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Do your kids ask for a bunch of video games and sit behind the T.V. playing them all the time? Well, these games you find so harmless can really do a number on your kids behavior and actions and you need to watch them for this. Video Games, especially violent ones, have been seen to increase aggressive thoughts and tendencies in children and young adults. They have also found that some kids become socially isolate, obese, and even addicted. With over 245.6 million games being sold a year just in the U.S., it’s unlikely anyone is unaffected by this growing business. Video games have become a huge part of our society and they need to be dealt with because they are not going away.
These days we blame video games for a lot of different problems and violent actions our children have gotten into the past several years. A good example of this is the Columbine shooting where 13 people died by two suicidal students. According to Jerald Block, a US psychiatrist, who differed with the FBI opinion of psychopathology and depression, the killers' actions were not well explained by such diagnoses. Rather, he states that the two killers, Klebold and Harris, were immersed in games like Doom, and that their lives were most gratifying while playing in a virtual world so they brought it into the natural world.
Video games open completely new concepts to your kids. They introduce violence like the killing of people or animals, introduce drugs and alcohol abuse, criminal behavior, disrespect for authority and the law, sexual exploitation, violence toward women, racial, sexual, and gender stereotypes, foul language, obscenities, and obscene gestures. Children and adolescents can become overly involved and even obsessed with these videogames. Spending large amounts of time playing these games can create problems and lead to poor social skills, time away from family,. school-work, and other hobbies; lower grades; reading less; exercising less, leading to becoming overweight; and aggressive thoughts and behaviors. These attributes are extremely worrisome and can lead to a very hard and difficult life.
Although video games carry many unsettling attributes they can also bring about good things. Kids who have played many video games have presented things like a talent for faster problem solving, become more susceptible to cooperation with others, can create on the spot strategies for a certain goal, an ability to manage resources and logistics, become exceedingly better at multitasking, simultaneous tracking of many shifting variables, and managing multiple objectives.
To keep these good characteristics that video games can give your children but leave out the bad stuff, you need to become more involved in your children’s game play. This will give you the opportunity to filter in and out what you want video games to teach your kid. It also helps create or even reinforce a bond between you and your kid and it will keep their gameplay from running rampant. I know some of you tell your kids they can’t play this kind of game or can only play for so long, but kids can still play countless hours without their parents even noticing that they are and if you don’t play with them, the game could be exceedingly violent without you knowing, so this is where the downside comes in. When I say you need to get involved with your kid, I mean get involved so that your kid won’t feel like they need to go behind your back to play. It’s important for this solution to work that you start this while your child is at a young age because they are so impressionable at young ages.
With video games rising in sales every year, it is important that we deal with this problem while it is still developing. Kids are young and extremely impressionable, they need eyes on them all the time to make sure they aren’t misbehaving, but video games can’t be a way of you letting them mess around and you just leaving them to it. You need to watch this as well because it can lead down two different roads and you don’t want to take that chance they might head down the wrong one.
Sincerely,
A worried Uncle
There is very little evidence that video games are linked to violence in children. For one, violent crimes committed by adolescents have been declining during a period when gaming and access to computers is prevalent. If video games were strongly linked to violent behavior, the opposite would be true. The United States Court of Appeals ruled that there is no substantial evidence that video games cause psychological harm to minors. There are some groups that claim there is evidence to suggest otherwise, but they use out of date research or interpret it incorrectly.
The only group that seems to be at risk from gaming are individuals who ALREADY have a personality disorder. Those kids didn't kill their peers because of Doom. He didn't become obsessed with the game BECAUSE of Doom itself. He became obsessed because he had a personality disorder that made him depressed and impulsive and prone to obsession. Millions of people have played Doom and never went on to kill anyone. If you've seen Doom, it isn't some high-res graphic blood feast. There are much more violent games available (that still are not linked to violent behavior.) If Doom never existed, those kids would still have killed their peers.
I've been a gamer all my life. I played Zelda on my dad's knee. I honestly just set down the controller after playing an hour of Borderlands 2. My character is a sniper build and I spent most of that hour going for head shots. Great fun! And much more realistic blood splatter and screaming than Doom.
Yes, absolutely engage with your kids about games. Look at what they're playing. Examine the ratings, which tell you not only the suggested age, but also what type of violence is involved (realistic, cartoonish, etc.) Set limits.
