Video games are a very popular means of entertainment among adolescents today.

They offer a much needed, long sought after, cure for Boredom. However, there are many concerns surrounding video games. The frontrunner among these concerns is video game violence. This is a very real and pertinent issue because the teens that are being saturated with this violence on an everyday basis

6. Talk about the content of the games.

Another aspect of family life that is affected is the education of the user. In a study of 225 college-aged students, those who had a history of playing video games as a teenager scored lower marks in school than their non-game playing peers (Ko 47). The main cause of these lower marks in school is from the fact that they will substitute homework time for game playing time (Ko 47). Therefore, because of the lower marks, the parents become upset and have to discipline the user; the parents’ troubles are increased along with household tension. Dr. David Walsh, PhD, lays out a few tips on the website for the Institute for Media and the Family for parents to follow in order that there will be less stress involved when dealing with their children about video games. They are:

5. Do not put video game set in children’s rooms where they can shut the door and isolate themselves.

The effects on family life are probably more of a concern to parents than any other aspect of life that video games affect. This is because it does not stop at the user. The effects are felt at a collective level. All who are in daily contact with the user are susceptible to these effects. The first aspect of family life that is affected is the togetherness atmosphere. Those who are into video games can literally become addicted to them. In fact, “a 1998 study published by Psychological Reports found that one in five adolescents could be classified as pathologically dependant on video games” (Ko 47). That ratio is more than likely higher by now. With this addiction comes self-confinement to the game and isolation from those who are not involved in the game (Walsh).

If parents were to abide by these tips, they would resolve many of the problems that occur as a result of video games.

We live in a day and age that feeds off of violence in the media. It is only natural, it seems, that it has seeped into the multi-billion dollar video game industry. The reality is that the main audience, or target group if you will, for this industry is our country’s young people. It seems, not just ironic, but down right foolish that we spend millions of state and tax dollars on violence prevention in our schools while $6 billion a year is being spent on “games where compromise does not exist and that conflict can be resolved only by competition, aggression, and death” (Strasburger 37). Don’t misinterpret the message that is attempting to be conveyed here; video games itself are very fun and, used within a reasonable set of boundaries, can be a good way to pass time. The fact is that violent video games prepare kids to kill and even teach them to enjoy the experience. Of course not everybody who plays these games will become a murderer. Just as not everyone who smokes gets cancer. But they will get sickened.

In most violent games women are seen as weak and helpless and, therefore, must be rescued or given some sort of assistance in order to survive (Welsh). This can give the user that same point of view. Therefore, this leaves the user with a fantasy ideology that needs to be stopped.

are the only hope for a better tomorrow. Moreover, if this violence is influencing them to treat life as meaningless, then there must be some kind of action taken to stop this desensitization. The problem of violence in video games has been pushed off and ignored for long enough. It is about time that we confront this

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