Disproving Preconceptions about Effects of Video Games on Adolescents

Since video games sudden rise to popularity in the 1970s, many games were made and developed in a variety of genres. From relaxing games such as Animal Crossing and Minecraft to the hard hitting violent induced games such as Doom Eternal and Grand Theft Auto (GTA). Especially games such as Mortal Combat who introduced the mechanics of fatalities which a player has an option to decimate their opponents in gruesome finishers such as skull bashing or even pulling their guts out of their stomach. First person shooters such as Call of Duty, Halo and Counter Strike introduced the genre of competitive shooters wherein many players were indulging in the experience of shooting their foes using laser guns or 3D models of real guns. Now because these types of games parents were outraged and claimed that video games were the main cause of rebellion and aggression in their children. Former U.S. President Donald Trump even goes as far as suggesting that video games were to blame for the mass shootings that happened in El Paso, Texas, and Dayton, Ohio which have caused an estimated 31 deaths during the weekends. As Trump stated, “We must stop the glorification of violence in our society. This includes the gruesome and grisly video games that are now commonplace”. And in some cases, some parents also linked video games as a main cause of depression in their children which led to the dislike or even banning of games in their households. But through reading studies, research and articles I was able to gather enough information to prove that video games not only have its own benefits and the way it affects young adolescents is not the way parents claim it as.

The parents claim that their children behave differently when playing video games. The parents say that their children play on their consoles and computers all day and it affects their emotional and mental behavior. They claim that their children seem to lash out more and talk back to their parents more often since acquiring their children’s games. The parents blame the countless hours of playtime that their kids lose themselves in day in and day out without stopping for brakes. And that their children are mimicking the behaviors of the violent games that they are playing. According to the APA Task Force on Violent Media, they concluded that violent video game use has an influence on aggression based on our analysis of relevant literature directly addressing the topic. This effect manifests itself as both an increase in adverse consequences such as aggression, thought processes, and influence and a decrease in positive results such as social interaction, compassion, and sensitivity to aggression. There is no single risk factor that causes an individual to behave aggressively or violently on a consistent basis. Aggressive or abusive activity is most often the result of a confluence of risk factors (Berkowitz, 1993; Eron, Huesmann, Lefkowitz, Walder, 1974; Ferguson et al., 2013). And the studies that they reviewed showed that video games are one of the risk factors involving violence. But some research shows that it’s the outcome of the game that can lead to aggression, not video games in general. And not only that but the degree of difficulty that a certain game has can change the result of each behavioral outcome. For example, let’s say that you’re playing Animal Crossing or Minecraft even, those types of games are easy to say the least. In Animal Crossing you plant crops, invest in making your home, create your island in the way you visualize it to be. A fun relaxing game such as this wouldn’t be the sole reason for a child’s aggressive behavior. But let’s say they play a game such as Counter Strike wherein the competitiveness of the game itself may result in the child being more focused and invested, wanting to win every round but he keeps losing. The problem isn’t the game itself but the desire of the child to win and improve upon his own mechanics and failing to do so that ultimately led to higher stress that turns to aggression. The study that was conducted by Przybylski A., Deci E., Ryan R. and Rigby S. titled ‘Competence-Impeding Electronic Games and Players’ Aggressive Feelings, Thoughts, and Behaviors’ used several studies with different types of methods to control the competence and a variety of ways for examining aggression. This test indicated that the play impeded or interrupted the competence of a player resulting in a higher level of aggressive feelings, thoughts and behavior. According to the findings, player perceived competence was directly correlated to gaming motivation, which was in turn negatively related to player aggression. On the whole, this pattern of effects was discovered to be independent of the existence or lack thereof violent game material. And in conclusion the violence in game itself does not cause violent behav