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Strollerderby
Violent Video Games Do Make Young Adult Males Violent
Violent video games do affect brain function.
According to TIME’s Healthland blog, “Research finds that children who play violent video games or watch violent TV can become violent themselves.” The blog goes on to ask, “Are kids simply mimicking what they see on the screen, or could gaming have a more profound effect on their brains, affecting behavior?”
The latter is in fact true, new research shows. After a week of playing violent, first-person shooters, “young men showed less (brain) activity in areas that involved emotions, attention and inhibition of impulses.”
When Dr. Vincent Matthews of Indiana University (who ran the latest study on the topic) “brought the participants back after a week of not playing video games, their brain activity had changed again, reverting to more normal reactions, but their brain functions still weren’t quite the same as before they were exposed to the violent games.”
Healthland reports, “The brain changes that Matthews’ group saw were similar to those seen in teens with destructive sociopathic disorders.” Oh boy – that’s bad news. As someone who is well-acquainted with the way sociopathy can ruin lives, knowing that violent video games can cause similar behaviors makes me want to see them banned. Many people argue (and have argued here on this very blog in the comments section) that violent video games are harmless as long as they’re played by young adults and not young children and that these types of games are protected under the First Amendment. I don’t disagree about the First Amendment part, but one thing’s for sure – violent video games are banned from my house!
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4 Comments
m commented on Dec 03 11 at 11:50 pmI’m guessing that the sociopath you’re referring to is the father of your child. If so, I’m in the same boat as you. To protect my son and society, I will not be letting him have anything to do with these kinds of game. He’s a good kid. Even though he shares some of his dad’s gene, I don’t think he has to end up like that. When he’s a preschooler, I want to start teaching him rudimentary neuroscience so he’ll learn the difference between the part of the brain that makes him react thoughtlessly and the part the enables him to respond intelligently.
Carolyn, I’ve read a lot of your posts and know some ppl don’t agree with your stance on your ex, but I’m rooting for–whether he’s a psychopath or not.
Andrea commented on Dec 04 11 at 9:09 amThat’s it then. I’m sticking to the good old classics. Grimm’s Fairytales it is! Cannibalism, deliberate starvation, imprisonment, slavery, abandonment and making your step sisters dance in hot iron shoes until they die! Sigh. Don’t cha miss the good old days when all kids did was watch cartoons about a coyote trying to maim and murder a roadrunner, a cat trying to catch and eat a sweet little tweety bird and a hunter alsways stalking and trying to kill that bunny rabbit?
Beware of geeks with access to MRIs.
bob commented on Dec 05 11 at 10:06 amI surmise that, in the long run, we’re going to conclude that video games are a little bit like alcohol. Most people can partake with no ill effects on their lives. They don’t get addicted or violent or pregnant or killed by a drunk driver, even though those risks exist in varying degrees for all. Many have only positive experiences and happy memories, and so defend it as something that makes life fun and interesting. But a few are unlucky, either because they have innate vulnerabilities or because someone else with those vulnerabilities is able to screw up their life as well as their own.
I like video games, but I also respect/fear their power to disrupt lives.
jenny tries too hard commented on Dec 05 11 at 11:40 amWell said, Bob.
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