Violent video games are harming the brains of young teenagers, scientists have found. The effects include increased activity in the part that governs emotional arousal. This is accompamied by a fall in activity in the region associated with control, focus and concentration. The research was carried out by a team at the University School of Medicine in Indanapolis. Team leader Professor Vincent Mathews said: "Playing a certain type of violent video game may have different short-term effects than playing a non-violent, but exciting, game." His study involved 44 adolescents who played a violent or non-violent video game for 30 minutes. They then performed a series of tasks measuring inhibition, concentration, and emotional responses. The group that played the violent game showed a loss of concentration and self control, coupled with increased emotion.
Considering the number of people playing these everyday is this not a hidden danger?
http://uk.news.yahoo.com/03122006/140/violent-video-games-harm-brain.html
'lastampodcast' may be able to tell reality from game but there are those playing these who a very liable to get confused. I myself have found it very easy to think I was James Bond after watching one of these movies. I can understand this danger. Kids have gone into the street and used knives more often these days.
Thanks to 'Vanes' for sharing that.
The dilemma expressed by 'thegenius_1978' is real. The parent do have to take responsibility and not buy these for the underage child. They also need to keep an eye on what bame the child plays.
Computer are becominig 'nannies' for some kids.
Fully agree with 'p_rutherford2003'.
'Papeversomniferum' is very fortunate to have a good head on her shoulder, Level 6, but there are parent who need better practical guidance on this issue. Yes this can affect others in society when a child uses a weapon on another in real life.
As 'Jeremy' says, its the parents who need to take the responsibility.
Ok, so which is the problem here? Violent games or stupid parents buying violent games for their kids?
Games with violence are meant for *adults*. They have either 15 or 18 BBFC age ratings (the ones with the same symbols as film ratings) which makes it illegal for shops to sell them to underage kids. *All* games have a PEGI rating which makes clear what kind of content a game has and provides recommended age guidance. Shops wont sell a game to a child younger than the PEGI recommended age (even though it's not an offence to do so).
If I had a penny for every time I'd seen an adult buying an 18 restricted game while their twelve year old salivates near the door waiting, I'd be rich indeed… Parents get warned by sales assistants that certain games are not suitable for their kids and more often than not, they choose to ignore the advice. More fool them.
It helped us survive in Iraq, I don't really care.
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Its not just PC games but its also thriller movies that ur speaking about..In each and every country there are people who watch and play …………It will never stop……So don't worry.
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Sounds right to me. Between that and MTV / VH-1, I think our country is pretty much doomed. We're going to have a group of mouth-breathing, brain dead morons running the country. God help us.
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I am aware about it. But there is nothing wrong with violent games. If your child cannot discern real life from fantasy, then it is the parental job to take it away from those children. If you can't tell the difference from fantasy and reality, then I suppose it would be a slight danger. Some people take these things way too seriously. That's why we have a rating system so parents can buy the games that are suitable for their children. As well as an age limit on buying M rated games.
My parents don't worry about it, because they know I can tell the difference between real life and fantasy, and can handle the violent content.
If you are going to put video games into this, you may as well put violent movies. A child could get the same impression from an actor or actress. So unless you want to just cancel out video games, I suppose you would have to cancel out movies aswell.
Lesson Learned From This: Don't be retarded and buy your 10 year old child Grand Theft Auto. Problem solved.
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I agree, it's no wonder why our generation is becomming so violent at such young ages, or at least, not being understanding or caring for the consequences. Look up Bandura for some interesting studies into this.
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I have seen it first hand in my brother when he has played those video games and then afterwards he is incoherent and doesn't respond well to others, he acts almost like my uncle acted when he came back from Vietnam.
After a few weeks of this behavior my mother took the xbox away from him and he's been just fine since then.
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I am aware and as a parent, the only thing I can do is thouroughly monitor what my children view. They get very little time for vidoe games and not time for violent ones. There are so many studies that do show that video games can be damaging to a developing mind. There are good things about them too I guess
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i am aware that this is bs
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Your right, the problem is the kids getting hold of these type of games. My family bought my 11yr old brother gta San Andreas. I hit the roof! I'm 28 and like to play games although i do play violent games i have never committed a criminal offence. Parents need to stop buying these games for there kids, pressure groups are trying to ban them, this just ruins it for those old enough to play them.
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Is it a hidden danger? Sounds to me like a company making exactly what the market is demanding – that's commerce.
