Researchers do not yet have a definite answer on what effects violent games and movies let to. It should be mentioned that there is a continuing debate among researchers over the relationship between violent video games and movies and aggressive behavior (Onwukwe et al., 2017). If with adults, the situation remains unclear, researchers observe a negative impact on development from violent video content for children. A brief observation of these adverse outcomes for children’s development will be observed and discussed in the present paper.
First of all, it should be mentioned that children were reported to demonstrate aggressive behavior, inattentiveness, and other issues in school ages if they were exposed to violent content in pre-school times. The following was confirmed by several studies and was true both for boys and girls. In detail, researchers studied 3-4 years old children whose parents reported that they were exposed to violent video games and movies. In several years, their primary school teachers were asked to evaluate their behavior. Those who regularly watched violent content demonstrated aggressive behavior, lying, manipulating classmates, and other antisocial behavior (Fitzpatrick, 2018). Furthermore, those children exhibited attention difficulties and emotional distress.
Moreover, the researchers highlight that exposure to violent content might have another danger for young adults: the wrong perception of violence in a real-life setting. Such children can see the world as a dangerous place with aggressive people around them (Pauk, 2015). This kind of attitude does not form a healthy psyche and can be an obstacle to a young person’s successful life. Consequently, in order to avoid these effects, parents need to control what kind of content a child is exposed to.
In conclusion, even though researchers still argue about the effects of violent content, they are confident of the negative impact on young adults. Several studies have demonstrated that children exposed to violent video games and movies in pre-school age had problems with aggression later in school. Besides, they showed lower academic performance, emotional disturbance, and wrong world perceptions. It is certain that in order to avoid the troubles, parents need to control what kind of content their children are exposed to.
References
Fitzpatrick, C. (2018). Watching violence on screens makes children more emotionally distressed. The Conversation. Web.
Onwukwe, L. C., Njemanze, V. C., Njoku, E., Obia, W. C. (2017). Effects of violent video games and violent movies on aggressive behavior of children in Imo state, Nigeria. American Journal of Psychology and Cognitive Science, 3(1), 1-7. Web.
Pauk, T. (2015). The impact of watching violent movies and playing violent games. The global new light of Myanmar. Web.