The effect of video gaming on children Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1500 words

The effect of video gaming on children - Essay Example Various studies in both laboratory and home environments have confirmed that when children play violent video games such as Thrill Kill, Grand Theft Auto or Manhunt it can increase violent behaviors and thoughts. Furthermore, playing violent video games is likely more detrimental for children than watching violent television shows or movies because interactive video games are particularly engrossing and require the player to develop a personal association with the violent characters of the game. Children playing violent video games, at least in the short run, appear to affect hostile behaviors by promoting aggressive thoughts. Long-term effects are likely to be long lasting too because the player is repeatedly and intensely trained then practices violent acts. It becomes progressively easier to access this negative behavior on a sub-conscious level for use when faced with future aggravating circumstances. Children who are repeatedly exposed to violent video games take the risk of altering their basic personality structure. The resulting changes in everyday social relationships may lead to a steady increase in aggressive actions. The interactive environment of the video game suggests its influence is more dominant than the more extensively researched movie and television media. With improved realism and the trend of including increasing amounts of explicit violence in games, those who play (and those who buy) violent video games should be aware of the potential negative conse quences. Infamous consequences have caused far-reaching discussions regarding the effects of video gaming on children. For instance, a national conversation resulted regarding what relationship video games had to the Columbine High School killings where two students massacred 13 and wounded 23 before committing suicide. While several motivations could have played a part in their reasoning, no one has been able to identify specifically what provoked these students to fire repeatedly at their schoolmates and teachers but violent video games have been highlighted as one potentially contributing dynamic. The two teens had played Doom often; a bloody, brutal firearms game that is utilized by the military to instruct the U.S. military forces on how to kill more proficiently. To what extent this video game influenced the actions of these two students has been debated since the 1999 incident. The Entertainment medium, it is widely acknowledged, is a tremendously influential aspect for all people. It is logical to believe video games, especially the ones that depict violence, will have an effect on the violent behavior of impressionable children. Currently, little research exists which has thoroughly examined the connection between violent actions and violent video games. â€Å"Although the belief that the media are causing a harmful effect is wide-spread in the public, knowledge about the nature of the negative effects and how they work seems to be lacking. A good illustration of misinformed nature of the topic among well-meaning people occurred just after the shooting at Columbine High School† (Potter, 2002 P. 3). Because too few studies exist, parents lack needed knowledge regarding the effects video games have on their children. However, this absence of reliable information doesn’t prevent amateur psychologists, parents mostly, from accusing anything and everything except their precious kids or themselves for the violent acts their children commit. A similar ex ample might be a parent that blames their child’s violent tendencies, drug use or suicide on a line in a certain song. If a child unfortunately tends their life, the lyrics of a song may have been the last straw but the underlying bale of emotions producing their feelings of hopelessness and depression was much more to blame for the act. Parents too frequently look for the most convenient target to place blame instead of placing responsibility on their kids’ or their own weak parenting skills. â€Å"We are a country full of finger pointers. When tragedy occurs, we blame the media, the movie industry, the video game industry; the list goes on and on. However, no one bothers to look in the most obvious place, the mirror† (Potter, 2002 P. 3). Usually, it is the parents who purchase violent video games then have the game, in conjunction with the television, babysit their children. If these parents were worried about a relationship between video violence and their ch ildren committing violent acts then why did they buy the game to start with and why do they permit their kids to watch violent cartoons repeatedly or

History of American Economics Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1750 words

History of American Economics - Essay Example The US economy has overthrown all other economies since then and is ever-growing with the passage of time. A brief chart is given below for further understanding. Table 1: RAILROAD MILEAGE INCREASE BY GROUPS OF STATES 1850 1860 1870 1880 1890 New England 2,507 3,660 4,494 5,982 6,831 Middle States 3,202 6,705 10,964 15,872 21,536 Southern States 2,036 8,838 11,192 14,778 29,209 Western States and Territories 1,276 11,400 24,587 52,589 62,394 Pacific States and Territories 23 1,677 4,080 9,804 TOTAL USA 9,021 30,626 52,914 93,301 129,774 SOURCE: Chauncey M. Depew (ed.), One Hundred Years of American Commerce 1795-1895 p 111 (Source Wikipedia) The independent yeoman farmer continued to exist, particularly in New England and the middle colonies, but most settled land in North America by 1750 was devoted to the cultivation of a cash crop. New England turned its land over to the raising of meat products for export. The middle colonies were the principal producers of grains. By 1700 Philadelphia exported more than 350,000 bushels of wheat and more than 18,000 tons of flour annually. The Southern colonies were, of course, even more closely tied to the cash crop system. South Carolina, aided by British incentives, turned to the production of rice and indigo. North Carolina, although less oriented toward the market economy than South Carolina, was nevertheless one of the principal suppliers of naval stores. Virginia and Maryland steadily increased their economic dependence on tobacco and on the London merchants who purchased that tobacco; and for the most part they ignored those who recommended that they diversify their economie s by turning part of their land over to the cultivation of wheat. Their near-total dependence upon the world tobacco price would ultimately prove disastrous, but for most of the 18th century Virginia and Maryland soil remained productive enough to make a single-crop system reasonably useful. As America evolved from subsistence to commercial agriculture, an influential commercial class increased its power in nearly every colony. Boston was the centre of the merchant elite of New England, who not only dominated economic life but also wielded social and political power as well.. And it is clear that the commercial importance of the colonies was increasing. During the years 1700-10, approximately 265,000 sterling was exported annually to Great Britain from the colonies, with roughly the same amount being imported by the Americans from Great Britain. By the decade 1760-70, that figure had risen to more than 1,000,000 sterling of goods exported annually to Great Britain and 1,760,000 annually imported from Great Britain. (Source Britannica encyclopedia) Situation now days The United States of America holds the honor of world's greatest economic power in terms of gross national product (GNP) and is among the greatest powers in terms of GNP per capita. The nation's wealth is partly a reflection of its rich natural resources. With only 5 percent of the world's population, the United States produces nearly one-fifth of the world's output of coal, copper, and crude petroleum. The agricultural sector produces nearly one-half of the world's corn (maize); nearly one-fifth of its beef, pork, mutton, and lamb; and more than one-tenth of its wheat.