Violent Video Games and Television Shows

Ninety-one percent of kids between two and seventeen years old are playing violent video games. This is nearly 64 million kids in the United States (Scutti). The topic of violent video games and television shows have been popping up ever since games like Pac-Man and Space Invaders. These games have evolved into things much more inappropriate, such as Grand Theft Auto V and Call of Duty: Black Ops.

A very popular activity in today's society is playing video games. The number of children who are playing these games has increased tremendously since 2009.

This is obvious because every child you see today has some type of game or television show right in his or her hand. The shows on today's television always contain some type of disgusting behavior or things, such as guns and alcohol. One of the main questions that are associated with the violent video games and television shows is if these inappropriate games and shows are causing children in America to have aggressive behavior.

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Researchers are now beginning to answer these questions. Violent video games and television shows can increase aggressive behavior in children. Since children spend so much time watching and playing these inappropriate things, they end up being influenced in many harmful ways. The people who are influenced the most are more often teenagers, rather than younger children. The video games and television shows have become very realistic; however, this is a bad thing. Children are able to witness things like Osburn 2people killing and abusing other people or even animals.

One of the main things that is on everyday television and almost every channel in the world is drug and alcohol abuse. This is also a very big problem in today's teenagers.

Other major issues affecting our society and on these games and shows is racial, gender, and sexual stereotypes. Illegal crimes and criminal behavior are seen almost every day by children in America. These crimes are seen on things such as the news, the Internet, television shows, magazines, and video games. Children are also beginning to speak foul language and use impolite gestures without even realizing it (Video Games and Children: Playing with Violence).

Another thing on these video games and television shows is violence towards women. If kids never view these types of things, they will not do or think of doing them when they become older. Since the children play these games so often, they become accustomed to seeing these things, and they begin to not think about what they do or say in real life. On average, girls spend an hour a day or more playing these violent video games. Boys spend even more time than this, spending on average two hours a day on a video game console (Video Games and Children: Playing with Violence). Parents should be mindful of how long their children are spending each day on these games. This could be an effective solution to solve this problem (Do Violent Video Games Make Children More Violent?). Although many children and adults do not realize it, there are many long-term and harmful effects that violent video games and television shows cause on the users' minds.

Spending excessive time watching television and playing video games can cause people to spend less time talking and hanging out with friends and family, leading to poor social skills. Eventually, after watching and playing these violent things so much, kids will start to have Osburn 3aggressive behaviors and thoughts. This problem causes people to show less empathetic feelings towards other people. These issues have been showing up in Western and Eastern countries all over the world (Goldbeck and Pew).

Playing these games can also show negative effects on everyday children's lives. It can cause children to have lower grades. This is because the children seem to spend less time studying and reading, and more time playing games and watching television. Not only does it affect children's grades and social skills, but it also decreases the amount of sleep that a child needs. This could lead to major problems in the future. Studies show that a huge problem with the time spent on these gaming systems and television is that they tend to lead to obesity in children; this is because of the lack of exercise and physical activity they do.

Even though most of the games and shows out today are harmful to a kid's mind, there are many of them that seem to help the minds of children. (Video Games and Children: Playing with Violence). Many violent cases and incidents in the past by children and adults have led researchers to believe it was because of violent video games and television shows. One example of this is the Parkland shooting. This event took place in the state of Florida on February 14, 2018. The shooter of this horrible crime ended up killing seventeen faculty members and students of the Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School.

The Entertainment Software Rating Board, or ESRB, is almost positive that what caused the shooter to show this aggressive behavior is because of violent video games (Goldbeck and Pew). Another video game that recently came out, that many researchers have turned their focus to, is called Fortnite. One hundred players are dropped into a certain place or arena. As most teenagers in the United States know, the game is made to look like a cartoon; this does not change that fact that the main goal in this game is to kill all the other Osburn 4opponents. So far this game has already attracted over 125 million gamers since last September.

In 2015, a group of workers form the American Psychiatric Association, or APA, said that playing violent video games and watching inappropriate television shows can cause children to have more aggressive moods and behaviors (Do Violent Video Make Kids More Violent?). Other people seem to think that this study is completely wrong. Whitney DeCamp is an associate professor of sociology from Western Michigan University. He says that no matter how much blood, violence, and inappropriate behavior the games shows, it does not cause children to show aggressive behavior (Scutti). In conclusion, violent video games and television shows are starting to cause more and more problems in the United States and also around the whole world.

Americans need to find a way to get young children and teens away from these two things; if they do not it, will continue to grow worse and worse. Parents need to learn how to stop their children from these two types of technology; it could be things as simple as screen time limits, avoiding video games for very young children, or simply just taking the video games completely out of their lives. Aggressive behaviors of children will start to dwindle if parents will take notice of how much time their kids are actually spending on these game consoles and televisions. If Americans will do these simple steps, the problem of violent behaviors with violent video games and television shows will begin to decrease.