Violent Video Games Don't Cause Kids to be Violent
Do violent video games cause young people to become violent after playing the video games? This has been a hot topic of debate in the United States for several years. There are valid opinions on both sides of the issue, but this paper takes the position that violent video games do not cause kids to be violent.
The Literature on Video Games -- Pros and Cons
The Website ProCon.org has assembled a "pro" and "con" list of explanations with reference to the question of whether or not violent video games cause kids to be violent. This paper will use a few of the pro-versus con arguments prior to listing other reasons why it is fair to say violent video games do not cause kids to become violent.
The Federal Bureau of Investigation, among the most highly influential law enforcement organizations in the world, rarely takes position on social issues. But in 2000 the FBI included playing violent video games on a list of behaviors "associated with school shootings" (procon.org). The rebuttal to that report is that "…violent youth are being drawn to violent video games…youth that are predisposed to be violent seek out violent entertainment" like video games (procon.org). In fact a report in 2004 by the U.S. Secret Service indicated that when reviewing attacks in schools, only "…one-eighth of attackers exhibited...
In fact the Secret Service report found there was not linkage between playing violent video games and shootings in
public schools.
Bullying is a very serious issue in public schools, and according to a report in 2008, "Grand Theft Childhood," some 60% of boys in
middle school who had played "at least one Mature-rated game" beat up or at least hit someone in school (procon.org). Only 39% of boys -- who had not played a Mature-rated game -- hit or beat up someone (procon.org). In answer to that, the procon.org site notes that violent juvenile crime rates have been going down at the same time that sales of violent video games have been rising. Specifically the juvenile murder rate has fallen by 71.9% between 1995 and 2008, while the sales of violent video games has "more than quadrupled" (procon.org).
Another of the arguments that blames violent video games posits that these violent games "…teach youth that violence is an acceptable conflict-solving strategy" and that youth who play violent video games have a "lower belief in the use of nonviolent strategies" (procon.org). The rebuttal to that
argument is that youth who play violent video games actually "…reduces violence in adolescent boys by serving as a substitute for rough and tumble play" (procon.org). The games allow boys to "express aggression and establish status in the peer group" without doing harmful things to others (procon.org).
There have been allegations that certain actual violent actions by individuals were brought on by the habit of playing violent video games. For example, the mass killings at
Virginia Tech on April 16, 2007, that took the lives of 33 students, was initially blamed on violent video games. Mitt Romney, running for president on the Republican ticket at…
