Page 109 - Pure Life 11

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108 PURE LIFE, Vol.11.No.4, December. 2017 (Rabīʿ Al-Thānī 1439. Azar 1396)
The Dangers Beneath Video Games
Most of the bad effects of video games are blamed on the
violence they contain. Children who play more violent
video games are more likely to have increased aggressive
thoughts, feelings, and behaviors, and decreased prosocial
helping, according to a scientific study.
Also according to Dmitri A. Christakis of the Seattle
Children’s Research Institute, those who watch a lot of
simulated violence, such as those in video games, can
become immune to it, more inclined to act violently
themselves, and are less likely to behave emphatically.
This, however, is still hotly debated because so far, there
is a lack of evidence showing that excessive use of video
games leads to long-term desensitization and lack of
empathy.
A 2017 study published in Frontiers in Psychology, for
example, didn’t find any long-term effects of playing
1
violent video games and empathy.
The American Psychological Association (APA)
also concluded that there is a “consistent correlation”
between violent game use and aggression, but finds
insufficient evidence to link violent video play to criminal
2
violence.
It appears that there will always be violent people, and
it just so happen that many of them also enjoy playing
violent video games.
A 2017 study from the Université de Montréal
suggests that playing action video games like Call of Duty
may actually harm the brain. Most study participants
mainly use an area of the brain called the caudate nucleus.

1. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5341328, September 18, 2017.
2. https://www.apa.org/news/press/releases/2015/08/violent-video-games.aspx,
September 18, 2017.