Causes And Effects Of Violent Video Games Essay Example

Technological advancement in has lead to both positive and negative effects on the society. In the current world, people get exposure to all sorts of video games and movies from their mobile phones, televisions, the internet, and computer. Some psychologist proposes that violent video games and movies have adverse effects on teens and children who watch them. The following is an analysis of the causes and effects of violent video games on teenagers and children.
Christopher Heffner (2003) opines that everything children see in their early ages affect them in one way or the other. From this perspective, Heffner argues that violent video games would have adverse effects on the children. Psychologists suggest that the violence in the movies increases aggression among the children. The interactive nature of the violent video games and films trigger motivations traits in the children. Apparently, children or the teenagers get rewards as they increase aggression in the video games either in high scores of going up the levels. When a person is continuously being rewarded for a behavior, psychologically, the person tends to internalize the behaviors. One would thus try to replicate it in future with anticipation of the similar rewards. Socially, therefore, the teens react to a typical situation with an increased aggression.
Too much violent video games might be addictive to the child or teen. Psychologically, habits that have high rewards tend to be addictive. Violent video games being very attractive to the children, and the teens, the children, and the teens spend a lot of time in isolation or engaging in online peer interaction as they play the games. Such make them isolated from the rest of the family or friends. Due to that, the teenagers would find it difficult to interact with other. As noted earlier, they would tend to be irrational emotionally due to lack of experience.
Moreover, addiction leads to higher vulnerability to depression and anxiety. For example, picture what happens when there is a technical breakdown of the power supply such that the teen or child cannot access the computer. There is a high possibility that the person shall be frustrated the whole day. The long term effects can be more severe leading to depression and other disorders.
Further, the violent videos games affect the social and to some extent cultural values. Morals form a central part of the society. Violent videos games inculcate into the viewer values such as vengeance, violence, no negotiation, among others. If the children learn these traits, they will end up lacking the right emotional balance and social skills. In addition, the children or teenager may have impulsive behavior and severe attention problems. Therefore, they may have challenges in school since they have reduced attention to achieve set goals.
On top of that, the violence makes the viewers have reduced empathy. There is also an increased risk of picking up foul language that usually places the children or the teens on coalition course with seniors or the authority.
There is a difference between actions in movies and reality. One must have had grown up to maturity to develop some of the right perceptions of live. However, in the event that one has been viewing violent films, such a person might have an imbalance between fantasy and the reality. Such a situation can be very harmful to the children or the teenagers in the future as they could make a wrong judgment.
On the contrary, there are also positive effects associated with violent videos games. Children and teen that play violent video games tend to have a lot of brain work out. They acquire high-level abstract thinking skills that even the schools do not teach. When the players have to overcome obstacles to outwit the enemy, the person must think a lot.
The player can have an increased level of hand-eye coordination, spatial skills, and excellent motor skills. While shooting the characters as they move, although not in a real world situation, one requires an acute eye and hand coordination. One must assess the speed of the opponents; take a position, aim, shoot, all simultaneously. A person with such skills, even if they are abstract in nature would have increased eye-hand coordination that can help in a real situation, such as playing real ball games.
In addition, the player learns accuracy (University of Rochester, 2010). Such happens since the player must learn how to make a quick decision without losing focus. It also increases situational awareness, perseverance, and pattern recognition, among others. The nature of violent video games leads to one learning how to multi-task. All these skills are critical in an individual’s life.
Violent video games expose the players to technological innovations. There are more and more games being invented every day. The video games require soft wares, virtual connections, etc. that the player must be conversant with in order to play them. Such can benefit the children or the teen in other areas of their life.

Works cited

Heffner Christopher. The Psychological Effects of Violent Media on Children. 2003. AllPsych Journal. Web. Accessed on April 18, 2015 from <http://allpsych.com/journal/violentmedia/#.VTGvf_AWb9s>