Hindustan Times Goes Bananas Over Videogames

The Hindustan Times reports playing violent videogames "too much" will cause all sorts of ills.

An article in yesterday's reputable Hindustan Times reports that violent television, internet, magazines, music, videogames and news induce mental and physical harm. That's broad. The tone of the article was definitive in its conclusion but failed to mention the mounting science that contradicts this theory. Many new studies and theorists find the exact opposite, a relief of tension and stress in the play of violent games. Here are some of the more interesting and seemingly definitive quotes from the article:

• "A US National Institutes of Health review of 173 studies about the effects of media on children linked too much television, films, video games, magazines, music and the Internet to aggression, childhood obesity, early tobacco use and risky sexual behavior."
• "Playing a violent game for hours has been shown to decrease school performance, increase aggression, raise obesity, induce epileptic seizures, and cause postural, muscular and skeletal disorders such as tendonitis, nerve compression, and carpal tunnel syndrome. Though these effects are not likely to occur in most children, parents need to be concerned about two things: the amount of time spent playing, and the content of the games."
• "While not every child who plays an ultra violent game picks up a gun to go hunting black bucks, the real impact is subtle. 'Violence in games and films fuels latent aggression by celebrating brutality and trivializing pain and makes children hostile, argumentative, and insensitive to pain,' says Dr Sen."

The article also mentioned the introduction of the Wii as a family system reducing the inherent violence associated with videogames.

Perhaps the only definitive statement; it is clear much more research needs to be done before definitive statements are made on the effects of playing violent videogames, if any.

Source: Hindustan Times

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Comments

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  "While not every child who plays an ultra violent game picks up a gun to go hunting black bucks, the real impact is subtle." My favorite quote by far. Black bucks? LOL.

  LesThom, 30-11--0001 at 00:00
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  "Everytime you play a game kills a kitten" ? :-/

  Dennis, 30-11--0001 at 00:00
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  I love the newsthumb for this article. LOL

  NPC, 30-11--0001 at 00:00