Do Video Games Make Teens Violent? ENG 121500

So I've looked a lot into the possible negative side effects of playing video games, but are there any positive ones? What are they? An article by the American Psychological Association says in their article " Video Games Play May Provide Learning, Health, Social Benefits Review Finds " that playing video games can improve "cognitive skills such as spatial navigation, reasoning, memory and perception", along with problem solving skills, and ward off anxiety. Another article, "9 Ways Video Games Can Actually Be Good For You" by Drew Guarini, also mimics this idea, linking a study, which you can find here . It says that a group of young adults were asked to play the game Sup er Mario 64 for 30 minutes every day for two months, comparing to a control group who played more video games, the people who played video games daily had more grey matter in their "right hippocampus, right prefrontal cortex and the cerebellum — areas of the brain responsible ...

source Hold on, I know that title sounds awfully harsh. But yes, sometimes parents can make bad decisions. It's hard to admit to it, which is why parents often blame external things for their childrens behavior. In the article " This is Your Child's Brain On Video Games " Victoria Dunckley provides a story about a child named Aiden who is playing video games. She explains that playing video games causes your heart rate to rise, and your fight or flight response in engaged. Aiden eventually has a tantrum, lashing out at his little sister and parents. The other half of the article is her explaining the brain and what exactly happens when you play video games, our natural behavioral responses to stress and stimuli. But do you know what else causes these same reactions? Movies. Tv. Music. Are we just going to remove all of those from our children too? How are video games any different? They're just another way to blame parenting decisions on something else. Inste...

Many have said the correlation between violent video games and violent people is clear. Now, of course there is some correlation, many violent shooters have been known to play violent video games. First of all, correlation does not equal causation, especially since there has always been violent people, long before video games were even invented. This rise in gun violence has happened around the same time video games have shot into popularity, but out of the 155 million Americans who play video games , how many of this 155 million Americans violent? So back to what I said earlier, correlation does not equal causation. Just cause video games have shot into popularity, doesn't mean that they are causing violence. Need proof? Here is a chart showing the number of people who have drowned by falling into a pool, and the amount of films Nicolas Cage has starred in.  source Sounds to me like we need to stop making movies with Nicolas Cage.  Anyways, I can put up all the sil...

Now if you follow controversy in video games and violence, No Russian might be something that sounds familiar. If not, it is a level in a game called Modern Warfare 2, and this level stirred up some of the most controversy the gaming industry has seen in years. What is it? Why is it such a big deal? And what does it say about the video game industry and video games as a whole? This moment in Modern Warfare 2 has gone down as one of the most controversial moments in gaming history. If you aren't aware, Modern Warfare is a war simulator. In it, one of the missions leads you to a airport in Russia. You are a undercover CIA agent trying to gain the trust of a Russian terrorist group. In summary, you walk into an airport filled with civilians and gun them all down. Now this stirred up a lot of controversy. Many said that putting someone, especially someone underage, in the shoes of a terrorist shooting innocent people can be disturbing, and can convince a easily manipulated child into...