Violence In Adolescents

Video Games and Violent Behavior in Adolescents

Adolescent violence has been an on-going problem in the United States. There are many factors that contribute to violent behavior in adolescents. One contributing element to this problem is video games. However, violent video games are not the primary cause of violence in adolescents. Violent behavior in adolescents has made headlines in the last few years. There have been a number of school shootings in the past three decades which correlates to the rise of video games. The late 1980’s through the early 1990’s saw a sharp increase in the number of shootings. And from 1997 to 1999 there was another outbreak of shootings after the decline of the prior few years. This pattern of violent behavior
And this is just shootings, violence occurred at schools long before the 1950’s. It was just in a different form, usually stabbings and beatings. Also, while school shootings may have occurred more in the past few decades, overall the rate of violence has decreased as the popularity of video games has increased. When a tragedy occurs society likes to be able to point a finger at something to explain it. This allows people to cope with the aftermath. It also gives people the illusion of control because if they know why then they think they can prevent. Saying that video games are the cause of violence instills that sense of order, granting parents some peace of mind if only they would eliminate violent video games. In reality there is no one cause of behavior. While violent video games may affect the type of violence they do not instill in adolescents the desire to harm others. Also, this desire to assign blame has led to video games getting a bad rap. In the hours after the Virginia Tech shooting on April 16, 2007, anti-game activist Jack Johnson appeared on Fox News to blame the tragedy on the game Counter-Strike. It was later revealed that the shooter did not play video games but since this was after the media storm died down this information was
In fact all forms of media are blamed for perceived changes in the pattern of adolescent behavior when they are new. Movies and television shows were both put forward as causes for violence among adolescents. And it was not that long ago that rock and roll was the ‘reason’ that the youth was rebellious. Video games are just one more in a long line of forms of entertainment that have been blamed for the violent adolescents. The reason video games are the hot topic right now is that movies, television, and rock and roll have been around for a long time; they are established. The current decision-makers all grew up with these other forms of entertainment and therefore do not regard them as dangerous. In twenty years, when this generation of adolescents is in charge, it is assured that something else will be to blame because they have grown up with video games and will not view them as inherently