Do Violent Video Games Cause Behavior Problemss
Melissa Monaghan
Professor Payne SDS 103
10/12/2012
“Do Violent Video Games Cause Behavior Problems” Looking at society today, it is very apparent that certain technologies have had a major impact on it, in both negative and positive ways. One of the biggest technologies is video games. There has been extensive research done on the impact of video games on society. The question that everyone is trying to answer is do violent video games cause behavior problems in youths mainly and are they contributing to higher crime rates and school shootings. Or are people just looking to place the blame somewhere. It’s hard to narrow this topic down into a simple yes or no. Some studies prove that numerous factors need to be taken into consideration. The Pew Research Center reported that boys are more likely to play violent video games with 90% overall playing some type of video game and 2/3 being action adventure game, with 60% of the content containing violence. Now, only 40% of girls play video games, with only maybe 1/3 of them playing games containing violent content. One particular video game series “Grand Theft Auto.” has an extremely high rating, per Entertainment Software Rating Board(ESRB). Their description of the series' content is blood, gore, intense violence, strong sexual content, and drug use. The interesting thing is 90% of games containing violent content are rated for children ten years of age and older by ESRB. There also have been scientific studies on the brain by gamers and known gamers at the Life and Brain Center at the
University of Bonn. The psychologist, epileptologists, and neurologist did a research study. They showed
Professor Payne SDS 103
10/12/2012
“Do Violent Video Games Cause Behavior Problems” Looking at society today, it is very apparent that certain technologies have had a major impact on it, in both negative and positive ways. One of the biggest technologies is video games. There has been extensive research done on the impact of video games on society. The question that everyone is trying to answer is do violent video games cause behavior problems in youths mainly and are they contributing to higher crime rates and school shootings. Or are people just looking to place the blame somewhere. It’s hard to narrow this topic down into a simple yes or no. Some studies prove that numerous factors need to be taken into consideration. The Pew Research Center reported that boys are more likely to play violent video games with 90% overall playing some type of video game and 2/3 being action adventure game, with 60% of the content containing violence. Now, only 40% of girls play video games, with only maybe 1/3 of them playing games containing violent content. One particular video game series “Grand Theft Auto.” has an extremely high rating, per Entertainment Software Rating Board(ESRB). Their description of the series' content is blood, gore, intense violence, strong sexual content, and drug use. The interesting thing is 90% of games containing violent content are rated for children ten years of age and older by ESRB. There also have been scientific studies on the brain by gamers and known gamers at the Life and Brain Center at the
University of Bonn. The psychologist, epileptologists, and neurologist did a research study. They showed