Psychology

Though meant for entertainment, certain toys and video games have had detrimental effects on the players. Children are known to learn new behaviors by observation and imitation and hence the reason why violence video games and toys impact so much on the childrens behaviors. Research findings indicate that more and more children are being exposed to this risk with the current technological advancement (Burkingham 31). This is because game developers and toy makers can now take advantage of modern technology to develop products which incorporate certain features in them. Though not new to human lifestyles, violence in children has of late gained much concern from educators, physicians and parents noting the fact that technology continues to advance and that more of these children are getting an opportunity to interact with violent video games and toys. Children do not have the slightest idea of what impact violence media can have on their lifes.

Psychologists warn that the already aggressive children are at the highest risk of behavioral change following interaction with violent toys and games (Calvert and Tan 126). A survey done in courtesy of the American medical Association, American Psychological Association, American Academy of Child  Adolescent Psychiatry, American Academy of Pediatrics and the American Academy of Family Physicians indicate that children exposure to violence actions through video games, media and toys to children impacts subsequent violent behavior and negative attitudes on the children (Browne and Hamilton 17). A 2005s Kaiser Family Foundation (KFF) report notes that U.S teenagers between eight and eighteen years of age spend about seven hours each day either watching the television, playing games or on the computer while spending limited time in other healthier physical activities such as play or interacting with people (Calvert and Tan 127).

Video games are adored by most children across the world and are fancied more than books. Research findings show that in the recent past, the video game market has gained dominance with annual sales of about 20 billon (Anderson and Bushman 353). Most players are teenagers. Violence games are the most preferred. A study on children between six and eleven years of age in America found out that 83.4 had access to internet at home and that 81.2  accessed the internet to  play their favorite games online (Browne and Hamilton 23). A separate study indicates that 86.8 of youths in the United States prefer violent video games to other games and that about 29.1 play these games from a cell phone. Men or boys are known to play more than their female counterparts. The American life project notes that worldwide, 97 of young people either play violent video games or own a war toy with 99 being boys (Anderson and Bushman 43). There is minimal variation in terms of game and toy use across the different races, income groups and ethnic groupings. According to Nielsen, by the year 2006, more than 150 million U.S residents owned a video game console (quoted in Buckingham 41).  Video games and toys are more common in the urban dwellings than in the rural dwellings. Of these video games, violent ones are the most preferred by the young people with Mortal Combat, Grand Theft Auto, Capcom, Doom and Marvel Vs. Capcom being some examples. These games contain violence as the major theme and requiring the player to execute violent activities such as slaughtering the opponent in order to progress with the game. Out of the 47 Nintendo games available, 40 have been found to contain violence as their major theme (Anderson and Bushman, 73).

The American Psychological Association notes that the biggest risk is that games meant for adults and those with age limitations are still getting into the hands of children. Some game manufacturers have labels such as Violence level and real-life violence which have age limits (Calvert and Tan 128). Experts warn that violent videocomputer games impact negatively on a players behavior with or without notice. Violence is a form of physical aggression which when introduced to young people is easily articulated without any knowledge of the possible grievous consequences of this violence.  Since children learn a behavior by repetitively doing an activity, then prolonged interaction with these games impacts the young people with negative attitudes that affect their behavior negatively. Violent games such as Half-Life and Unreal Tournament require the player to shoot opponents who do an elaborate maneuver when killed. Sometimes violence is linked with humor especially in some maneuver performed by opponents when shot (Browne and Hamilton 59). In unreal tournament, there are sprays of blood and bursting into many recognizable body parts when explosives are used. Such actions usually amuse the players seeing their opponents vanish. This makes the children to grow being insensitive to impacts of crime such as death or injuries. Some even go to an extent of trying out the activities encountered in the virtual world of games in the real life situations.

Violent games illustrate use of violence activities as the most appropriate and effective solution to situations and this makes players adopt a positive attitude towards violence which worsens as they get more and more exposure to these violent games (Bucking ham 67). Violence is exposed as a necessary act in combating enemies and hence children grow being insensitive to crime as they perceive it to be necessary in challenging their real life opponents. There have been numerous incidences of violence by teenagers who claim or are either known to be inspired by heroic moves in violent games they fancy. For instance, in February 2003, Dustin Lynch claimed to have been inspired by Grand Theft Auto when he was charged with a murder case. On April, 1999, Dylan Kebold and Eric Harris in which they assaulted and killed 13 students and wounded 23 others and then killed themselves (Anderson and Bushman 355). Research into the basis of the shooting found out that the duo were addicts of the Doom game which is authorized by the U.S federal state to help soldiers obtain skills in effective killing. The duo is believed to have acted out their version of the Doom they had developed for a class project.

