The Ongoing Debate of Children and Video Game Violence
With the rise of technology in the 21st century, it’s not difficult to see the influence that it has on our society. More specifically, with teenagers and children. Children’s minds are like sponges. They see, hear, and remember everything. From everyday conversations between parents to watching television or even playing a video game. That being said, people have questioned the effects of violent video games on children. Do games like Grand Theft Auto or Call of Duty really have a negative effect on children? In this essay, I will be looking at different perspectives of the video game debate and analyzing whether or not video games truly have a negative effect on children or if it is just …show more content…
Vandewater, M. Shim, and A. Caplovitz about the effects of television and video games on child obesity and activity level. The experiment involved 2,831 children from ages 1-12. Their experiment showed that television had very little correlation to increased weight in children, but increased video game use had a positive correlation with adverse weight and activity level. It also showed that children under the age of eight seemed to dominate the positive correlation of increased game play with increased weight status. The study did not mention violent video games, but they do still fall under the category of a video game which would mean that this study could also correspond to mature rated …show more content…
Parents, children, or video game companies? Most would say video game companies, but if that is the case then why are they still allowed to make these games and sell them? Many people believe the government should regulate the companies that make these harsh games. As a rebuttal, the Entertainment Software Ratings Board (ESRB), which establishes ratings for video games, mentioned in a survey that 85% of parents knew what the ratings stood for. The ESRB was quoted in an article by Christina Lyons and it said:
“The extensive tools and programs that ESRB provides to help parents are one reason that government efforts to regulate computer and video games are unlawful,” the Entertainment Software Association says on its website. “The First Amendment protects interactive entertainment software, and the government generally cannot restrict their sale, any more than it can ban books or movies.” (Lyons)
Since video game companies are protected by law with the first amendment then it would be futile to challenge them on their right to make violent video
With the rise of technology in the 21st century, it’s not difficult to see the influence that it has on our society. More specifically, with teenagers and children. Children’s minds are like sponges. They see, hear, and remember everything. From everyday conversations between parents to watching television or even playing a video game. That being said, people have questioned the effects of violent video games on children. Do games like Grand Theft Auto or Call of Duty really have a negative effect on children? In this essay, I will be looking at different perspectives of the video game debate and analyzing whether or not video games truly have a negative effect on children or if it is just …show more content…
Vandewater, M. Shim, and A. Caplovitz about the effects of television and video games on child obesity and activity level. The experiment involved 2,831 children from ages 1-12. Their experiment showed that television had very little correlation to increased weight in children, but increased video game use had a positive correlation with adverse weight and activity level. It also showed that children under the age of eight seemed to dominate the positive correlation of increased game play with increased weight status. The study did not mention violent video games, but they do still fall under the category of a video game which would mean that this study could also correspond to mature rated …show more content…
Parents, children, or video game companies? Most would say video game companies, but if that is the case then why are they still allowed to make these games and sell them? Many people believe the government should regulate the companies that make these harsh games. As a rebuttal, the Entertainment Software Ratings Board (ESRB), which establishes ratings for video games, mentioned in a survey that 85% of parents knew what the ratings stood for. The ESRB was quoted in an article by Christina Lyons and it said:
“The extensive tools and programs that ESRB provides to help parents are one reason that government efforts to regulate computer and video games are unlawful,” the Entertainment Software Association says on its website. “The First Amendment protects interactive entertainment software, and the government generally cannot restrict their sale, any more than it can ban books or movies.” (Lyons)
Since video game companies are protected by law with the first amendment then it would be futile to challenge them on their right to make violent video