Reality Bytes: Eight Myths About Video Games Debunked

It’s true that young offenders who have committed school shootings in America have also been game players. But young people in general are more likely to be gamers 90 percent of boys and 40 percent of girls play. The overwhelming majority of kids who play do NOT commit antisocial acts. According to a 2001 U.S. Surgeon General’s report, the strongest risk factors for school shootings centered on mental stability and the quality of home life, not media exposure. The moral panic over violent video games is doubly harmful. It has led adult authorities to be more suspicious and hostile to many kids who already feel cut off from the system. —Henry JenkinsReality Bytes: Eight Myths About Video Games Debunked (PBS)

2 thoughts on “Reality Bytes: Eight Myths About Video Games Debunked

  1. I suppose that’s an understandable position to take if you are only thinking of games as a way of making money, but that’s an extremely limited intellectual position to take. All art is political, and everyone who creates in any media makes ethical decisions about what ideas and stories to represent.
    I can’t believe I took the time to respond to a poster who claims everyone who disagrees with him is an idiot.

  2. All it comes down to is that they are games! They are a form of entertainment and that is all. One should never bring politics into the gaming world because there are always people that will take it to extremes as with anything. They are just video games, made to enjoy and entertain… nothing more! Anyone that reads beyond that are just plain idiots or trying to use video games as a cover for kids just being kids! All the parents need to do is just listen and pay attention! Pure and simple!
    The problem isn’t with the video games… It’s the parents and their growing lack of discipline.

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