American Society: An Encyclopedia of History, Politics, Culture, and the Law. Santa Barbara, Calif: ABC-CLIO, 2012. Print. Dunckley, Victoria L. Reset Your Child's Brain: A Four-Week Plan to End Meltdowns, Raise Grades, and Boost Social Skills by Reversing the Effects of Electronic Screen-Time. , 2015. Print Guernsey, Lisa. Screen Time: How Electronic Media-from Baby Videos to Educational SoftwareAffects Your Young Child. New York: Basic Books, 2012. Print

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Jordan, Amy B, and Daniel Romer. Media and the Well-Being of Children and Adolescents. , 2014. Print Kardaras, Nicholas. Glow Kids: How Screen Addiction Is Hijacking Our Kids-and How to Break the Trance. , 2016. Print. Kutscher, Martin L. Digital Kids. Jessica Kingsley Publishers, 2016. Internet resource. Wong, Alice, and Natasha Fried. The Little Big Cookbook for Moms. New York: Welcome, 2012. Print...