How Do Violent Video Games Affect Children

It is very common today, for children to be stuck in the house playing video games. With all the new technology we have these days they can play video games on the go. Many children spend as much as 9 hours a week playing video games and about 80 percent of high school boys play video games. However video games itself are not the problem; violent video games are the problem, which are what children play mostly. Violent video games can effect children’s behavior by increasing aggression, increasing violence, and decreasing self control Some people may believe that violent video games do not effect children in a negative way and that children know the difference between game and reality. However, violent video games can surely mess with a child mentally. Especially since games these days have become much …show more content…
Constant exposure to violent video games can cause fantasy problems, because children will start to believe that they are the actual character in the game. When starting off at such a young age, for games that are designed for adults, it will cause confusion when it comes to differentiating reality from virtual world. Children will start to believe that they are the character in the game, and wish to adapt actions done in the game to reality. There are many ways to determine if a game is violent or not. Violent video game consists of characters harming others, getting rewards for harming others, and harming others as entertainment. A survey among fourth through eight graders, showed that most children preferred violent games, because they get more entertainment out of them. Playing violent video games can have a both long and short term effect on children, causing them to have increased aggression and