Does Your Kid Become More Violent Or Aggressive?

1285 Words6 Pages

Does your kid seem more violent or aggressive? Well it may be that they are playing violent video games such as Call of Duty, Grand Theft Auto, Battle Field and Watchdogs. Violent video games have sprung a question: do they make kids more aggressive and/or violent? It’s a topic that researchers have been investigating for several years now.There are two sides to the argument: they make kids violent and it does nothing. Video games are just one of multiple reasons why people think kids are more aggressive.
A shooting in Columbine involved, “...two students who went on a deadly rampage at their high school. Television, movies, and video games have been a popular target for senseless acts of violence” (Time). Many people think the only result …show more content…

Games like Call of Duty and Grand Theft Auto sell like hotcakes whenever a new game to the series comes out. According to Time, “In the latest work to address the question, published in the journal JAMA Pediatrics, scientists led by Craig Anderson, director of the center for the study of violence at Iowa State University, found hints that violent video games may set kids up to react in more hostile and violent ways” (Time). Researchers asked kids “...if it was okay for a boy to strike a peer if that peer said something negative about him, ... these kids were more likely to say yes. They also scored higher on measures of hostility, answering that they would to respond with aggressive…” (Time). Playing long hours of video games can “...actually temporarily change the brain” (Time). According to CNN “In every group, children who were exposed to more video game violence did become more aggressive over time than their peers who had less exposure” (CNN). According to Time, “Overall, the students’ scores on aggressive behavior, as well hostile attitudes and fantasies about violence against others, declined slightly throughout the study. That’s because children tend to act less aggressively as they get older, and learn more mature ways of dealing with conflicts than lashing out” (Time). But not all people think violent video games change kids thoughts, they think their thoughts stay the same. So let's take a look at the other side of the