We're here today to talk about 5 ways violent video games affect children. Pay
attention to this.
As a professional psychologist, I've been trying to pay attention to
what are the actual psychological effects
of violent video games on our kids. Let's start with the
obvious thing. Desensitization. This is a psychological process that
happens to all of us anytime we have repeated
exposure to something. You know, one of the most obvious
examples of this? I learned when my kids were teenagers.
And the room started to smell a little funny. You know,
they'd leave dirty socks around or whatever it is.
Well, that smell is something that we would notice as soon as we walked into
the room. But because they had been sitting in
there for hours, they had desensitized themselves to it.
Another word for this is habituation. And it's the way that our senses
with repeated exposure to something start to become
less sensitive to that thing. This is what happens with violent video games.
We are desensitized to what's going on in that game.
So, at first, it might be very alarming or shocking or
"Oh!" And then after repeated exposure to that,
we become desensitized to it. There's a little poem that was written by
alexander pope years ago that I think captures this very nicely.
Let me just share that with you. "Vice is a monster of so frightful mean
as to be hated needs but to be seen. Yet seen too oft
familiar with her face, we first endure then pity then
embrace." I think alexander poem really captures what we're talking about with
desensitization. As it's shocking at first and then
tolerated. And then finally just completely
accepted that's important because some of the
content of violent video games is something we don't necessarily want our
kids to be embracing.
So, let's pay attention to that. Along the lines of desensitization,
another factor, I'm going to call normalization.
And it happens in conjunction with desensitization
but it takes it a step farther. Where it seems
or appears or is perceived to be normal. The most striking example of this
I think was demonstrated by Dr George
Stratton. This was clear back in the 1800s. In 1896,
George Stratton wrote a paper about an experience he had
in developing a pair of eyeglasses that turned everything
upside down. He was studying human perception. He wanted to see what would
happen. People thought he was nuts. So, they
didn't even sign up for the study. He put them on himself. And as you can imagine
after putting these glasses on that made everything upside down,
he had a hard time getting through his own home.
Can you imagine even just filling up a cup of water at the sink?
Crazy, right? Well, after a while, he got used to it. This is the desensitization
that I was talking about earlier. He got used to it. It wasn't as shocking or
alarming now. It was something that he was starting to
get used to. And then on day 8, something really remarkable
happened. And this blew everyone's mind when he reported it.
It was no longer upside down. It looked normal to him.
Not just that he was used to it. It looked normal to him.
Which kind of freaked him out too. So, he took the glasses off at that point and
everything was upside down. He had to adjust back.
Our mind does this. I call it normalization
where whatever we perceive over a period of time
looks normal to us. That doesn't mean that's the way the world is.
It simply looks normal to us because that's what we've gotten used to.
Repeated exposure to violent video games can make
that look normal. And it's not. You think about how our
society operates. It is not normal to do the violent
actions that are portrayed in video games.
But with enough exposure, it starts to look normal.
That's a little scary. The third way that violent video games can affect children
or anyone really. We're talking about kids
today but I think the same principles apply to
adults. So, let's just be careful about that as well.
The next thing has to do with addiction. And you've probably heard that video
games can be addicting. There are actually features that are
built into video games. The game developers know this and they can tell
you about it. I attended a conference. I think they were talking about twitch
and... I can't even remember all of the terms
but they have specific terms that they have identified
that make it hard to stop. Because the objective is to keep people
playing, right? Well, these same factors that are built into the video
games can actually make them highly addictive. And one of the reasons that
that is true. This is true of substances as well.
Anything that quickly changes your mood can become
addictive. And it's the mood change that is the addictive factor
there. So, when people get involved in video
games especially intense video games or violent or explicit video
games, it changes their mood and then it requires more and more of
that input to get the same mood effect. And it starts an addictive pattern. So,
they can actually be addictive.
The fourth way that violent video games can affect children
doesn't even have anything to do with the violence.
In fact, this is something that we see with almost
all types of screen time. It's consumption. Meaning consumption of
time and energy and resources. A lot of people are surprised when we
show them a printout or a report of
how much time they have actually spent on a particular game
or screen time. In fact, you can do this with your own device.
Most smartphones now have a feature where you can get a screen
time report for that device. Just open it up.
It's probably in your settings where you can take a look at "How much screen time
have I spent?" And it will break it down into the
different apps. When we really realize how much
time it's consuming, I think this is one of
the concerns. Forget about the violence for just a
minute which I'm very personally concerned about. But even
if we set the violence aside, how much time is this consuming? Time that could
be used in other productive activities. And I
know this is something that I consult with parents a lot about too because
they're concerned about the sheer amount of time that is
consumed by these video games. It's a real factor.
Let's take a look at it. And finally, I want to get to a point
that I learned personally
several years ago. In fact, I wrote about it in my book and i want to read to you
just a little section from my book on page 162
where I told the story of Charlie Wakamatsu and I
were on a business trip together. Charlie is one of the founders of a
non-profit that helps to teach kids principles in
the schools. It's called nova principles. I'll just pick up where
I recorded this in the book. Charlie asks if i'd like to go bowling
on this business trip. That sounds like fun so I agree. Charlie
decides to make it more interesting which means there's a bet
involved. He proposes that the loser buys dinner. It's a pretty safe bet for
him. He's a fairly regular bowler. I on the
other hand have been bowling maybe 5 times in 10
years. So, yes. I'm probably buying dinner. A few
frames into the first game, I noticed that things are not going so well
for him. They are however going remarkably well for me.
I finished the game with my all-time high score
which is a solid 30 points better than my previous personal best.
"I thought you said you haven't been playing?" Charlie challenges me.
"I haven't", I replied defensively. "I haven't bowled in..."
Then I realize i have been bowling on our Wii game system. I didn't think
about that when I'd said I hadn't been bowling because it's
just a video game that i play with my kids on a television in our living room.
The virtual game however apparently provided
repeated mental practice that transferred
surprisingly well to the real game. Charlie buys dinner. The victory rings
somewhat hollow though because we're on the same expense account for the trip.
I wanted to share that little story with you from my book because i learned from
this experience the virtual practice is
practice. And it translated for me into winning decidedly winning
2 bowling games in a row. Which surprised me
it surprised Charlie. But I had been practicing
on a video game. I still remember with horror how I felt the morning of
September 11th when hijackers crashed planes into
some very prominent buildings here in the united States of America.
And how I felt about that? I later learned
that these men had practiced those attacks
virtually in video games and simulators. It's how we practice. What are
we practicing with our video games? I know. I get it all the time. It's just a
game. I get that. It's just a game. But what are we
practicing? What skill sets are we developing
in engaging our time and effort that way? This is another way that violent video
games affect kids? I'll call it the practice effect. Let's
take a serious look at this. I'm not saying that all games are bad or
that all violent games are bad. I do think that it has a profound effect.
And I think it's worth taking a look at. Sometimes I get in trouble for telling
people the truth about the effects of things like violent video games.
Hopefully you got some helpful pointers and tips there.
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