Busk 1 Ryan Busk Writing and Rhetoric Prof.

Dietel-McLaughlin 15 November, 2013

Video Game Violence and the Adolescent Mind In this generations lifetime alone, there have been incredible advances in technology that could not have even been foreseen by our contemporaries. New products are available almost constantly thanks to these advances. Researchers are continually providing better and faster ways for people to obtain information, contact one another and reach sources of entertainment. This trend of more and more instant gratification through the development of technology has sparked a lively debate investigating the effects of technology on the adolescents of today. Technology use may seem to have had more negative effects upon the youth of this generation than it has been beneficial to the same generation. The use of technology in a classroom setting, while providing many opportunities to help with the advancement of learning through integrative tools, also implements the temptation of using the technology as a means of distraction from the focus of the classroom activities (Fang 1). The use of personal technologies such as mobile phones and laptop computers during classroom lectures provides students with the opportunity to try to multitask, which distracts the students from effectively learning the content being presented because they are not focusing their whole attention to the task at hand. The temptation of using personal technology in the middle of class can be a distraction to both the student using

Busk 2 the technology and other students around them who are trying to participate in the discussion or lecture. Distractions from technology are a very real problem in the classroom setting today. Teachers are finding it more and more difficult to engage their students, who require constant stimulation in order to keep their minds active. Adolescents today are used to being bombarded by thousands of messages and images and ideas at all times, and often become very bored when asked to focus on one task for the duration of a class period. Even in my classes here at Notre Dame, if you look around at all of the computer screens, most students are working on assignments for other classes while also listening to the instructors lecture. This provides an increasing problem for classroom instructors, especially in a setting that is rigorous and competitive in academics. Students in this setting feel as though they should always be working on something to get ahead. With the availability to do work from multiple classes all with the click of a button, students dont want to a waste a single minute at any time. Therefore, the temptation of technology becomes something that is hard for students to resist, causing them to not absorb the classroom topics as efficiently. This is a topic that hits close to home with me. In an effort to get all my homework done through the week, I will be working at all my homework assignments at the same time while working with a group maybe on something else. I can work on my math on one website, chemistry on another, and be chatting a friend from across the world on Facebook. With the ability to take in as much information as I possibly can in the littlest time possible, of course I am going to do that. This can be a detriment to the

Busk 3 quality of work that I am doing on each of the tasks. I will later look over some homework and not know how I got a certain answer or how I got to that conclusion. By doing all my work at once, I am making my work a distraction. Technology is the tool to get my work done, but at the same time, this technology, even if I am doing work, becomes a distraction. Studies have shown that the adolescent mind is much more susceptible to becoming habituated to constantly switching tasks. Young people today are less able to maintain focus and pay attention to one task for extended periods of time. Michael Rich, executive director of the Center on Media and Child Health in Boston, Massachusetts, asserts that we are raising a generation of kids whose brains function differently because they are rewarded not for staying on task but for jumping to the next thing. (Richtel 1) It is a difficult thing to overcome in this day and age, where being proficient in technology use is what gets one ahead, but is also the biggest downfall when the probability for technology becoming a distraction is taken into account (Richtel 1). Another concern is the glorification of violence common in many popular video games. Adults are concerned about the effect of these violent games and the impact on decision skills of the youth who are exposed to them. They believe that so much exposure to violence will desensitize youth of today and affect their development and their capability to control aggressive behaviors. Recent studies have confirmed a positive correlation between exposure to video game violence and trait hostility and aggressive behaviors in adolescents. The conclusions to a research paper done in 2004 by Gentile et. al. states, Clearly, media violence is not the sole cause of aggression. But it is likely that it is one of several causes

Busk 4 leading to it. (Gentile 19) Extended exposure to video game violence has been proven to add to the desensitizing of adolescents to real world violence and can cause the development of antisocial behaviors. Violence in video games that children spend hours playing is thought to negatively affect their decision making process when it comes to aggressive or violent behaviors. Many people believe that the rise in adolescent aggression such as school shootings and suicides are due in part to the fact that more and more children are being exposed to the violence in such video games. The way that children today view violent acts is distorted due to their glorification in games that focus on war, shooting and killing. This has a real effect on teenage boys especially. While playing video games, teen boys, including myself, get fully engrossed in what we are doing. The game causes this emotional sinusoidal wave. While playing, the flux between states of stress to relief to the feeling of content can be very taxing to both your mind and body. If you have not played video games before, its feels like you would at an amusement park. First, you have all this anticipation while waiting in line. Next, you ride the roller coaster causing these huge adrenaline rushes, and finally you get off, winding yourself down. This repeats for as long as you are there. This is the same for video games, you have all this anticipation for a big turn in the plot or a difficult level, then you get to that level, really having to work hard to get through, then the level ends and you relax for a bit, but there is always another level. With continuous repetition this is very taxing on your body. It causes people to become edgy and violent. This is especially prevalent in teenage boys because of how susceptible

Busk 5 they are. I have experienced this feeling myself while playing violent video games such as Call of Duty or Skyrim. While many professionals believe that the advancements and use of technology is a detriment to the development of adolescents today, there has also shown to be a great benefit to having the access and capabilities that this new technology provides. The side effects of the use of technology are not always negative, and can be very helpful if technology is used in the proper way and parents implement limits on their childrens use of them. Technology, in a limited amount, can also have a very positive effect on the development of adolescents. Rather than focusing on getting rid of the negative effects of technology and its use, the positive role of technology in the lives of youth today should be recognized. In a study from 2006, the author took a new approach by focusing on the new technologies in young peoples lives to develop a psychoeducational program that promotes positive youth development. The paper says, in today's world, new technologies play an important role in different areas of the lives of young people, such as education, entertainment, socialization, and communication. (Umaschi Bers 1) The ways that advances in technology have impacted the lives of young people has increased exponentially since this study was conducted. The ways that technology use has advanced our society are amazing. The adolescents of this generation have lived their whole lives with fast-paced electronics that pervade every aspect of life from entertainment to learning to transportation, making tech-savvy the new standard of knowledge. One of the biggest benefits of the early exposure that many youth get to technology and the

