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The Mental Stability Caused By Video Games

Ryland Wright

Northwest Career and Technical Academy

English 12 Period 3

Ms. Acosta-Lopez

March 5, 2021
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Abstract

As more violent games take the spotlight every year, there tends to be a shift between the

good and bad sides of all people that play games. A person can really tell by a change of routine,

attitude toward everyday things, and the lack of interaction they might have. This does take a toll

on the younger audience and without close supervision and common sense, there will always be

that gap. Some things parents should keep in mind are that kids are going to have violent

outbreaks, their grades will surely decline, and their social skills with real people will slowly

drain away.
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Issues Caused By Video Games

“We cannot and will not ban the creation of violent video games. But, we can prevent the

distribution of these disturbing games to children, where their effects can be negative,” Herb

Kohl says. This statement says that video game companies are not going to ban the creation of

violent games but can prevent them from getting in the hands of children. This brings up a good

question, How can video games affect the mental state of teens and young adults? Although

some may say that video games do not have an impact on mental stability, they do have a major

impact on the mental stability in teens because they can lead to violent outbreaks, school issues,

and social issues.

The first violent video game was released in 1976 and it went by the name of “Death

Race.” As the name might suggest, the game revolves around death and all different types of

violence. From then on, violent video games are thought to be the main cause of violent

outbreaks to teens and young adults. For example, in an article written by Jonatan Z. Gallar

stated that in 1999, two teenage boys walked into a school and started firing and when they were

done, they shot themselves. This act of violence was thought to be brought out by the reckless

and irresponsible acts of violent video games. A way to prevent this is by having parents monitor

what games their child is playing and be more aware if anything changes in their attitude after a

certain amount of time.

Playing video games comes at a cost, whether that be money, time, or school. School is

the most important thing that someone could have. Video games have been a staple in the current

generation for years now and having the amount of technology can lead to some issues that can

be lashed out at school. According to Kutner and Olson, they stated, “Studies have shown that

there is a strong link between violence in video games and real life violence, and that these
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games lead to social isolation and lack of communication and communication with children.”

This means that people that play video games for an extended amount of time are more likely to

do terrible in school and/or in their social life. With the current rise of violent video games, it is

only a matter of time until all the students that play games fail because they are more focused on

when they are going to play again. This does not just apply to violent games but to all games

whether they are for children or not.

Being social going up can lead to many different things later in life. This could lead to

job opportunities, volunteering, or maybe even a cash prize. Video games are brought on to

spread someone's voice to all others and help people meet others. This may seem like a good

thing and for some parts of it, it is; however, people fail to see the negative aspect of them. For

example, Nick Maroney and Benedict J. Williams from SpringerLink wrote, “in addition to

providing escape, massively multiplayer online role playing games, which emphasize

collaborative play, may also be supplementing or substituting for face-to-face social

interactions.” This means that the more time people spend talking to each other, the less

interaction they will have when having a face to face conversation. Some may say that this will

fulfill the social aspect that all people crave but there needs to be a line between a virtual

conversation and real one.

Many may argue that video games are not the main cause of violence in teens. Many

claim that video games are a way to help kids learn and grow. In a book titled, “Video Games

and Learning: Teaching and Participatory Culture in the Digital Age,” by Dr, Kurt Squire, he

states that content, overlapping goals, and continuous problem solving are critical aspects to

learning. In blatents terms, this means having good content, many goals, and lots of problem

solving are the most critical points that everyone needs in order to learn. It is understandable why
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the opposition believes that video games are a good way to educate children; however, games are

meant for entertainment and relaxation but having them involved with modern day education,

they will become more of a distraction rather than a resource.

As more violent games take the spotlight every year, there tends to be a shift between the

good and bad sides of all people that play games. A person can really tell by a change of routine,

attitude toward everyday things, and the lack of interaction they might have. This does take a toll

on the younger audience and without close supervision and common sense, there will always be

that gap. Some things parents should keep in mind are that kids are going to have violent

outbreaks, their grades will surely decline, and their social skills with real people will slowly

drain away. The main takeaway of this is that there will be times that kids may seem like they are

too far down to save, but there will always be a chance to bring them back.
Violent Games and Children 6

References

https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s11469-018-9887-7

Video Games and Learning: Teaching and Participatory Culture in the Digital Age

https://doi.org/10.1177/0743558407310713

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https://eric.ed.gov/?id=ED525058