25 replies to this topic

[Charalambos]

From MSN News and Weather Reuters

19/8/2005 11:13:32 PM
( Source: Reuters)

Video games linked to aggression in boys

By Maggie Fox, Health and Science Correspondent

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Most studies done on violence and video games support the conclusion that violent video games can increase aggressive behaviour in children and adolescents, especially boys, researchers said on Friday.
An analysis of 20 years of research shows the effects can be both immediate and long-lasting.
"The majority of the studies would suggest there are effects," said Jessica Nicoll of Saint Leo University in Saint Leo, Florida, who worked on the study.
One study showed that children who played a violent game for less than 10 minutes and then took a mood assessment test rated themselves with aggressive traits and aggressive actions shortly after playing.
Teachers of 600 8th and 9th graders, aged 13 to 15, said children who spent more time playing violent video games were more hostile than other children and more likely to argue with authority figures and other students.
The findings, presented at an annual meeting of American Psychological Association, prompted the group to adopt a resolution recommending that all violence be reduced in video games and interactive media marketed to children and youth.
"Additionally, the APA also encourages parents, educators and health care providers to help youth make more informed choices about which games to play," the Association said in a statement.

BAD EXAMPLE

Video games set a bad example and may be particularly influential because a player takes on the roles of heroes and villains, violent and otherwise, the APA said.
Perpetrators of violence go unpunished 73 percent of the time in all violent scenes, the group said. "Showing violent acts without consequences teach youth that violence is an effective means of resolving conflict," said psychologist Elizabeth Carll, who helps direct the group's Committee on Violence in Video Games and Interactive Media.
Nicoll said in an interview that "only a handful" of the studies she and colleagues examined found no connection between violence and violent video games.
The findings are similar to those seen for violent television shows. Joaquim Ferreira of the University of Coimbra in Portugal and colleagues studied more than 800 youngsters aged from 9 to 14 and found the biggest factor linking television violence and actual aggression was the child's understanding of the violence.
"It is the way you perceive the violence and how you deal with the kids and help them understand reality," Ferreira, who also presented his findings to the APA meeting, said in an interview.
Parents can sit with children and explain cartoons or television shows to them -- something the APA and other groups recommend doing. But this is more difficult to do with video games, Ferreira said.
"You are part of the thing," he said. "You get involved in the violence because you are doing it."

[Jito463]

Why, that's crazy. Video games causing violence? Bah. I oughtta go punch their lights out for saying that.

[Tron]

Yes, what happened to the good old days where they blamed the music?!!!! I oughtta kick some a$$!!!!!


LOL.... Guess they have to blame someone or something other than th parent and the kid......

[ptolomeus3]

There is allways "some" truth in it, but most people gladly give the fault "others" (such as music, games, politicians, ...). It is the easiest way !!!

[Tron]

Stop blaming the games and blame the parents.... I have right to allow my kids to play it or not play it, and if I am dumb enough to let them play these games then it is MY fault.... This is a dumb as blaming the gun when someone gets shot. Guns don't kill people, people do!!!!!! People use video games and TV to babysit their kids these days, then they want to blame the TV and video games for violence! Wake up! Stop letting government raise your kids. All the laws in the world will not change things. Censorship does not work. Parental intervention is the only thing that works.....

[Jito463]

It's like I was saying to a friend the other day.

You know, they should make a law against killing people.  Oh, wait.  They already did.  How's that working out?

[Charalambos]

Well, the problem is that kids become more and more difficult to be controled( really, does "hardcore" music, "mama TV", violent video games themselves have anything to do with this? ), video games become more and more violent and people become more and more corrupted, brainwashed and confused by the mass controling industry... . When I say mass controling industry I mean all of our needs( information, entertainment e.t.c.) that they promise to satisfy but in fact use to turn us into self-indulgent, careless and isolated easy-to-control subhumans... They only do one mistake: They can wash our brains but they can't change our hearts. George Orwel's( who was a man of the mass media himself and he new something more about their role in the modern society) "1984- The Big Brother" is no more just a book, it has even become a reality game? But yes, the majority of the people can't really loose their human identity despite all this, and this is the certainty that "the barbarians won't come through".

Edited by Charalambos, 21 August 2005 - 06:26 PM.

