Video Games and Children
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http://www.childdevelopmentinfo.com/health_safety/video_games_and_children.shtml |
Since video
games were first introduced in the 1970s they have become a popular pastime for
children and teens as well as quite a few adults. Parents should consider
two basic issues when providing guidance to their children and teens regarding
the use of video games. (1) Parents should be aware of the content of the
games and question whether it is appropriate for the age and developmental
level of their child. (2) Parents should monitor how much time their children
spend playing video games as well as other activities. It is true that
you can have "too much of a good thing."
Evaluating
the appropriateness of Video Game Content
Parents have the
responsibility of helping their children select books, toys, television
programs and movies that are appropriate for each particular child.
Entertainment materials should be fun, engaging and spur creative
fantasy. Hopefully, they will not be overly frustrating, and they will
not present information or images that could be so overly scary they might
spawn excessive worry or anxiety or nightmares or too advanced as to create
questions or interests that the child is not intellectually or emotionally
ready to handle.
Given what seems
to be an increase in violent acts by children, the media and video games have
been identified as possible causes for these phenomena. Research has not
fully supported this notion. It is known that SOME children are more
likely to act out what they see than others. Some children may have a
poor understanding of the difference between reality and fantasy. Others
may have poor impulse control and become overly intense in their acting out of
violent scenes. On the other hand, some children may be emotionally
disturbed for any number of reasons and may gravitate to this material as a
result of the disturbance. Parents should have a good knowledge and
understanding of each child so that they can assist them in selecting
appropriate play materials.
Children and
adults have always found some amount of violence to be entertaining.
Certainly many stories contained in books have violent themes and depict
violent scenes. Many of the original Grimm Fairytales had some very
violent scenes. Certainly violence in movies has become more
graphic. However, the mind is very capable of creating very vivid violent
scenes from reading a book.
Children have
always engaged in some form of aggressive play. Often it involves
portraying roles from one form of literature or another. In the olden
days it was "cops and robbers," "cowboys and Indians," "Superman," "Prince
Valiant," "Space Patrol," or "Flash Gordon" to name a few. Much of the
action today is the same but with different fictional characters. Many
parents from the "baby boomer" generation decided to not buy guns or war toys
for their kids only to find them using tinker toys or other materials to
construct guns and other weapons.
Again, parents
may want to help their children and teens select play and entertainment
materials that are balanced in content. Some can be educational while
others are just plain fun. By the way, it is thought by some child
psychologists that some fantasy video games may help children develop cognitive
skills such as the ability to plan ahead as well as develop visual spatial and
eye-hand coordination skills.
Parents should
spend time playing the games with their children as well as talking with them
about the child's thoughts, feelings and perceptions related to playing the
game. They can also engage in a discussion of values that may guide the
child down a path that is safe and leads to the development of a sound moral
character.
A recent study
(Funk, 1993) examined video game playing among 357 seventh and eighth grade
students. The adolescents were asked to identify their preference among five
categories of video games. The two most preferred categories were games that
involved fantasy violence, preferred by almost 32% of subjects; and sports
games, some of which contained violent sub themes, which were preferred by more
than 29%. Nearly 20% of the students expressed a preference for games with a
general entertainment theme, while another 17% favored games that involved
human violence. Fewer than 2% of the adolescents preferred games with
educational content.
The study found
that approximately 36% of male students played video games at home for 1 to 2
hours per week; 29% played 3 to 6 hours; and 12 percent did not play at all.
Among female students who played video games at home, approximately 42% played
1 to 2 hours and 15% played 3 to 6 hours per week. Nearly 37% of females did
not play any video games. The balance of subjects played more than 6 hours per
week. Results also indicated that 38% of males and 16% of females played 1 to 2
hours of video games per week in arcades; and that 53% of males and 81% of
females did not play video games in arcades.
Because it is
likely that there is some similarity in the effect of viewing violent
television programs and playing violent video games on individuals' aggressive
behavior, those concerned with the effects of video games on children should
take note of television research. The consensus among researchers on television
violence is that there is a measurable increase of from 3% to 15% in
individuals' aggressive behavior after watching violent television. A recent
report of the American Psychological Association claimed that research
demonstrates a correlation between viewing and aggressive behavior (Clark,
1993).
Effects of Other Characteristics of Video Games
Some adults
believe that video games offer benefits over the passive medium of television.
Among mental health professionals, there are those who maintain that in playing
video games, certain children can develop a sense of proficiency, which they
might not otherwise achieve. However, other authorities speculate that
performing violent actions in video games may be more conducive to children's
aggression than passively watching violent acts on television. According to
this view, the more children practice violence acts, the more likely they are
to perform violent acts (Clark, 1993). Some educational professionals, while
allowing that video games permit children to engage in a somewhat creative
dialogue, maintain that this engagement is highly constrained compared to other
activities, such as creative writing (Provenzo, 1992).
Another problem
seen by critics of video games is that the games stress autonomous action
rather than cooperation. A common game scenario is that of an anonymous
character performing an aggressive act against an anonymous enemy. One study
(Provenzo, 1992) found that each of the top 10 Nintendo video games was based
on a theme of an autonomous individual working alone against an evil force. The
world of video games has little sense of community and few team players. Also,
most video games do not allow play by more than one player at a time.
The social
content of video games may influence children's attitudes toward gender roles.
In the Nintendo games, women are usually cast as persons who are acted upon
rather than as initiators of action; in extreme cases, they are depicted as
victims. One study (Provenzo, 1992) found that the covers of the 47 most
popular Nintendo games depicted a total of 115 male and 9 female characters;
among these characters, 20 of the males struck a dominant pose while none of
the females did. Thirteen of the 47 games were based on a scenario in which a
woman is kidnapped or has to be rescued.
Studies have
indicated that males play video games more frequently than females. Television
program producers and video game manufacturers may produce violent shows and
games for this audience. This demand for violence may not arise because of an
innate male desire to witness violence, but because males are looking for
strong role models, which they find in these shows and games (Clark, 1993).
Conclusion
Given
inconclusive research, recommendations concerning video games must be
conservative. According to researcher Jeanne Funk (1993), a ban on video games
is: probably not ... in the child's best interests. Limiting playing time and
monitoring game selection according to developmental level and game content may
be as important as similar parental management of television privileges.
Parents and professionals should also seek creative ways to increase the
acceptance, popularity, and availability of games that are relatively
prosocial, educational, and fun. (p.89)
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