In Stern and Kazaks 97). Lack of physical exercises has been identified as one of the contributing factors to obesity. It therefore follows that sedentary video game activities effectively increase a child's chances of being obese. Dissenting Views

In seeking to offer a balanced view of the issue at hand, it would be prudent for me to take into consideration the other side of the debate. To begin with, one of the arguments that has been fronted in an attempt to deny any link between crime and violent video games claims that studies seeking to prove the said link are out to use video games as a scapegoat (Gaines and Miller 60). In the opinion of the authors, this argument or school of thought further points out that such studies fail to account for the various other issues or factors often associated with criminal behavior (Gaines and Miller 60). It is however important to note that while other factors may as well be responsible for criminal behavior, studies in the past have clearly shown that a strong link does indeed exist between crime and violent video games.

There have also been claims that video games do have a number of positive effects on children. These positive effects according to Greenfield,...

In Bidgoli 106). Bidgoli however points out that regardless of the various positive effects that have been linked to playing video games:
"exposing infants and young children to video games and the Internet often does not engage their major learning style, which is through their sensorimotor system, and thus may have negative effects on their cognitive development" (106).

Recommendations

In the final analysis, the negative effects of video games amongst children seem to easily outweigh the positive effects associated with the same. Further, quite a number of studies have shown that violent video games do indeed make young players more aggressive and/or violent. This is in addition to the various other negative impacts that violent video games have been shown to have on children. It is my hope that after having read the arguments presented above, you will be convinced to cut down on the number of hours Alex spends in front of the computer playing video games. Another option I would recommend you to explore is ensuring that Alex has no access to violent video games at all. Further, you could replace the current violent video game collection your son has with video games that have educational content.

Works Cited

Bidgoli, Hossein, ed. The Internet Encyclopedia: Volume 2. Hoboken, New Jersey: John Wiley & Sons, 2003. Print.

Gaines, Larry K. And Roger LeRoy Miller. Criminal Justice in Action. 7th ed. Belmont, CA: Cengage Learning, 2012. Print.

Stern, Judith S. And Alexandra Kazaks. Obesity. Santa Barbara, California: ABC -- CLIO, 2009. Print.