Are Violent Video Games Are Harmful To Children And...

Taking Sides: Violent Video Games There has been a long-standing debate that violent video games are harmful to the rising generations. The article that was selected to be critiqued is, â€Å"Are Violent Video Games Harmful to Children and Adolescents?†. The purpose of this paper is to analyze and critique the research methods and conclusions included by the author of the article. Summary Author, Steven F. Gruel, argues that there is an overwhelming amount of science and research that supports the claim that video games that are violent are indeed harmful to human development (Gruel 2010). It affects their development by causing them to act more violently. He begins by discussing that over time, usage of violent video games among youth has†¦show more content†¦This proves to be a problem as it does not give the reader all the details. The article expects the reader to agree with the author without knowing the complete information. This takes away from the critical thinking that the reader should do when reading an opinionated article. It is important for the reader to be able to form an opinion on their own and not from just what the author tells them is true. An example from the article is when he claimed that studies have shown evidence that exposure to violent video games reduced the player’s ability to control their impulses. (Gruel 2010) As a r eader, this statement is substantial to forming an opinion on the issue, but it lacks substance to deduct a thorough understanding of what is being stated. There is no explanation of the experiment where the results came from, no discussion of sample size, no explanation of the type of experiment, and no documentation of the subjects. The reader is left to either fill in the blanks with their own assumptions or blindly trust the author. Weakness: Suggests that Correlation does Equal Causation The next issue that can be found, is he suggests that correlation found in studies equals causation. In the text, he states, â€Å"Several studies documented a negative relation between amount of time playing video games and school performance among children, adolescents, and college students.† (Gruel 2010). With this he correlates video games with doing poorly in schools. This is aShow MoreRelatedViolent Video Games Harmful On Children And Adolescents861 Words   |  4 PagesViolent Video Games Are Harmful to Children and Adolescents. There is overwhelming scientific research that suggests that playing violent video games are harmful to children and adolescents. The scientific evidence has uncovered several areas in the development of children and adolescent that are negatively impacted because of the exposure to and playing of violent video games. 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