A recent study has blasted the debate that violent video games don’t cause kids to become more physically aggressive. The study published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences followed more than 17,000 kids from ages 9 to 19 over a 7-year period. And found that kids who played violent video games such as "Call of Duty", "Grand Theft Auto" and "Manhunt" showed physically aggressive behavior.
Can body language tell you if a child who plays video games, will become violent? No, it can’t. You’ll get great information by watching your kids while they’re playing the games. And watch their body language and watch what’s happening in the games at that moment to see what might trigger them. Watch facial expressions, body tension. This gives you a baseline of behavior.
You get a sense of when kids might become violent in stressful situations. Their mannerisms, tone of voice, gestures can tell you when they’re reaching their boiling points. For kids, a lot of times it’s situation specific.
You gotta realize that it’s a lack of problem solving ability that typically leads kids to aggressiveness. That’s what video games are teaching kids – you play the game – you win – you solve problems – through violence. So it can become their default mode. Many kids spend excessive amounts of time playing video games. Video games aren’t teaching or reinforcing talking or peaceful cooperation. They’re promoting a team mentality of killing to win.
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