In this digital age, video games corner the market on entertainment. These games are mostly marketed to children and adolescents and feature violence and gore. Exposing young people to graphic content can damage their minds and their wellbeing. Gaming is dangerous to adolescents because it destroys social lives, damages grades, and blurs the perception of right and wrong.
Social lives For most teens, success and social lives are their top priorities and they try had to achieve these. However, distractions like video games deter kids from their dreams. Steve is a high school student who is addicted to video games, and it destroyed his life. He never became the quarterback of his high school football team, and he often skips his morning class…show more content… Games that young people play are specially designed to keep them playing “as long as possible” because they are nearly impossible to win (Document C). More and more therapists are beginning to treat gaming addiction, Cash, a therapist, has helped young people with their addictions to video games. He had seen kids that had “friends”, “played sports”, and spent time with their families, but their addiction has made them completely withdraw socially. (Document C). Their “grades are failing”, they are “totally out of shape”, and they can “no longer function in real life” (Document C). This withdrawal from society damages them because they no longer have any social skills and cannot cope with the world outside their computer…show more content… Last year a group of teens were arrested for a “highly publicized spree of carjacking’s, robberies and murders” (Document F). Of the teens that were convicted of their crimes, almost all of them admitted that video games inspired what they did. A lawyer in CBS news reported that older gang members trained initiates by making them play Grand Theft Auto, so they learned how to do “carjacking’s and murders” (Document F). The teens “played the games by day and lived the game by night” (Document F). All of these teens now face a lengthy prison sentence for their egregious crimes, which all spawned from a video game.
Video Games can Provide Knowledge not Learned in School For some, they games they play provide them with knowledge that cannot “be obtained in the classroom” (Document D). On a basic level, video games encourage problem solving skills, which are always useful in the modern world. Some games allow players to “construct a hypothesis, develop strategies” and learn the rules of the game (Document D). This is preparation for the real world and is cited as a way to acquire skills.