Medias Affect of Children

Do video games and television have any effect on the behavior of today’s youth? According to statistics, based on the age and gender of children, the answer is yes. Between the violence and sex, the media plays a big part in the choices children make. Playing outside with other kids also has big part in the affects these games and television shows have on behavior. With the amount of time kids spend on watching television or playing their video games, it’s no surprise that it has major affects them.
It is reported that boys spend an average of 2 hours a week playing video games, going up almost to 10 hours in the fourth grade (Funk, Germann, Buchman 1997). The negative aspects of video games seem to have a bigger affect on younger children. Through many experiments researchers have found that playing hostile video games creates aggressive behavior in younger kids (Cooper $ Mackie, 1986). One experiment consisted of two groups of boys ages 7-8. One group was assigned a non-aggressive game while the other had to play a game filled with violence. After playing, the kids had free play time. The children who played the violent game had aggressive tendencies towards objects and play time while the other kids did not.
The same type of experiment was carried out using young adults to see if the affects of violent video games had any negative impacts on their behavior. The results showed