Joie Sajonia

Mrs. Allison
Period 5
January 5, 2015

Video games isnt the problem

Nothing is ever just one thing. Its always a combination of things. Some people
believe that videogames are the root cause of aggression which later on leads to murders. Then
why blame the video game for the gun? First and foremost, shooters like Adam Lanza have
mental illness just like majority of shooters. Second of all, it benefits you on a social level. Last
but not least, there is no real evidence if violent video games cause real violence. You truly cant
blame one thing for causing a problem that have many possibilities.
There has been a trend with shooters like Adam Lanza, have some form of mental illness.
Not a lot of people contribute the fact that some of these mass shooters have a mental illness.
Jeffrey Swanson, a medical sociologist and professor of psychiatry at Duke University, first
became interested in the perceived intersection of violence and mental illness. As he pored over
different data sets, he sensed that there could be some connection between mental health and
violence. As recently as 2013, almost forty-six per cent of respondents to a national survey said
that people with mental illness were more dangerous than other people. In all of his work,
Swanson has found one recurring factor: past violence remains the single biggest predictor of
future violence. Any history of violent behavior is a much stronger predictor of future violence
than mental-health diagnosis. When Swanson first analyzed the connection between violence
and mental illness. During the course of one year, he found that serious mental illness alone was
a risk factor for violencefrom minor incidents, like shoving, to armed assaultin only four per

cent of cases. Not all mental illnesses may cause horrific danger like a mass shooting, but some
mental issues and problems are contributed to violence.
You may not know this but playing video games even violent ones have benefits. These
video games can boost childrens learning, health and social skills, according to a review of
research on the positive effects of video game play to be published by the American
Psychological Association. While one may view playing video games as intellectually lazy.
Such play actually strengthen a range of cognitive skills such as spatial navigation, reasoning,
memory and perception, according to several studies reviewed in the article. Around 85% said
that video games reduce their stress. In the recent Digital Australia 2014 report, 91% of the
respondents said games are mentally stimulating, researchers said. Not only do games make you
mentally stimulating but, it gives you that adrenaline you can feel in a sport. A 2013 metaanalysis found that playing shooting video games improve a players capacity to think about
objects in three dimensions Things like this have critical implications for education and career
development to establish the power of spatial skills for achievement in science, technology,
engineering, and mathematics. Video games arent only something to play and have fun with it
also comes with a lot of benefits.
You will soon realize that you cant find any real evidence out there that states that
violence video games cause real violent. There is no proven fact that violent media is linked to
those shootings or really any real world violence. What we find in our laboratory studies are
very small effects affecting our thoughts, our cognitions, but not so much affecting our actual
real behaviors. "There are theoretical reasons why violent video games should have a bigger
effect than violent television, or movies. But empirically there is absolutely no difference."
According to studies the average effect of video games is actually lower than the average effect

of movies, television, and so forth. "The profile of most of these shooters are that their males,
between 20 to 30 years old, and the average age of video gamers is about 30 years old." Finding
out that they play violent video games is not particularly surprising, considering if you take a
random sample of any males, most of them are going to report playing violent video games.
People will come up with theories how violent video games do cause real violence, but the truth
there really isnt.
On the other side of the situation, some people do think that violent video games cause
real violence. They may argue that kids/teens in society today just copy whatever is on tv or in a
video game. Society now in days is known for being outrageous for example, some teens are into
drugs. To solve the problem of kids copying everything they see on media is talking to them
between reality and imaginary. If they already know the difference they wouldn't go out and do
violent things.
In a situation there isnt only one problem there a multiple problems. People do have
strong points on why violent video games cause violence, but that really isnt the case. There
may have been a mass shooting somewhere, there is a possibility that person has some sort of
untreated mental illness. You may not know but the fun video games you play at home have
some benefits. There really is no proven fact written down saying that violent video games cause
real violence. If you had the chance would you end violent video games once in for all of just
keep it the way it is?

Bibliography
"The Connection Between Mental Illness and Gun Violence." Pacific Standard. 10 June 2014.
Web. 04 Jan. 2015. <http://www.psmag.com/navigation/health-and-behavior/actuallyknow-connections-mental-illness-mass-shootings-gun-violence-83103/>.
"Do Violent Video Games Lead to Real Violence?" Www.ohio.com. Web. 07 Jan. 2015.
<http://www.ohio.com/lifestyle/do-violent-video-games-lead-to-real-violence-1.375519>.
"Do Violent Video Games Lead to Real Violence? - HowStuffWorks." HowStuffWorks. Web. 04
Jan. 2015. <http://electronics.howstuffworks.com/video-game-violence.htm>.
"Video Games Can Help Boost Social, Memory & Cognitive Skills." Psych Central.com. Web.
06 Jan. 2015. <http://psychcentral.com/news/2013/11/26/video-games-help-boost-socialmemory-cognitive-skills/62537.html>.
"Video Games Can Help Children Get Better Social Skills, Finds Study - Tech2." Tech2. 05 Aug.
2014. Web. 04 Jan. 2015. <http://tech.firstpost.com/news-analysis/video-games-can-helpchildren-get-better-social-skills-finds-study-228447.html>.