[MaLing]

I personally think there are two aspects: Parents should monitor all the activities of children, and the media, viz. TV progs, music, games, etc., should not pollute the society.

It is the duty of parents to monitor their children, everyone agrees on it, so it is just skipped here.

The media should not pollute our minds: I just give two real examples here.
1) There was a book in Japan 'A Complete Reference To Committing Suicide' (I just directly translate the name from Japanese, the real name of the English version of the book may be different) many years ago. After it had published, many Japanese used those ways to commit suicide.
2) Many years ago too, here in Hong Kong was a Japanese television programme about 'Superman'. It was not a cartoon but acted by real people. The actor was a normal man at usual time, and became a superman by jumping from a very high building. Before he reached the ground when falling, he became a superman and was able to fly, so he did not die. One or two children wanted to become a superman, they used this method and, unfornately, died.

From these facts we know that the media have effects on people in the society, just the extent is different from person to person, e.g. the age, education, character, etc.

It is the parents' responsibilities to monitor their children, it will become more and more difficult for them so if the media are getting worse and worse. Therefore, one of the method is to point out the disadvantages of them. It is the parents' rights to stop them from getting worse by saying their ideas before the media become hard to encounter.

[Tron]

1) There was a book in Japan 'A Complete Reference To Committing Suicide' (I just directly translate the name from Japanese, the real name of the English version of the book may be different) many years ago. After it had published, many Japanese used those ways to commit suicide.
2) Many years ago too, here in Hong Kong was a Japanese television programme about 'Superman'. It was not a cartoon but acted by real people. The actor was a normal man at usual time, and became a superman by jumping from a very high building. Before he reached the ground when falling, he became a superman and was able to fly, so he did not die. One or two children wanted to become a superman, they used this method and, unfornately, died.

This is just natures way of weeding out the stupid genes from our gene pool....

[Charalambos]

I don't think that there are stupid genes, Tron. The fact is that kids are vulnerable due to their lack of experience and their rich imagination can be dangerously twisted by stimuli from their environment. As for the suicide guide, it isn't the best thing to be seen by a person who has such kind of thoughts at a particular time...

This is just natures way of weeding out the stupid genes from our gene pool...

You know, the "good genes" theory has its origin in the Nazi's. I don't like it even as a joke - not that I have anything personal with you.

[Tron]

The Nazis also were a big supporter of censorship burning many books, and also rounded up all the guns in Germany before the killing started. Censorship will never work, especially with the internet. It is not the governments responsibility to raise our kids. You need to direct all this energy you are wasting to a real solution. That is : Get the parents involved, and make them take responsibility for all these kids they bring into this world.

It is funny that you need a license to get a dog, but any idiot can have a kid. As long as you keep wasting energy trying to get these games and media to stop showing violence, you are going to get nowhere.

I had a friend commit suicide over girl when he was young. Everyone can say it was from music or games or something he read, but the truth of the matter was that there was always something about him that was not right. The reason for what happened was that his parents saw his strange behavior and did nothing to deal with it. By the way he shot himself, and I am going to bet that the gun did not kill him, he did it himself, with the gun. People are so busy trying to protect us from ourselves by taking away anything that might hurt us, that they ignore the real solutions. What next? Should we get rid of puzzle pieces that have sharp edges? Surround ourselves with cotton balls? People need to wake up and understand that video games did not cause it, parents letting kids play them did. Also do not tell me that the parents of any of these violent kids did not have many tell tale signs before this all happened. They just ignore it.

Charalambos I respect your right to have an opinion, I just will never agree with it. I raised too many kids and watched too many people NOT raise their kids.... I am even a licensed foster parent and have adopted children that needed a dad and mom.

[ptolomeus3]

[quote=Charalambos,Aug 22 2005, 05:59 PM]

[/quote]
You know, the "good genes" theory has its origin in the Nazi's. I don't like it even as a joke - not that I have anything personal with you.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

[/quote]


Sorry, that´s not correct. Same goes for concentration camps or censorship. All of those things allready existed before, the nazi´s didn´t start those things, you "had" them allready. They "just" made it more effecient (to the regret of many many people) !

[Tron]

Never said it was invented by them. I said they were a supporter of censorship. As for the "weeding out the stupid genes from our gene pool..." thing, that was a jab at the people who think that by censoring video games and books and guns is going to resolve or even make the world a better place. Focus on a real solution that might have a chance to work.



