The more elaborate and violent video games are getting, the more often can you hear an opinion that playing them is detrimental to the teenagers’ mental health and makes them more aggressive in real life. In fact, this suggestion is far-fetched and does not hold water, as there is no evidence to support it.
First of all, the majority of surveys that were carried out to clarify this hot issue do not show that video games have adverse effects on our psyche and are more dangerous, than, for instance, films, books or some typical role games that children play outside. Boys have always enjoyed aggressive games like imitating a police pursuit or a war battle, but it doesn’t mean that they do not see the boundaries between the real world and the game world.What is more, according to Patrick Kierkegaard of the University of Essex, England, there is no evident connection between violence statistics figures and the appearance of video games. He claimed that considering soaring sales of video games, the violence figures should also be rocketing, but violence, especially among the young, has decreased. The opponents of the video games might remind us of the campus shootings in the USA, the initiators of which were gamers. However, there is no evidence to suggest that video games were the main factor that affected their mental stability and urged them to commit those outrageous crimes. Moreover, the overwhelming majority of young game players are law-abiding citizens.
On balance, the allegation that video games are the main factor that causes young people to be aggressive appears to be ungrounded and biased. Mass media’s frequent speculations on this topic distract our attention from the actual causes of violence and let the problem get worse.