Wednesday, November 28th 2007
Video Games May Cause Violence
As more and more video games come into the spotlight for their violent nature (Manhunt 2 springs to mind), a study carried out by L. Rowel Huesmann, a professor at the University of Michigan, claims to show a link between virtual and real-world violence. The study claims to show a strong correlation between on-screen violence and violent behaviour in adolescents and adults, based on more than 50 years of research on the effects of media violence. Huesmann said the following:
Source:
DailyTech
The research clearly shows that exposure to virtual violence increases the risk that both children and adults will behave aggressively. Children are also spending an increasingly large amount of time playing video games, most of which contain violence. Video game units are now present in 83 percent of homes with children.I haven't personally read through the publication, called the Journal of Adolescent Health, so whilst I'm not saying it's wrong, I'd be interested to see how you can prove that a video game is the cause for violence and that it isn't simply the case that violent natured people tend to play more violent video games.
33 Comments on Video Games May Cause Violence
Maybe because of this they feel cheated.
How can they play violent games when it's socially wrong for someone of thier ages to be even playing games at all!
So maybe they are trying to take away our right to play violent games because they are deprived of it.
"What will my peers think. . . ."
Screw these "studies". Most of them are probably biased from the get-go so no point in paying attention to them. Like it's been mentioned before, if they're going to start picking on video games for being violent, they should also take a look at TV, movies, the internet, and the radio (lol).
While they may be mentally or emotionally 'disturbed' naturally, we're not helping the issue.
Should the rest of society,who are capable of differentiating between the real and virtual world, be hindered or 'suffer' because of the inabilities of naturally disturbed persons, who cannot exhibit moderation or an appropriate level of behavior?
Opinions will vary, yet if the answer is "no," then the question becomes, "Who will enforce such a belief?"
The people and groups of people that conduct this type of research have the intent of helping to educate others, to benefit society as a whole, so society CAN police itself, rather than having to resort to totalitarianism or dictatorship.
Ultimatley the worst part is the childish and immature responses to a subject that's been long talked about in the past two decades. You'd think people would either support it, or just be quiet.
And my answer to the question is no. Society shouldn't be held accountable. The disturbed person was raised, or otherwise grew up, with a parent or guardian of some sort. It's in the hands of said parents/guardian to get help for the person before it's too late. Well, that's my opinion, anyway.
My gf's yougest brother has had every label slapped on him, ranging from ADHD to Autistic, and his behavior has slowly been getting worse over the last few years. He's now 15, but displays 7 out of the 8 major traits of sociopaths or psychotic killers, and it all feeds back to when his mother left their father.
My mother works with the public school system, and I've seen some "distrubed" kids when I've been at the school helping my mother out, and when you meet the parents you can usually see why the child acts the way they do.