We all have the same goal.... Look out for our kids... Just that I take the responsibility and do it myself and some people want the government to do it...

[Charalambos]

Charalambos I respect your right to have an opinion, I just will never agree with it. I raised too many kids and watched too many people NOT raise their kids.... I am even a licensed foster parent and have adopted children that needed a dad and mom.

(Sincerely and with all my respect and admiration.)

Tron, I don't disagree with you. Parents do have responsibility for their kids and their actions. But you can't ignore the influence of the social environment also, can you? Parents must do their duty but the state must also do its own- unless it exists only for making the annual badget... We must take everything into account and act towards everything that contributes negatively to our personal, family and social life. It has no meaning if all the tiles of a roof are in their place and only one is missing; the rain will come through the gap and the wind will soon take away the rest of the tiles, leaving a devastated house. If we give place to evil, it will never deny it, nor will it ever remain only in it. That's the point.

Edited by Charalambos, 23 August 2005 - 05:07 PM.

[Attila]

A very good point Charalambos. I like the analogy of the tiles, thats a good one. I mostly agree with Tron in that parents have got to start taking responsibility for the parenting of their children. I see this every day since my wife is a teacher and how many times the parents are looking to blame EVERYONE or everything else for their little "innocent" child's failings but the children or themselves. I believe the responsibility should be primarily at home but some parents are absolutely incapable of parenting. Thats where the point about not needing a license to have kids yet you need one for a gun, by Tron is a good one. I know its a ridiculous idea but I would even support parents having to pass some course or get a license before having kids. How many people I have seen become parents that never should have....

This is such a difficult topic as I am not really in favour of government censorship for the most part but certain things should be censored like violent or kiddie porn or perhaps..even way over graphic movies or video games. I'm just glad I'm not the one making the decision about what society can or can't see. You can guarantee though that if I am blessed with any children I will be making VERY sure that I keep very close tabs on what they do and see in their formative years especially.

[Jito463]

I'm sorry, but I would have to strongly disagree to requiring a license to have a child. Who decides what is allowed and not allowed? Can someone be refused a license if they believe in spanking their child? I'm talking about spanking here btw, NOT child abuse. And what if someone has a child but doesn't have a "license", do they have to endure the childbirth but give the child up for adoption? Or will the state step in and force an abortion? Sorry, but I believe we need less control, not more.

[Attila]

Again very good points. This is why its such a complicated topic. By the way Jito, I wasn't being totally serious about the license to have kids thing. I know that would never happen and for good reasons. I was just getting angry thinking about all the messed up kids I knew over the years that have terribly messed up parents. I suppose I should have made it clearer that I wasn't totally serious about it.

I don't like the idea of the State taking complete control over what we should or shouldn't do either. The governments of the world don't exactly have a good track record of deciding what is good for people thats for sure. Bottom line is the parents need to take ultimate responsibility. Having said that though, there still needs to be some form of Government regulated censorship to curtail at least to some extent the spread of some truly evil things in society. A very very fine line needs to be walked though to still allow personal freedoms but not at the risk of allowing everyone to do everything they want to. I do believe in certain limits. I'm just not 100% sure of what they all should be.... Ugh, my brain hurts.

[Tron]

I was in no way suggesting that we should have to get a license to have kids. My point is that these kids are in fact being born to parents who either don't want them or don't raise them. Then we let our government make choices that we should be making. There would be no need for all this if parents just said "no"... How long would the violent games be sold if people did not buy them? It is up to us. I am for smaller government and more family, not the other way around.....

I guess I have had my say and should get off the soap box now.....

[shawn_nee]

Parts of this remind me of Gattica. To lighten up this place a bit, did anyone see the last episode of Mind of Mencia? It talked about this topic in it.

Oh well time to go play..... uh work, yeah I said work not play, you didnt see that.

[Attila]

Never saw "mind of Mencia" Shawn.

But ohhhh to be able to play Dungeon Siege II or Guild Wars while I work....sighs heavily. Ahh well. I will just have to content myself with the fact that I do have work!! The gaming will just have to wait...

Edited by Attila, 24 August 2005 - 11:11 PM.