Argumentative Essay

Children and Violent Video Games
Since the original development of gaming technology, people have steadily been wondering the same question throughout its growth: are children being negatively influenced by things they are exposed to through this technology? While some feel that violent video games don't negatively affect children and teens, it is evident that it can and does influence children by not only sometimes being the only form of influence children receive, but also by simply containing references to and seemingly promoting illegal behaviors, without ever stating that those actions are wrong, and punishable.
As time goes on, more and more parents are using video games to babysit their children as they go about their daily routine. "I’ve been noticing a trend in gaming that really disturbs me. . . The parents are attempting to be sociable with their peers and hand their child the iPhone, open to a game, to shut the kid up and get him/her out of their hair for a few minutes" (Taylor). While this may relieve some of the parent's stress, it is not a good decision. Video games negatively affect children and teens, especially if they are exposed to them for hours daily. Without any type of relationship or emotional stimulation between parents and their children, children will not have positive influences in their lives to counteract any negative ones they may face in their development. Therefore, these children are sometimes being exposed only to bad things, and have no chance to understand that those things are wrong, as they are not being shown otherwise.
In other words, some children are being exposed to nothing but video games. These violent video games promote drug and alcohol abuse, acts of violence such as murder and other bad or illegal behaviors in general. With children being exposed to so many hours of violent video games, and being ignored by their parents, the children cannot decide right from wrong, and may imitate what they see in the video...