Video Game Violence And Public Policy Analysis

Video games are a very popular form of entertainment among children and teens, but recent studies show that they may do more harm than good. With around 79% of American children playing video games for an average of eight hours a week (according to David Walsh’s paper on the subject), they get a lot of exposure to these games. An alarming amount of these video games are violent, however, and showcase gore and antisocial behaviors. Exposure to these games are not without detrimental effects. Playing violent video games can cause youth to have foul moods/develop antisocial behavior, develop aggressive behavior, and have an altered perception of the world. Antisocial behaviors are a major effect of playing video games in general, let alone violent video games. As mentioned before, American children are playing video games for several hours a week. When playing these games, children spend time inside, alone, rather than outside with friends. Playing video games can cause children to develop a mental addiction to games as well. And as with any addiction, when they aren’t satisfying their “crave”, they can experience withdrawal symptoms, which includes foul moods and even more antisocial behavior. When

In David Walsh’s paper “Video Game Violence and Public Policy”, Walsh lists countless examples of aggressive behavior caused by playing violent video games. Frequent arguments with teachers, physical fights, and physiological arousal during game play (increased heart rate and blood pressure) are all examples. And it’s no wonder that aggressive behavior is developing; if children see violence in video games, they begin to think that violence is okay. If they are spending hours and hours in a virtual world where fighting, violence, and gore is the norm, youth will begin to think that that behavior is acceptable in the real world as well. Which, as we all know, is never