Psycology Of Divorce Essay Research Paper Many

Psycology Of Divorce Essay, Research Paper

Many people are quick to make accusations why the children of this age are doomed. Recently, with the high school shootings, people are pointing fingers to determine what has caused the recent outbreak of “youth violence.” It doesn’t seem like that youth violence has happened to this extent at any age throughout the history of the United States. Why is there this increase in violence. People are looking at what has been the biggest change in the United States in the past fifty years. Most people would agree that the answer is technology. If technology has been the greatest change in the United States, it must be at the root of the change towards heightened youth violence. It seems feasible. Much of the technology has brought along aspects of violence. Turn on the TV or pop in the best selling video game title, and it is not difficult to see why people have this impression. However, I strongly disagree that violence on the screen is at the root of youth violence. One aspect of this theory that I feel is particularly disturbing is that people think video games are responsible for violence in youths. I have grown up with video games my whole life. I annihilate over a million aliens, monsters, and green slimy things every year. Yet, I have never felt compelled to commit any act of violence that I see on the screen. What is on the screen stays on the screen. I have known that from the very beginning. My parents taught me at an early age that what is on the screen is for fun, and it is not to be done off the screen. Video games actually act as a release. If there is trouble in the home or problems in school, one has the opportunity to play a video game to displace anger; much like beating up a pillow. “‘But such claims (why video games cause violence) are bases on more on popular wisdom than any scientific evidence,’ said Jenne Funk, a clinical psychiatry professor at the University of Toledo in Ohio. ‘Scientifically we don’t have a lot of studies at this point on the subject. It takes, I believe, a child who is already troubled,’ she said.” (Associated Press) Depictions of increasingly graphic violence in video games have raised concerns about the affects of such games on their users. Opponents assert that such gratuitous violence leads to violent behavior in the children. Let us say that for an instant the video games actually do cause out breaks of violence in children. Then tell me what is the difference between playing video games in the 1990’s and playing Cowboys and Indians in the 1920’s. On Dateline this week, there was a story on an experiment that had taken place. This experiment involved preschoolers who were placed in a room unattended filled with toys including toy guns that looked identically like real guns. It turned out that all of the children gravitated towards the guns, but the most interesting results had to do with a particular child. One of the preschoolers was being raised in an environment where he was told everyday of his life that guns were wrong. That also means he was not exposed to TV violence or video game violence. Even if this particular child would turn to a station that had violence of any type, he would quickly change the channel because he knew that guns and violence were wrong. Strangely, this child only took ten minutes to pick up the pretend guns and open fire on his play partner. Some parents have decided to go as far as to not let children have toy guns. This seems like a responsible attitude at first glance. If guns cause violence sheltering a child from guns will prevent them from ever using one, right. Well, first of all, your children will resent their parent for this there entire childhood for doing this. Second of all, you are really not sheltering them from guns. Children are inventive and resourceful; they have not developed functional fixedness like adults have. If they are not given guns, they will make there own guns using sticks, cardboard, paper towel roles, or whatever is available. If you allow your children to have toy guns and teach them to act responsibly, consequently, they will know the difference between right and wrong when it comes to violence. I would like to explain my theory of this increased “youth violence.” If TV and video games are not corrupting children’s minds then what is. I intend to try and wrestle with the idea that children are being corrupted from another source. My Grandparents just celebrated their sixtieth anniversary. They led a very difficult life. They were forced to move to Chicago because the dust bowl had completely destroyed their family’s farm. My grandpa went to World War II and left my grandma with a very young child. Albeit their life was difficult, they seem to have led a pretty simple life. My Grandpa worked at Johnson & Johnson working machinery and my grandma took care of three kids and worked part time as well as volunteered. They went to church ever Sunday and always had a mouth full of gossip. They defiantly had their rough times, but never once did they think about splitting up. When my grandpa retired my grandma took care of him and cooked meals and did the laundry. My grandma always told us how he was just dead weight (half-kidding and half-serious). It was very difficult for my grandpa to do things; he had a very severe case of arthritis. However, something unexpected happened one year. My grandma was diagnosed with Alzheimer’s disease. She