The Correlation Between Video Games and Teen Violence

Good evening Steemit!

I haven't posted in over two weeks because, well, school takes precedence over everything in my life. It's weird to think that I'm already in my second year of college and approaching midterms at an alarming pace. 

In the midst of my hectic life, I managed to find the time to write a report exploring the effects of video games on violent tendencies in teenagers. 

I had initially interviewed a few people about this, but I will be saving that edition for a later purpose. 

I know papers and such aren't exactly the most interesting thing in the world, but I hope you still find this to at least stimulate thoughts regarding this issue. 

If you have any thoughts of your own regarding the topic, please reply and let's have a discussion!

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Does gaming promote and encourage violent tendencies in teenagers, or does it rather provide a release for preexisting tendencies?

This article is about just one example of many which encapsulates the paradox of ‘the chicken and the egg’. My purpose in writing on this topic is to spark an intelligent conversation about the effects of gaming on a typical teenager.  

  To help steer the discussion, I must first set a few preconditions. Firstly, I am working under the assumption that every teenager, to some degree, experiences violent tendencies that require some form of release. Secondly, I am ignoring all outliers that typical case study or other research method would produce, including psychopathic and apathetic tendencies found in a small minority of teenagers of this generation.  

  That being said, the topic in question is fairly simple. Does gaming promote and encourage violent tendencies in teenagers, or does it rather provide a release for preexisting tendencies?

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  Due to the complexity of any conversation of this type, I will be procuring arguments supporting my own personal and biased beliefs on the topic. My conclusion will be solely based upon my own biases and will not account for other plausible explanations or outliers, as previously stated.

  The conclusion that I have reached is that video games, violent ones to be specific, promote a dangerously encapsulating environment that tears down a teenager’s ability to discern for him or herself what is morally acceptable in a digital scenario, as opposed to real conditions. However, it is my belief that this allows for said teenager to release violent energy in an environment that removes the danger of innocents being harmed. That is, violent video games provide a release for preexisting tendencies.  

  I have arrived at this conclusion through two methods. The first of these was through personal anecdotes. As a teenager who struggles to manage video games with the hectic schedule of university life, I have played more than my fair share of violent video games. The experiences I am referencing in this instance, however, were from my high school years.

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  During my time in high school, I suffered from the constant battle my consciousness was doing with my anger issues. I needed to find a release for this, and punching walls and doors was getting old and rather painful. Instead, I turned to video games, namely Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas. I would sit at my computer and perform the same cycle of events each hour. I would first steal a motorcycle, preferably from a police officer. Following the theft, I would proceed to the highway. I would travel until I reached a bridge along the boardwalk by the beach, where I would then climb to the top of the bridge and load my sniper rifle. I was essentially untouchable and I had infinite targets (this is where cheats came in handy).   

  Another game I played a lot was Postal 2. It was a video game literally produced for the sole purpose of making a game based around massacring everyone in sight. In this game, you could cut off people’s heads, piss on anyone, blow everyone’s heads off with any firearm, set people on fire, incapacitate people with tasers, etc. It was a disgustingly brutal video game and I loved it. It allowed me to roam freely and kill everyone I saw.

  Naturally, I didn’t possess the inclination to kill everyone I saw in the real world. However, I was angry most of my adolescent life, and games like those two provided a way for me to alleviate the pain I felt from my anger.

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  Some may argue that video games provide an endless cycle of violence and mental illness. Killing someone in a video game may scratch a metaphorical itch which keeps our violent side at bay, however, the more we play video games, the deeper this itch burrows into our minds and hearts. In an over-dramatic way, it can consume us. These are valid fears, except that this directly contradicts human nature. It is engrained in us from birth that we must treat others as human beings deserving dignity and respect. Human nature breaks that cycle, whether it is our own selves who intervene or a peer. If everyone possessed this cycle, the world would have destroyed itself a hundred times over. 

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