But video games are NOT some mind-sucking magic that will turn an innocent well-adjusted child into a killer.
Last edited by ParallelJJCat; 12-13-2012 at 12:45 AM..
I have quite possibly never read so much claptrap in my entire life.
I started playing Ultima Online when my oldest son was three years old. He would sit on my lap and and watch me play and ask me what everyone was saying. It wasn't too long until he was recognizing the words and knew what was going on. Video games have been a huge part of of my life, my three teenage son's lives and I'm hoping they will be a big part of my three year old daughter's life. Their mother and I have always been selective in what they play, vetting games the same way we would vet movies. As they got older their choices in games broadened.
Some of the mot memorable times in my life have been gaming related, midnight launches of Modern Warfare 2 and Halo Reach with my oldest and Black Ops with my younger two. Going to PAX in Seattle with my oldest for a weekend of incredible father/son time several years in a row. A concert of video game music with the entire family.
My sons are all honour role students. My oldest was the principal cellist at his high school. The younger two both play musical instruments (the youngest actually plays three). My youngest also plays soccer on his high school team.
When my wife and I move to Denver in a couple of months, XBox Live will be an amazing way for me to stay in touch with my boys.
So I would encourage the OP to stop talking about things he has no clue about.
I've been a gamer since 1982 when my husband and I bonded over Space Invaders in the lobby of our Basic Course while in the Army. I think that we've had every model of PC since then. My husband loved computers so much that he got a degree in Computer Science, taught a bit, and now makes a very good living at it. Both of us are avid gamers and will always be gamers until we no longer can move our fingers on the keyboard.
I agree with several posters here about video games and links to violence. In fact, recall reading a study that supports what ParallelJJCat mentioned in her first paragraph. I think it is unfair to paint a broad brush of all video games being bad.
Wtih that said though, I do agree a bit with the OP on some of what he said. I think that everything should be done in moderation. As a parent, there are certain games I'm not crazy about them playing. I'm not a fan of the violent ones either. Would I let my kid at 10 play Grand Theft Auto? Hell no. Would I let them join me in my current MMO--Secret World---which is fairly adult themed with foul language and scary content? Probably not. I do let them play kiddie themed MMOs like Wizards 101 and Pirates 101 which my kids really enjoy. I don't think that I would let them wander around an MMO landscape like World of Warcraft unsupervised and with chat turned in. I agree that it is pretty important to know what they are doing and whom they are chatting with if they are playing an online game. All of our computers are here in a central location so it is pretty easy to monitor. My friend on the other hand has let her son play every single game he wants including some pretty darned violent ones. Unfortunately, the kid is also addicted to them and that is all he wants to do when he is home. If they come over here, he want to jump on my computer to play and I tell him no---he pouts and glares. I think that in this case, it is a lack of parental monitoring. Heck at 9 this kid can't even tie his shoes or ride a bike. He is good at killing people and blowing crap up though.
Games can be fun, a good bonding experience for the family. Like everything though, you have to play in moderation and not let it get too unbalanced. I love my MMOs but at times, have had to really pull back a bit when I've gotten a tad bit too involved (the raiding scene for you MMO players on this board). It was interfering with family time and I had to moderate my own behavior as well.
In the mid 1980's I got my first game machine, the Nintendo entertainment system. I started Mortal Kombat as a teenager, and have played every violent video game since then. Currently on the top of my list is Gears of War (featuring a chainsaw for close in combat). I look forward to Grand Theft Auto V.
I am now married. I have two kids. Make plenty of money. Have never tried drugs. . . .doing good at work. Doing better at most, and I think some of that is because of video games (problem solving/quant at least). I will keep age in-appropriate games away from my children. . .
I have also paid attention to the information, and surveys. Yes kids are influenced and show aggression after video games, after movies, after playing cops and robbers, after getting their heart up in anyway. Taking the leap between this natural tendency to long-term impact hasn't been proven by any real study.
Blaming events like Columbine for video games is as realistic as blaming TV or magazines. These games are more widely played than any movie. Every kid will have been exposed and participated. Columbine is fine scapegoat, but the killers and the killed played doom. I played doom. Blaming games is about as realistic as blaming Charles Heston "Ten Commandments" for inspiring David Berkowitz. Crazy is as crazy does.
