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Bad Behavior Cannot Be Blamed on Video Games

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Bad Behavior cannot be Blamed on Video Games
Fred Smith
University of Tennessee

Abstract For years, concerned citizens, policy makers and parents have thought that violence in the media and now violent video games are one of the main contributing factors to aggressive and violent behavior in some of our society’s teenagers. Past studies have indicated a link between these video games and aggressive behavior. Yet, as video games sales sore to new heights, violent crime committed by our youth is decreasing. Empirical evidence along with some recent studies shows that there is not a link between the two. It is more likely that aggressive teenagers are drawn to violent video games than violent video games are causing teenagers to be aggressive.

Bad Behavior cannot be Blamed on Video Games How times have changed. Imagine coming home from work on a Friday evening after a very long week to the sounds of boys wrestling in your living room. They are screaming and yelling at the top of their lungs, all at the same time. You hear things like “hit him”, “watch out”, “get over here”, “jump on him” and “get him”. You quickly make your way to the living room to see five nearly motionless teenagers wearing headsets and microphones. Two of them are sitting on the couch with their laptops on the coffee table. One is in the far corner in a rocking chair using a TV tray. The last two are set up of the card table pulled from the hall closet using chairs from the dining room table. A look of panic comes over their faces as they fear you are going to stop their game in mid-battle. The first two questions that come to your mind are ‘what are they playing?’ and ‘do all of their parents approve?’. For many, the playing of these types of games poses a dangerous scenario. However, the facts simply do not

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