Position paper on Videogame or Media Violence Essay

Position paper on Videogame or Media Violence - Essay Example Human beings are naturally not inclined towards killing and violence. However, the increased rate of violent crimes within different societies suffices to suggest that there exists a motivation towards violent behavior. Children are exposed to violent and crime scenes in various media platforms. Grossman argues, â€Å"It begins at the age of eighteen months when a child can begin to mimic what is on television† (2). Children are exposed to these violent scenes at the time of cognitive development. This implies that their cognitive patterns follow a violent trail. Indeed, â€Å"some of them embrace violence and accept it as a normal and essential skill in a brutal new world† (Grossman 2). When these children grow up, the violent behavior is entrenched within them. Continual involvement of the brain in violent video games can cause a phenomenon similar to classical conditioning whereby the players react subconsciously to situations in a violent manner due to the conditioning. In fact, President Clinton, as quoted by Grossman (3) claimed, â€Å"these games teach young people to kill with all the precision of a military training program.† Since children are at their developmental stage, rigorous and continued active involvement in violent video games conditions their delicate brains to violence. The present development in technology has made it possible for video games to have realistic characters (Barlett and Rodeheffer 1). The scenes are a real reflection of the real world. This has been highlighted as one of the primary cause of violent behavior among children exposed to violent video games for a long time. Barlett and Rodeheffer (11) found out that â€Å"if one plays a realistic violent video game, there will be an initial increase in aggressive thoughts and arousal and in aggressive feelings.† This increases the possibilities of violent actions from the video games being replicated in