Over 90% of U.S. Children participate in playing a video growing up. Even with this number being so high, the amount of children playing video games continues to grow. Not only are computer and console games really popular, mobile games are picking up traction among kids of all ages. Specifically, kids younger than 8 that play games spend a daily average of about 69 minutes on handheld console games, 57 minutes on computer games, and 45 minutes on mobile games (information from the APA). This number continues to grow with the increase in availability of gaming devices. The type of game varies, but there has been speculation that violent video games have a direct correlation to real life violence. A growing concern for many families in the US is that violent video games create a bad example for kids which may lead to mass homicide.
The idea that video games could cause people to commit crimes started back around the Columbine massacre in 1999. More recently, there have been the CO theater shootings, the Sandy Hook massacre, and few more. Although a direct connection was never made, parents had speculations that violent video games were the cause of all of these crimes. Some parents looked to the court system to try to limit children’s use of violent video games. Even with the effort of the community, the US Supreme Court ruled that the First Amendment fully protects speech, even it is violent speech. The biggest problem that the parents couldn’t push back against all of the video game companies and the law was because there was no good way to connect violent games and real life violence. There has been no strong evidence/statistics besides arrested people claiming that they saw something in a video game and decided to try it in real life. The research that the scientists have been conducting has shown that there is a connection, but it all depends on how the kids were raised.
There is still a lot of debate whether there is a real connection or not. Research says there is, but there is also a lot of research that points to how it is not the video game, but rather the personality of the kid that causes real violence. Personally, I agree with the idea that there is a small connection, but the only thing that matters is the personality and how the kid was raised. My experience with violent video games has never led me to think about homicide, but I think that my moral compass would be too strong to fight against it. I think the solution to this problem is to either restrict violent video games for kids based on the family or just have the family spend more time with their kids in order to build up a better willed personality.