Violent Video Games Might Be to Blame for Violent Behavior
Violent Video Games Might Be to Blame for Violent Behavior Is Media Violence a Problem?, 2010
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Mark and Keisha Hoerrner, "Video Game Violence," Children's Voice, vol. 15, January/February 2006. Copyright © 2006 Child Welfare League of America. All Rights Reserved. Reproduced by permission.
Mark Hoerrner is a writer and the author of several articles on the media's effect on children. Keisha Hoerrner is department chair of Kennesaw State University's First-Year Programs and a researcher who specializes in children and media issues.
While many parents scoff at letting their children watch violent movies, they often consent to buying violent video games for their teenagers without checking the industry ratings. Researchers contend that a link exists between violent video games and real-life violence in teenagers and young adults. Violent images don't necessarily create violent children, but gamers learn that violence is an accepted means to solve problems, and they perfect shooting skills as though they were handling real weapons. Even though games can teach children valuable coordination skills, parents and caregivers need to make sure that their children only view age-appropriate content and are made aware of the difference between on-screen actions and socially acceptable behavior in the real world.
Thomas has a 21-inch flat-screen monitor and an optimized computer with a 4 GHZ processing speed. His hard drive is fast and large; he's packed in close to three gigabytes of RAM and has a video card with dual 512K processors. It's all about speed and graphical processing. He's jacked in to a high-speed Internet connection, and he's off and running.
Thomas isn't a programmer or a network engineer, though he's considering that as a possibility for the future. He doesn't have to worry about that now, though—he's only 13 years old and has a long time to make up his mind about a career.
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Top of Form
Bottom of Form
Mark and Keisha Hoerrner, "Video Game Violence," Children's Voice, vol. 15, January/February 2006. Copyright © 2006 Child Welfare League of America. All Rights Reserved. Reproduced by permission.
Mark Hoerrner is a writer and the author of several articles on the media's effect on children. Keisha Hoerrner is department chair of Kennesaw State University's First-Year Programs and a researcher who specializes in children and media issues.
While many parents scoff at letting their children watch violent movies, they often consent to buying violent video games for their teenagers without checking the industry ratings. Researchers contend that a link exists between violent video games and real-life violence in teenagers and young adults. Violent images don't necessarily create violent children, but gamers learn that violence is an accepted means to solve problems, and they perfect shooting skills as though they were handling real weapons. Even though games can teach children valuable coordination skills, parents and caregivers need to make sure that their children only view age-appropriate content and are made aware of the difference between on-screen actions and socially acceptable behavior in the real world.
Thomas has a 21-inch flat-screen monitor and an optimized computer with a 4 GHZ processing speed. His hard drive is fast and large; he's packed in close to three gigabytes of RAM and has a video card with dual 512K processors. It's all about speed and graphical processing. He's jacked in to a high-speed Internet connection, and he's off and running.
Thomas isn't a programmer or a network engineer, though he's considering that as a possibility for the future. He doesn't have to worry about that now, though—he's only 13 years old and has a long time to make up his mind about a career.