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VIDEO VIOLENCE IS COMING TO A SCREEN NEAR YOU
WARNING: Video games may be hazardous to your child's
emotional health.
Sounds like a warning on a cigarette pack, and justifiably so. Once upon a time TV was blamed on a variety of children's emotional disturbances, from obesity to aggression. Just as parents learned to tame the TV, along came another electronic influence that can undermine a child's success far more than television. Here's why: Disturbing stats Video games are becoming the second largest
segment of the entertainment industry, second to television.
Around half of all children have a video game player or a computer
on which to play the games in their own bedrooms. A study comparing
parental rules for television viewing and playing video games showed
that parents set rules for video games only half as much as they do
for TV viewing, and the majority of parents did not restrict the
type of games their children played. Eighty percent of the most
popular video games feature aggressiveness or violence as the
primary themes, and in twenty percent of these games the aggressiveness
or violence is directed toward women. Surveys conclude that on a
typical day, one in four American boys plays an extremely violent
video game. And, the sales of extremely violent games are climbing.
By the time typical American children reach the age of eighteen, they
have seen 200,000 acts of violence and 40,000 murders on some sort of
screen.
Disturbing research Many, many studies have shown a
definite correlation between the degree of violence in video-game
viewing and the degree of aggressive behavior in the viewing
children. In his book, Stop Teaching Our Kids to Kill (Crown
Publishers, New York, 1999) Lieutenant Colonel David Grossman,
a psychologist at Arkansas State University and past specialist
as a "killologist," points out that willingness to kill another
person is not a natural behavior, but one that has to be taught
by repeated desensitization and exposure to violence. He goes on
to reveal that part of teaching soldiers to kill demands a
conditioned response so that shooting a gun becomes automatic.
According to Colonel Grossman, the Marine Corp uses modified
versions of grossly violent video games (like the ones that
allegedly motivated the Columbine carnage) to teach recruits how
to kill. These are used to develop the "will to kill" by repeatedly
rehearsing the act until it feels natural. Obviously, this technology
is much more dangerous in the hands of kids than among soldiers and
police. Grossman refers to violent video games as "murder simulators."
Consider the following ways that unmonitored video-game playing can interfere with your child's success in life: Conditions children to be violent Children are not
born violent, they are made violent. They become conditioned to
associate violence with fun, as part of "normal life." Are we
bringing up a generation of soldiers, or are we bringing up
children? The end result of unmonitored video violence is we
are training an army of kids. There is a psychological and physiological
principle called "operant conditioning," which is a stimulus-response
training where a person is conditioned to act, not think, in a
stressful situation. This is how pilots train in flight simulators
and the United States Army trains its soldiers. Could the video
game addict become conditioned to shoot or hit whenever provoked?
Could these video games trigger what we call "instant replay," so
that the player is conditioned to pull a trigger when seeing
someone go after his girlfriend? We are concerned that this
terrifying technology can fill a child's vulnerable and receptive
brain with a whole library of scary instant replays, so that by
reflex he replays one of these violent scenes when faced with a
real-life problem.
Desensitizes children to violence Kids becoming increasingly
attracted to violence and numb to its consequences. They build up an
immunity to violence and therefore need higher levels of violence as
"booster shots." Since violence is actually unnatural for children,
video games make it fun for them, which gradually conditions the
child to believe that violence is natural. Colonel Grossman dubs
this as AVIDS - acquired violence immune deficiency syndrome. As
violence goes on to desensitize children, they perceive violence as
"cool." At a very young age, children learn to associate violence
with pleasure and excitement, a dangerous association for a civilized
society. As the desensitization process continues, parents should be
aware of disturbing words, such as "It's just a game," or the most
concerning, "It doesn't bother me." It should bother them.
It's developmentally incorrect Children instinctively
copy adult behavior, and violent imagery is much more easily stored
in the memory than less violent behavior. Yet, many preteen children
have not yet learned to completely differentiate fantasy from reality.
They view, interact and get involved with the video game, yet
developmentally lack the moral judgments as to the rightness or
wrongness of the action. They lack discernment. Violent screens
put the wrong messages into children's vulnerable brains at the wrong time.
It's physiologically disturbing The "hype hormones"
that are aroused by violent video games cause children to suffer
serious consequences, such as nightmares, stomachaches, headaches,
anorexia, and fatigue. Some studies have even related seizure
activity to violent screen time. Violent video games have been
found to stress the cardiovascular system, such as increasing blood
pressure and rapid breathing characteristic of a physiologic stress
response. One study even reported an increase in the stress hormone
adrenaline during video playing. A 1998 study showed that while
playing video games children experience a high release of the brain
neurotransmitter dopamine, which could be called the hype hormone.
It's more dangerous than TV During TV watching children
are just passive viewers of screen violence, yet with video games
they can interact. With the push of a button or click of a mouse
they can point and shoot, kill, and squash - and they get more points
for more killing. Video arcades are even worse. There is no parental
monitoring and the joysticks are more like guns, enabling children to
point-and-shoot. In some violent programs on TV at least the bad consequences
of violence are often pointed out, and the bad guy often loses. On the
contrary, with video games the bad guy often wins, or at least gets
to a "higher level." In fact, the violent characters are often more
glamorized in video games than on television. With TV watching,
many little brains just tune out, yet with video games teens often
tune up. Instead of watching killings, the player can kill.
It's habit forming Over sixty percent of children report
that they play video games longer than they had intended to play.
Once they get engrossed in a game, they get hooked on the hype and
want to play longer. The games fit into the natural desire for
children to get control over their lives, and video games give
children a feeling of mastery that they may not have over other
aspects of their lives. Playing violent video games is like a drug.
Once the child reaches a certain level of violence and becomes bored -
what is known physiologically as habituated - the child needs more of
the "drug" to maintain the high level of excitement.
It interferes with self-esteem The most disturbing fact
is that children who have the least amount of self-esteem and mastery
over their life are the ones most attracted to video games. According
to Dr. Jane Healy in her book Endangered Minds, boys who pursue violent
video games are more likely to have low self-confidence in school and be
less successful in personal relationships. Studies have also shown that
for girls increased time playing video or computer games is associated
with lowered self-esteem. These games give children an out when they
don't feel in with other groups.
It's poor role modeling Role-playing games (RPG's)
allow children to play the role of violent characters. The roles
of these characters become more attractive to the children, especially
if they don't like their roles in the world they live in. Children
learn that violent characters are cool, powerful, and in some misguided
way, successful. During video-playing, children get instant gratification
and can manipulate their roles to what they want. Yet, in the real world,
they have to wait, and it's not always fun.
"It's a fearful world" It's the nature of a growing
child to view the world as a kind and safe place to live.
Violent video games distort a child's perception of the real
world as violent and fearful. Media researchers fear that
children will grow up viewing the world as violent and dangerous
- a viewpoint dubbed the mean world syndrome.
It's scary Many pediatricians rank screen violence
as a public health issue at the same level as smoking and cancer.
In fact, the American Academy of Pediatrics advises doctors to
take a "media history" during annual check-ups on school-age
children. Here is one graphic example. Scary technology now
allows players to "morph" headshots of other people (such as
other kids or teachers whom they might hate) onto the bodies of
the characters in the video game in order to shoot their heads
off.
Suggested parental guidance Just as you take preventive
measures against your child getting involved in alcohol or drugs,
take steps to monitor your child's exposure to video games, for
which children don't even need an I.D. Try these suggestions:
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