Essay Sample on Video Games & Negative Impact on Kids: Effects & Solutions

Introduction

The television of violent video games has led to the development of bad behavior among children and people who are frequently involved in playing or watching intense scenes on the television. Violent video games make the child suffer from aggression, poor academic performance, and they might lack empathy. The mind of children revolves around the scenes they saw in the videos, thus causing to want to experiment with other kids. Since children are growing and they are in the experimentation stage, children might want to experiment with some actions they have observed in these video games hence making them aggressive. Also, people who are involved in these games have reduced prosocial behavior and have developed aggressive feelings and thoughts. Due to the negative changes which have been brought by television and video games to the societal people, this paper will focus on video games or television and violent behavior.

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In society, children tend to learn from the experiences they encounter daily and role modeling or social platforms. The children cannot differentiate between what is make-believe and real whenever they watch violent scenes from the television or video games. This makes them emulate the behavior they have observed from social media, thus making them develop aggressive behavior (Ferguson, 2015). For example, children might become bullies in schools since they are psychologically affected, and they believe aggression is the only way they can use to solve their issues with others. Aggressions makes these children more fearful when it comes to social relationships, thus making them to lack empathy hence leading to sadistic behaviors. Also, children who are involved in watching the violence on the television and playing violent games end up becoming argumentative since they have reduced caution of the inhibitors. The act makes them not to become patient, which leads to an unwillingness to cooperate and reduced gratification (Milani et al., 2015). Therefore, parents should take appropriate remedies which can minimize the number of hours which their kids interact with the television and play video games as they have affected their behavior.

Consequently, children and youths who are exposed to watching violence on television or playing violent video games end up lacking sympathy towards the affected victims. Whenever children keep on playing violent video games, violence becomes normal even if they encounter it in real life situations. The players of these violent games tend to identify themselves with their favorite characters, thus benefiting in the acts of violence. Some adolescents might get into crime since they want to experiment what they have seen on the television or video games. Most of the adolescents end up becoming juvenile criminals due to the influence which they acquired from playing violent games (Onwukwe, Njemanze, Njoku, & Obia, 2017). Therefore, these games affect the brain of these children and adolescents since they believe that violence is always used in solving conflicts among them.

Aggression, which is facilitated by the violent video gaming and watching of the powerful programs in the television contributes to stress among other children and the family members. Due to the negative behavior which has developed among the children, parents become stressed finding ways of trying to help their kids from such situations. Bullying in schools has been on the increase, and the teachers are facing difficulties to eradicate it among the students. Most students who bully others in schools end up becoming suspended in schools, thus putting pressure among the parents (Warburton & Braunstein, 2012). Parents can find a therapist whom they have to pay, thus undergoing extra costs to change the behavior of their kids. Therefore, there is much time used in trying to change the aggressive nature of the children, thus minimizing the time spent when carrying out other tasks.

Television and violent video games can lead to decreased hours of sleep and low quality sleep. People spend much of their time gaming and watching movies, which affects their sleeping patterns. Inadequate sleep among these people and children makes them lack concentration whenever they are conducting their daily activities. Also, children and teenagers might have nightmares while they are asleep hence affecting their sleep quality. Children might feel as if they are getting attacked while sleeping, leading to dreams whenever they fall asleep (Brockmann et al., 2016). Also, some kid might fear to sleep alone in their rooms due to the images created in their minds after watching violent movies. Therefore, it is essential for the parents to limit their children to watching some videos and playing violent games.

Consequently, since watching television and playing video games is addictive, children and teenagers spend much of their time on games and television. This act has affected the lives of the young generations since their mind revolves around these platforms. Academic performance of children and teenagers has been altered since they do not get enough time to study. Also, students cannot concentrate on schools since most of them spend their time on phones and personal computers while gaming online. The relationship between the teachers, students, and parents has been affected since children have developed an argumentative nature acquired from the movies they watch in televisions and some of the games (Bushman & Anderson, 2015). Most parents think it is cool for their children to get involved in gaming and watch various programs on the television. Therefore, in schools, this act makes the boys to underrate the girls as they see in some movies which are among the major crimes in real-life. Boys grow up having the mentality that they are the final decision makers in families as they tend not to involve the other gender in decision making (Brockmann et al., 2016). Therefore, television and video gaming have led to more negative effects that the positive outcomes in the lives of children and teenagers.

Therefore, violent games and movies have different effects on people's lives as they lead to aggressiveness, bullying, lack of enough sleep, and poor performance among the students. Also, these movies and games affect the relationship between children and teenagers hence making them spend less time socializing with the family and friends. Parents and older individuals in families should take the responsibility of controlling the children from watching various movies and playing particular games. Also, older persons in society can explain to their younger sibling and children about the consequences of playing violent games and watching extreme movies. As one explains to their children, they can point out various examples which will make the children understand these consequences. Also, parents and teachers in schools can teach children and teenagers about conflict resolution, causing them to deviate from the bullying and aggression. Through proper conflict resolution, the kids will know how to choose their words appropriately, thus not hurting the feeling of their friends and other societal members. Therefore, taking these precautions, there will be reduced incidences of bullying and evil deeds in the society which have been facilitated by playing violent games and watching extreme movies.

References

Brockmann, P. E., Diaz, B., Damiani, F., Villarroel, L., Nunez, F., & Bruni, O. (2016). Impact of television on the quality of sleep in preschool children. Sleep medicine, 20, 140-144. Retrieved from http://www.sleepclinic.be/wp-content/uploads/Impact-of-television-on-the-quality-of-sleep-in-preschool-children.pdf

Bushman, B. J., & Anderson, C. A. (2015). Understanding causality in the effects of media violence. American Behavioral Scientist, 59(14), 1807-1821. Retrieved from http://www.craiganderson.org/wp-content/uploads/caa/abstracts/2015-2019/15BA.pdf

Ferguson, C. J., (2015). Does movie or video game violence predict societal violence? It depends on what you look at and when. Journal of Communication, 65(1), 193-212. Retrieved from http://christopherjferguson.com/Media%20Violence%20Trends.pdf

Milani, L., Camisasca, E., Caravita, S. C., Ionio, C., Miragoli, S., & Di Blasio, P. (2015). Violent video games and Children's aggressive behaviors: An Italian study. SAGE Open, 5(3), 2158244015599428. Retrieved from https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/full/10.1177/2158244015599428

Onwukwe, L. C., Njemanze, V. C., Njoku, E., & Obia, W. C. (2017). Effects of Violent Video Games and Violent Movies on Aggressive Behaviour of Children in Imo State, Nigeria. Retrieved from https://www.researchgate.net/publication/319482179_Effects_of_Violent_Video_Games_and_Violent_Movies_on_Aggressive_Behaviour_of_Children_in_Imo_State_Nigeria

Warburton, W. E., & Braunstein, D. E. (2012). Growing up fast and furious: Reviewing the impacts of violent and sexualized media on children. Retrieved from https://www.researchgate.net/publication/260487613_The_impact_of_violent_video_games_An_overview