Take a look at today's generation. A student comes home from school at around three or four o'clock in the afternoon, sets his bag aside, debates whether he should take a shower, definitely eats his lunch, and begins his after school program: playing video games, playing video games, and playing more video games. Video games, unfortunately, have become an imperative part of the average teenager's life. Whether it's hours, day, or maybe even weeks, teenagers spend an excessive amount of time slaying monsters, killing zombies, or just shooting at each other's avatars for all time's sake. They lose track of time, deprive themselves of sleep, miss out on their homework, and deteriorate their health, all for the sake of the phenomenal world of 'Call of Duty' and fellow video games. A vast majority of the global population believes that playing video games can positively influence the lives of those who favor them, while others strongly disagree. Although playing video games may help stimulate and relax the brain, it is still considered detrimental because of the tendency to reward violence and create the ultimate aggressive player.
To begin with, playing video games often leads gamers to accept what is conventionally and ethically dismissed. Violent video games offer a profoundly aggressive and bloody atmosphere. They are simply based on the notion that killing others is a reward. Furthermore, they teach the players how to disrespect life by picking up a gun and shooting at people, and thus integrating into their lives the fact that violence is a social norm everybody praises. Moreover, certain games, such as GTA, school players about how crucial it is to disrespect authority by simply adding points for those who manage to escape the cops, or even shoot some. Such games brainwash teenagers to think that authority figures are the bad guys, when in the truth they're not. Thus, they no longer feel a sense of reverence for law enforces, or the law itself for that matter. David Greenfield, a professor of psychiatry at the University of Connecticut and founder of the Center for Internet and Technology Addiction argues that: "It (violent video games) conveys two things -- a lack of respect for human life and a desensitization to violent acts," "And it teaches them the skill set to enact the violent act with increased precision. And we call that entertainment.
Apart from the ethics, overexposure to violent video leads to the development of bad conflict resolution skills. Playing these games allows players to express their feelings, whether anger, pain, or pleasure, through hostility and aggression. Gamers only grow familiar to the violent approach of sorting out problems and lose the art of communication. Thus, they resort to physical abuse to show their friends or siblings that they are bothered or irked by them. Brad Bushman, a psychologist at Ohio State University, was co-author of a study that examined 380 studies on video games; he stated, "The results show that playing violent video games increases angry thoughts, aggressive behavior, and decreases helping behavior, empathy and compassion for others." In another study, 161 college students were randomly assigned to play one of several violent games, neutral games, or pro-social games (in which helpful behavior was required). After playing, the students completed a task in which they could either help or hurt another student. Those who had played the violent games were more hurtful to other students, whereas those who had played the pro-social games were more helpful.
It is claimed that video games are mental stimulators that help sharpen the mind and relieve it of anxiety and stress. This is an absolute truth; however, playing video games has also proven to reduce certain cognitive brain functions. Certain studies have focused on how specific brain regions of players of violent games respond under varying circumstances. For instance, Rene Weber and his colleagues asked 13 experienced gamers to play a violent game while undergoing FMRI brain scan (functional magnetic resonance imaging). By imaging players' brain activity before, during and after each violent encounter, the investigators found that immediately before firing a weapon, players displayed greater activity in the dorsal anterior cingulate cortex. This area involves cognitive control and planning, among other functions. While firing a weapon and shortly afterward, players showed less activity in the rostral anterior cingulate cortex (RACC) and amygdala. Because interaction between those brain areas is associated with resolving emotional conflict, their decreased functioning could indicate a suppression of the emotional response to witnessing the results of taking violent actions. Thus, the greater the experience with violent media, the lower was the activation of brain areas for thinking, learning, reasoning and emotional control.
In conclusion, video games have become an indispensable part of this modern technological era, yet they persist to be deleterious to whoever latches onto them. Unfortunately adolescents do not perceive that they have been caught up in a current of false entertainment, and it might just be too late to get out ... or is it?
