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Effects of Violent Video Games on Children

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Effects of Violent Video Games on Children
Violent Video Games Are Stealing the Innocence of Young Children
Violent video games are harming children, and they need to be stopped. Many parents allow their children to play violent video games, but they probably don’t know the consequences. The time in a person’s life when she/he is a child is one of the most important time periods of his/her life. It’s the time when they absorb knowledge from everything around them. Their surroundings and what they see and hear are what shapes them into what they will become. Children play violent video games and kill people in the games by shooting, running them over with cars, and other horrible acts. They hear swears, repeat them, and they think the games are fun to play. It’s not healthy for a person to play these kinds of games at such a young age. Children are affected and losing happiness and their innocence.
Violent video games are the cause of this problem. There is a lot of evidence and research that has been done to prove this statement.
Violent video games have been implicated in a variety of violent incidents. Elizabeth K. Carll is the chair of the Interactive Media Committee of the American Psychological Association’s Media division. In a paper she wrote she states, “At U.S. Senate hearings on March 29, 2006, Rev. Steve
Strickland testified that his brother, Arnold, an Alabama police officer, was murdered by a teenager who stated, ‘Life is like a video game ­­ everyone has to die sometime’” (Carll 2). According to Carll, the teenager was arrested for stealing a car and, when being booked in the police station, took Arnold
Strickland’s gun from him, shot him, and then killed two other men in less than two minutes. Strickland noted the similarities of the game “Grand Theft Auto: Vice City” to the actual incident. This is strong evidence to prove that violent video games have indeed been implicated in a variety of violent incidents.
Violent video games do not teach kids moral consequences.



Cited: "Violent Video Games Help Kids Manage Stress." Scientific Blogging Science 2.0. ION Publications LLC, 2 July 2007. Web. 05 Dec. 2013. News & World Report, 10 May 2010. Web. 01 Dec. 2013. Carll, Elizabeth K. “Violent Video Games: Rehearsing Aggression.” Chronicle of Higher Education 45 (2007): B12. Print. "Are Violent Video Games Bad for You?" Marvel. Scholastic. Web. 5 Dec. 2013. "KidsHealth." What Kids Say About: Handling Stress. Nemours. Web. 02 Dec. 2013.

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