Video Game Violence Harmful to Children?

Recently, I was asked if I could do a post on how video games can be harmful to children. 
The first thing I went to research was violence in video games because it is the most talked about problem in the video game industry. Parents are worried that their children will be exposed to violence and sex in games and that they will then go on to mimic the actions that they see. However, the results of my research showed that violence more than likely does not influence children.

Craig Anderson and Brad Bushman's article, Effects of violent video games, says that playing violent video games does increase aggression among adolescence (Anderson & Bushman, 2001). Also, the article tries to link video game violence with school shootings such as the attack on Columbine (Anderson & Bushman,2001).  When I read the article I questioned it because if video games lead to such things as school shootings then wouldn't there be more instances were this happens?  According to multiple sources, as video games have become more popular, violence has actually decreased (Kain,2012).  As I continued my research, I found these articles that disagree with Anderson and Bushman's findings:

• The Journal of Pediatrics  
• Grandtheftchildhood.com
• Sage Journals   
• Media Violence and Aggression

  Overall, I believe that the media has sensationalized video game violence and that they should focus on other issues within video games, such as online interaction.  Please leave your comments below on what you think about video game violence. Also, be sure to check out my next blog which focuses on online interaction.

References

Anderson, C., & Bushman, B. (2001). Effects of violent video games on aggressive behavior, aggressive cognition, aggressive affect, physiological arousal, and prosocial behavior: a meta-analytic review of the scientific literature. Psychological Science, 12(5), 353-359.
  
Kain, E. (2012, April 19). Forbes. Retrieved from http://www.forbes.com/sites/erikkain/2012/04/19/as-video-game-sales-climb-year-over-year-violent-crime-continues-to-fall/