Here's where the danger comes into play: How many kids/teens/whatever can afford a $500 system and then cough up $90 a pop for games?
Stop buying them for your kids, it's very irresponsible.
They'll thank you in the future.
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no it's not. because there's a difference between a measurable difference and an actual problem. it doens't worry me that some people are .000006% more likely to start a fight or whatever. just because there is this measurable effect in an academic setting doesn't mean that there is an actual difference in how these people function in day to day life.
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Welcome to this century!
Where have you Beeeen?
Now… we hear you, anything you can do to stop it besides sit here complaining about it? No? I didn't hink so!
Put yourself into a position to help… then we will listen!
Until then… children will play games like "Bully" and witness random acts of violence and boy on boy sex acts! Who NEEDS to see that during their recreation time or at all for that matter? I don't and neither do my kids.
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i agree between all the violent games and a lot of other stuff thrown in, all i have to say is god help the future generation of our country.
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I don't think you can blame violent games for violent behaivour. I was just saying about Gengis Khann, Mugabe, Saddam, Hitler etc I doubt they played video games and watched violent films. You could say porn makes men rape women if you went along that line. If you're gonna kill someone you will kill them regardless. It's up to thr parents to not buy something with an 18 certificate. The reason why ther is a certificate is because they are not allowed to be viewed by impressionable young minds. Perhaps they should look up how many murderers were driven to murder as a direct result of a video game.
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Ok, so which is the problem here? Violent games or stupid parents buying violent games for their kids?
Games with violence are meant for *adults*. They have either 15 or 18 BBFC age ratings (the ones with the same symbols as film ratings) which makes it illegal for shops to sell them to underage kids. *All* games have a PEGI rating which makes clear what kind of content a game has and provides recommended age guidance. Shops wont sell a game to a child younger than the PEGI recommended age (even though it's not an offence to do so).
If I had a penny for every time I'd seen an adult buying an 18 restricted game while their twelve year old salivates near the door waiting, I'd be rich indeed… Parents get warned by sales assistants that certain games are not suitable for their kids and more often than not, they choose to ignore the advice. More fool them.
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http://www.bbfc.co.uk/
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/PEGI
I used to play Street Fighter between doing homework, helped me with the frustration of difficult work. However I am not the violent type so not in the risk group. Perhaps these games should be locked until three questions are answered on-screen, which require an average adult intellect. It'll never happen I know, but would reduce misuse.
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so basically…..we can't give teenagers anything that they'll get too excited over or enjoy too much…
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It clearly depends on the kid. One kid'll play a game and think 'Wahey, I'll go and do this in the real world', like one kid'll think 'Superman can fly…so can I'. But another kid'll realise that it's just a game and distinguish between reality and fiction.
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Oh this story again.
This result cannot be taken seriously. They did a test on only 44 people!!! That's hardly a cross-section of the population, is it?
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Theres also the possibility this was a rigged study, in other words the scientists were paid off with money by special interest groups either directly or indirectly through washington, whereby politicans accept cash for negotional power over the government grants given to the scientists to study stuff like this.
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The first question i always ask is are we really more or less violent in this day and age? What evidence do we have to support this? Past ages are very easily forgotten or become skewed in perspective relative to present day values and beliefs. We also cannot rule out other more burdening factors such as increasing social stress due to increasing income disparity, rising price of living, job markets becoming more and more competative or simply a reaction to lack of security.
I'm not denying that video games and films can be a factor in an increase in violence but society is a large, cumbersome and complex beast and no one medium is going to be responsible for a rise in violent attitudes. The media seems to ignore this, relying on publicising the most readable factor instead of providing a balanced, objective and probing argument. If you want answers don't read newspapers. Sad, but true.
And, not only do you need to know who funded and carried out the study (it could be a biased or rigged experiment) you also need a much bigger study group to provide any definitive answers. 44 people does not constitute a proper cross section on which to base a proper psychological conclusion.
I'd say it is a hidden danger, but it's probably not the only one, so working exclusively on a solution to this will not solve the issue.
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This may well end up like smoking has now. It will be banned.
Yes the sample is small. It does not mean these games are totally safe. Those who claim this sound just like the smokers of the by gone days.
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not everyone is effected by violent video games. if i play mortal kombat am i going to try to shoot fire out of my hands.NO! you are over reacting to this. if someone does something violent i think they had problems way before they played video games
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