The fact is teen on teen crime is on the decline. Juvenile violent crime is at its lowest level since 1987, and fell 30% between 1994 and 1998 just as these games came into being. . .
The biggest and only issue I have with video games is the social and weight gain aspect. Everything in moderation.
Video games won't change your kid into a killer, but if you dont' watch it - they will make him a fat nerd
Personally, I thought video games were a wonderful thing for my young son's mind! Especially when he graduated from Atari (kindergarten) to Nintendo (1st grade). Playing games enhanced his reading ability and helped with solving puzzles.
I bought him the cutest computer when he was about 18 months old: It was blue, with big bright numbers and letters - in order of the alphabet - and on the side were all the colors. Included in the computer were games: spelling, math, matching, etc. It did other things like one could do on Paintshop. He had so much fun with it, but outgrew it.
When he was 3, his grandfather gave him a Commadore 64 that he just loved! He read the manual and learned how to make the screen do a ton of things (that I couldn't do). He memorized 10 numbers in a row for all kinds of things. (Yes, he did read the book by himself. However, he loved having me read sections for him if he was having a hard time with some of the words or meanings. He read that book until it was nothing but individual pages that he carried around in a canvas bag.)
Today my son is a fat nerd who mostly sits around playing video games or making video games or writing video game stories (for himself). He loves RPGs, but enjoys the Grand Theft Auto games for the random joy of killing people. No, he is not sadistic, nor does he have a mean streak, he just likes to kill his own demons and uses those in the game as substitutes. I don't worry that he will take out any real people.
Linmora, my son has Asperger's. I found this out just a few years ago. (He is now almost 30.) At 9 years old he could NOT tie his shoes, nor could he peddle a bike. I thought he must be about thee weirdest kid in the world. Seriously, these things were something I really fretted over, since they seem to be milestones for most kids. Then I read about Asperger's and these two very things were listed as something hard to do for some with Asperger's. My son still can not do either. (He is a riot to watch on an exercise bike tho! )
I just mention this because you did so in your post.
Aspies are usually loners - although they do want to make friends. (but this is another topic)
Video games and the computer are my son's world. He gets out and about, but much prefers to be home playing games.
rhacer, I think it's cool you enjoy playing games with your kids! I don't much care for the RPGs that my son mostly plays, but I am usually good for an hour of Mario Kart or Smash. (I just had cataracts removed from both eyes and can't wait until after I have neck surgery and can hold my head up again... then he best watch out! I beat him when I was nearly blind!)
It is the parents' job to limit the time and what games are being played.
I had an Atari 2600 when I was 7. I had a Nintendo when I was 11. My parents did a reasonable job of limiting what games I played and how long I played them. When I became a teenager, they loosened up on the rules as long as my academics did not suffer.
My favorite anecdote about video games has to do with when I took the verbal portion of the SAT. I was never strong in the verbal skills (maybe I should have read more instead of playing video games?). However, on this particular SAT, I could find about 10 questions that dealt with words that I learned thanks to video games. 10 questions on 1 test? That right there raised my score by probably 80-100 points.
In my personal opinion, TV is worse than video games. And it is up to the parent to place controls on it. You can't take the "benefit" of having the TV/video game babysit your kid and then complain about what the kid learns from it.
My son is a gamer and has collected pretty much all the systems over his lifetime, even some earlier ones just becasue he wanted to see how they were "back in the day". He's also been involved in computer games, including a now defunct Star Wars MMO's which was a real blessing when he was going through a shy, awkward stage in his early teens (his guild accepted him and thought he was an adult). He's in college now and he and his friends hang out at my house several nights a week to play ALL SORTS of games. They move between video games to computer games to board games and RPG's and Warhammer w/minatures. DDR was also a big thing for a couple years in High School and he has a metal pad that still comes out at parties because the girls like it . I play some card games with them occasionally, it's been a very social thing for everyone. They do get out and do other things too, and they have all dated and have had girlfriends so they aren't missing out...they just love doing what they do.
I do think he spends too much time on games and not enough on school/work..but he gets it all done so I don't nag.
PS. My adult daughter loves video games as well but only certain ones. Zelda especially.
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