A video game like Grand Theft Auto has a high content of violence and young people known to consistently play the game have been identified to have high diastolic blood pressure which increases their temper and therefore making them aggressive (Browne and Hamilton 86). Such players are also uncooperative, have negative attitudes and are highly susceptible to indulgence in alcoholism and substance abuse. According to the U.S Center for Disease Control and Prevention, the most prevalent causes of deaths among the young people are trauma, suicide and homicide and are believed to be the products of aggressiveness (Calvert and Tan 129)

Addiction to violent toys and games could lead into one lacking touch with the society as a result of new perceptions or behavior towards the society as they perceive the world to be mean. This results into a one being stereotyped by the society or having low self esteem. This in turn affects their psychology adversely. Academic performance has been identified to deteriorate following addiction to violent video games (Calvert and Tan 131). This is because players dedicate so much time to play with their adventurous toys and games thus hardly sparing any time for studies. Game addicts also lack time for healthier physical play hence are at risk of chronic dieses such as cardiovascular diseases, diabetes and obesity. Medical practitioners note that these diseases are the worst causes of high mortality rates among the young people (Calvert and Tan 135). Crimes stimulated by academic failure and the aggressive behavior encountered when using these toys and games have been the result. Game addicts or toy users identify with certain characteristics from these toys and games thus influencing their traits.

Of late, much attention has been directed to identify the manner in which violent toys and games impact on children. Many people are of the opinion that media violence impacts negatively on children, and therefore adopt varied mechanisms as to how the games impact on the players. This is based on varying lines of thought. Some scholars believe that negative influence is the function of psychological factors relating to the way people learn (Anderson and Bushman 357). In this respect, children adopt cognitive scripts that direct their actions by applying the approaches learnt from the interaction with the toy or game. Basing on this believes its argued that children internalize scripts that illustrate violence as the most applicable and acceptable system of solving conflicts. Others relate the impact to psychological effects occurring after interaction with violent games and toys (Calvert and Tan 136). Therefore, the stimulated response to violence in these toys and games predisposes children to act violently to real life situations.

Children can hardly distinguish fantasy from facts. Since they learn from experience and by example, children have had the opportunity to learn the characteristics of the society through imaginative play while gaming or using toys such as sexist toys. Socially, children learn to negotiate, follows instructions, cooperate and take turns (Browne and Hamilton 133). Violent toys and games are just the basis for children to enter into the world of violence fantasy. Researchers have identified that as much as parents are ready to accept that violent video games are detrimental to the social life of their children they are not ready to accept the impact of war toys on the same children (New Brunswick Advisory Council of Women). War toys include objects such as toy guns and have been recognized to have many negative effects. Similar to video games, toys have been known to create a perception that violence is an acceptable method of conflict resolution. In the U.S of 1920-50s for instance, the Daisy air gun was rated as the most demanded toy by the boys (New Brunswick Advisory Council of Women). In the 1970s, the Army combat figure dominated the toy market and in 1980 Water guns were the most popular among boys. These statistics illustrate that war toys have increasingly been demanded by children meaning that they fancy them probably because of the heroic figure the toys impact on them. Apart from communicating violence, these toys could also impact negative views on social issues such as sexist stereotyping. War toys have also been known to cultivate negative ideas by influencing certain beliefs on the users. Researchers suggest that war toys have over time been used as tools for promoting propaganda and labeling certain groups as powerful and right and opponents as wrong and weak. People, especially children react differently to frustration and stress. War toys and violent games addicts take frustrations as threats as in the virtual worlds and thus react from aggression and anger (Buckingham 148). The impact of this reaction is always harmful to both the aggressor and the assaulted emotionally, mentally and physically.

However some researches argue that violence games and toys do not in any manner cause children to be aggressive. These arguments focus much on the child upbringing seeking to lift the blame partly on the violent games and toys. Existing study has only sought to correlate aggressive behavior to violent games and toys rather than addressing the causal factors (Calvert and Tan 138). Skeptics of this correlation say that thorough research has not been directed to figure out the role played by parental involvement while raising children. There are misconceptions though regarding real life causal factors of violence. Problematic actions among children are blamed on the lack of parental involvement in the childrens lifes. Parental involvement is expected to intervene in at various levels such as rules, involvement, morals, and home life. Parents then ought to guide what what games and toys their children have access to order to deter aggressive behavior.