By Gustavo Buenrostro
“Video games are the cause of violence” is a narrative that is played out at this point, yet it still persists.
President Donald Trump made a statement saying that video games are shaping the youths mind to be more violent in early March after the shooting in Florida.
He also said that movies are also violent triggers for young people.
The Kentucky governor Matt Bevin said video games desensitize people to violence on the Leland Conway show.
“It’s garbage. It’s the same as pornography,” Bevin said
“They have desensitized people to the value of human life, to the dignity of women, to the dignity of human decency,”
It’s not just Trump and Bevin who think video games cause aggression in kids.
During Barack Obama’s presidency after the Sandy Hooks shooting, he also made comments on video games being a potential source of violence.”I will direct the Centers for Disease Control to go ahead and study the best ways to reduce (gun violence),” Obama said.
“Congress should fund research into the effects that violent video games have on young minds.”
What both President Trump, Bevin and Obama fail to realize is that there is no scientific evidence to definitely prove that video games are linked to violence in the minds of the youth.
There have been many studies done on the effects that video games have on people, both negative and positive. Most studies say that video games don’t have any effect on a person’s aggression.
Just like anything, people can do too much and it can interfere with there life.
There is nothing special about video games that directly affect a person.
And depending on the type of game someone plays, video games can be therapeutic.
Childsplaycharity.org suggests video games for children 12 and under. The recommendation is for children who suffer from anxiety/ hyperactivity, cognitive impairment and depression.
Bevin brings up a decent point about video games. Children can still play a game with a rating of M for Mature and there isn’t anything to prevent them from playing them.
However, that is not entirely true.
Parents are that prevention from children playing M rated games.
It’s not the developer of the game or the stores fault that a kid plays a game he shouldn’t.
It’s not even the parents’ fault.
If parents are really concerned about the games their kids play, then maybe they could research the game the child wants before purchasing it for them.
More often than not, the parent buys games like “Grand Theft Auto” for their children because the child convinces there parents that its a racing game because they can drive cars in it.
Video games are also another form of entertainment, like music, movies or television.
The only difference is that video games are more interactive than any other one of these mediums.
Just like all the other mediums, its open to subjectivity.
The narrative of “video games causing violence” should end because at this point, it’s just a cycle.