Busk 6 great amounts of use that they have with it at a young age is the fact that they are even more prepared to enter into the technology dominated world and be successful from the start. In another study, researchers found that video game playing can produce systematic data when used as a positive reinforce for choice in humans. (Lynch 1) Computer generated video games have also found excellent use in treatment for psychological disorders such as substance abuse or addictions. This is because video games can be set up in a way that implements a psychological strategy that teaches a human patient when and how to use the desired mode of decision making. The results of this research prove that video games do have an effect on the psychological paths of the players, but it does not always mean a negative one through violent games (Brown 1). Most of the negative side effects of playing video games come from the users view of the use of them. One study by the Journal of Adolescent Research asserts that video games can provide children with healthy development by providing a place for them to explore situations and explore emotions and roles not available to them in normal life. It states that by providing adolescents with situations not typically experienced in the real world, video game play may facilitate exploration of rules and consequences. (Olson Kutner Warner 58) Video games, even violent ones, incorporate realistic situations and consequences that adolescents may not face in their own lives. Games such as these also provide an outlet for aggressive and violent behaviors, especially for adolescent males. The research holds that as long as children can distinguish fantasy aggression and violence from real-world behavior that includes intent to harm a real victim, then video games can be helpful in social development

Busk 7 (Olson Kutner Warner 58). When the intent of the gamer is to relieve stress and experiment with decision making, the chance of video games affecting the psychological pathways of that person is very slim. This technology, when used in the right way, can be beneficial to adolescents as they develop their emotional and decision making skills. Video games such as Cogmed are very beneficial to teenagers. Cogmed is computer game. Basically it is a program that has lots of different games inside of it that are designed to improve the memory functions of the user. It uses fun games such as number repeat or shape building or things of the same nature to facilitate memory usage. It is designed as a 25 day program to improve memory. You play a limited number of games a set and you only get to play one set of games a day. Not only is this program beneficial to actual cognitive capacity and it cannot be addictive because of the limited time one can play with this game. I personally used this program a few years ago. It worked pretty well. I really enjoyed playing the game. It did not cause me to be irritable or on edge at all. When I did the program, I actually did it through a study at Notre Dame. Before I did the study, I took a memory test to see what I was capable of. I did decently well. After I did the twenty-five day program, I did much better on this test. This is just a single example, and I never got the actual data recorded from the experiment, but I have talked to other people who did the program, and they said that they also saw an improvement in their memory as well. They also said that they really enjoyed playing the games and did not really see it as a test but more as a privilege. In conclusion, technology is a good thing when it is implemented in the proper ways. Technology for adolescents, including teenage boys, can be especially beneficial.

Busk 8 Yes, technology can cause some issues if it is used wrongly, and although in some cases it can be a distraction, some cases it can be detrimental to the development of adolescents, the good qualities gained from technology use far outweigh the poor qualities when technology is implemented in the proper way. Technology to teens works best in limited qualities. More research could be done on exactly what advantages would be and how these could play out in adolescence and their futures. This paper touched on memory as something that technology can be used to make improvements. There are already a lot of research papers on this topic, but this is not the only thing that technology can improve. Technology can help to improve decision making, reflexes, and logic, among other things. More studies can be done on each of these topics and papers could be done. Doing these papers would help get rid of any misconceptions people have about technology and help people realize how beneficial it can actually be.

Busk 9 Works Cited Lynch, Paul J. "ERIC - The Effects of Violent Video Game Habits on Adolescent Aggressive Attitudes and Behaviors., 2001-Apr." ERIC - The Effects of Violent Video Game Habits on Adolescent Aggressive Attitudes and Behaviors., 2001Apr. N.p., n.d. Web. 15 Nov. 2013. (4)

Gentile, Douglas A., et al. "The Effects of Violent Video Game Habits on Adolescent Hostility, Aggressive Behaviors, and School Performance." Journal of adolescence 27.1 (2004): 5-22. Print.(3)

Olson, Cheryl K., Lawrence A. Kutner, and Dorothy E. Warner. "The Role of Violent Video Game Content in Adolescent Development: Boys' Perspectives." Journal of Adolescent Research 23.1 (2008): 55-75. Print. (6)

Umaschi Bers, Marina. "The Role of New Technologies to Foster Positive Youth Development." Applied Developmental Science 10.4 (2006): 200-19. Print. (7)

Brown, Stephen J. Method for Treating Medical Conditions Using a Microprocessorbased Video Game. Health Hero Network, Inc., assignee. Patent 5918603. 6 July 1999. Print. (5) Fang, Berlin. "From Distraction to Engagement: Wireless Devices in the Classroom (EDUCAUSE Quarterly) | EDUCAUSE.edu." From Distraction to Engagement: Wireless Devices in the Classroom (EDUCAUSE Quarterly) | EDUCAUSE.edu. Educause Review, 22 Dec. 2009. Web. 14 Nov. 2013. (1)

Busk 10 Richtel, Matt. "Growing Up Digital, Wired for Distraction." New York Times 1 Nov. 2010: A1. Print. (2)