A lot are concerned today if these new age video games are correlated to the increasing instances of violence, especially in youths. Graphics are so real nowadays that some find it excruciating to withdraw themselves from the the games.
You see, reality is often harsh and many a times gamers find themselves closer or perhaps attaining their ideals in the world of animations. Best of all, their counterparts on the other end of the net would only have an image of their perfect models. I mean who doesn't want to be flawless? Then again, being aware of the temporarity of virtual idealism is one thing, drawing them out and actualizing it is another.
So do video games really make people violent?
Maybe.
Even researchers themselves are in conflict. Some blame it on the gory nature of its graphics that desensitizes one's brain to emotional responses of aggressions [ScienceDaily (Oct. 19, 2010)]. Dr Grafman (Strenziok et. al., 2010) is one of those who defend this stance. He and his colleagues conducted an experiment with fMRI & skin conductance responses and found that the more exposed the teenage boys are to violent videos over a period, their activation in brain regions involved with emotional reactivity was decreased. Thus it seems that such game play could have a long term effect on brain functioning.
Others like Dr. Craig, a psychologist from the Iowa State University of Science and Technology, asserts that violent video games, in fact, provides a chance for learning and practising aggressive solutions to conflict situations. In another study, he and Dill (2000) found out that it is indeed the aggressive personalities that induced “aggressive and delinquent behaviour” and not just the animations per se. Gory videos only serve to aggravate it further.
Perhaps, televisions and internet could be amplifying violence in the world via the news. A single Columbine High School massacre in 1999 has garnered international attention and is till now often being cited by peace advocates. However, if you think about it, didn't brutality existed way before the genesis of video games? Retrospectively, we have been living in eras of war and slavery; the latter had subsisted in all forms throughout documented human history. Even up till today, some middle easterns are still selling their daughters and probably sons to safeguard their own survival. In terms of democracy, who dares to say there is absolutely not a strand of violence in slavery? Let aside physical treatment that could be feigned, are we going to compromise one's freedom just because he/she is indefinitely unfortunate to be bestowed into a family as such?
This is what I call psychological abuse in its purest form.
Had Vlad Tepes, Pol Pot, Adolf Hitler and Tsar Ivan IV of Russia ever indulged in video games? I doubt most of them even know what a computer or TV screen is, yet they have been rated by historians and past politicians as the top 20 cruelest rulers by far!
Video games the biggest culprit? Nah, I don't think so. It's time we need to stop zeroing on our synchronic calendar, take a step back and examine the diachronic episodes. Violence is overrated in the 'shimmery' peace and harmony we have. Take off your tinted glasses and you would see how common such compulsions are, yesterday today and perhaps centuries on.
Sure, we shouldn't condone it as much as we shouldn't compromise love and amity. But why blame video games? What about moral education? Parents undoubtedly play a vital role in nurturing their children and apart from academic excellence, schools need to cultivate a diplomatic environment among students.
As Psychologist William James put it:
Video games the biggest culprit? Nah, I don't think so. It's time we need to stop zeroing on our synchronic calendar, take a step back and examine the diachronic episodes. Violence is overrated in the 'shimmery' peace and harmony we have. Take off your tinted glasses and you would see how common such compulsions are, yesterday today and perhaps centuries on.
Sure, we shouldn't condone it as much as we shouldn't compromise love and amity. But why blame video games? What about moral education? Parents undoubtedly play a vital role in nurturing their children and apart from academic excellence, schools need to cultivate a diplomatic environment among students.
As Psychologist William James put it:
“The world we see that seems so insane is the result of a belief system that is not working. To perceive the world differently, we must be willing to change our belief system, let the past slip away, expand our sense of now, and dissolve the fear in our minds.”
So, the best way to change an outcome is altering one's believe system! Isn't prevention better than cure? That's precisely what I'm driving at; societal mental revolution (at least in my opinion) is the next best remedy to "increasing" bestiality. We should aim to train future generations of saints instead of simply destroying Saturn's alluring tools which can easily be created again. Stretch down to the roots of civilization, are children being drilled well enough to know the pain and consequences of violence? Are the blessings and true meaning of goodness made patent to them?
Yes people, it's time we refine our pedagogies and get to the core of brutal mishaps.
Yes people, it's time we refine our pedagogies and get to the core of brutal mishaps.
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Anderson, C. A., & Dill, K. E. (2000).Video games and aggressive thoughts, feelings, and behavior in the laboratory and in life. Journal of Personality & Social Psychology, 78(4), 772-790.
Oxford University Press (2010, October 19). Watching violent TV or video
games desensitizes teenagers and may promote more aggressive behavior,
new study finds. ScienceDaily.
Strenziok M., Krueger F., Deshpande G., Rhoshel K. Lenroot, Elke van der Meer, and Jordan Grafman. (2010). Fronto-parietal regulation of media violence exposure in adolescents: a multi-method study. Social Cognitive and Affective Neuroscience, DOI: 10.1093/scan/nsq079
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