SPRINGFIELD, Mass. (WGGB) –President Obama called the Sandy Hook Elementary School massacre the worst moment of his tenure, and has since vowed to face the gun control issue head on. The president is calling on the video game industry to talk about policy proposals to curb gun violence.
But do the games have a negative impact on kids? “If turning something off causes your child to go into a tailspin, then that might be a sign that this isn’t such a good thing for them,” said Child Psychologist Dr. Jack Fanton.
He says violent video games do desensitize children, and has seen firsthand the effects of kids being too attached to them. These types of games have once again become the object of scrutiny since the horrifying events at Sandy Hook Elementary School. Dr. Fanton says there are many reasons why kids turn to video games, including parents separating, and living in unsafe neighborhoods.
However, he points out that getting too wrapped up in the games could be an early sign of socialization issues. “We’ve heard the stories of how it’s somewhat insidious. It never starts out with a huge addiction. There’s been research into whether video game addiction can be a distinct clinical entity or not.
Its games like Call of Duty that Game Hunters Manager Michael Valade says he wouldn’t even think of selling to someone underage. “If an 8 year old comes in, I’m going to show him an adventure game, a Lego game, a Mario Nintendo game; I’m not going to show him call of duty, a gears of war. That’s my kind of game.”
Yet Valade admits there are parents who are in the dark about the types of video games their kids are playing, or they just don’t care. “The parent should be watching and paying attention. Unfortunately I don’t see parents paying attention around here as much as I would like,” he said.
Until parents do, both Dr. Fanton and Michael Valade feel there will still be problems.
Later this week, Vice President Joe Biden is slated to meet with representatives from gun-ownership groups and the video game industry to see if they can come together on policy.
Not as much as being “human” in general. We try and find easy answers to complicated issues.
Could be, depends how they react to it, I guess.
does **** smell
No.
yes.
such repetitive questions
No…This Is Not Where Violence Stems From Anyone With A,Brain Knows This…
No it’s all books fault. Blame Catcher in the rye
The first first-person shooter was designed to instill a killer instinct in Vietnam troops.
some do.
no
Watching NASCAR makes people drive fast, also.
NO!!!!!!!
Idk but I’m gonna go play cod and blow some mother ****ers up!
I say no I been playing games my hole life and I never mid game stop playing and said I’m ganna go kill 20 people lol just saying
No, it’s rock and roll.
certainly desensitizes folks to the point where they do not feel .. as do all the violent movies ..
No , not at all !!!!
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I play violent video games all the time…. I do not have the urge to harm anyone because of it. Why you ask? My parents raised me right!
No, violent people make violent people.
Yes. My neighbor plays them all the time and is very violent towards my son
Absolutely! And it paints Italian plumbers in a bad light! Video games cause racism! And it desensitizes people to the plight of dragons! They also glorify digi-structing killer robots. I don’t know about you, but I don’t want my kids growing up thinking that digi-structing killer robots is acceptable.
Video games do not necessarily make kids violent. However, I wouldn’t let my 10 year old watch them anyway. It’s not required unless there is a real reason. I use a free software called Qustodio to block gaming sites. Light weight and easy to use, it is a complete solution with automatic blocking and real time reporting of time and sites visited. Also, I can view this data for 30 days. Just Google for it.
When something so catastrophic as Newtown happens people have to find a scapegoat and the easiest thing in this situation to point the finger @ is (music,t.v. and video games). The people that commit these horrific acts are crazy to begin with!!!