Videogames Persuasive Speech Example
In today’s society the entertainment industry is being attacked from many angles. Television is being criticized by showing images of violence and aggression, music is being ridiculed for explicit lyrics, and within the last decade the issue of videogame violence and children has come to the attention of the mass media. The media, politicians, and many parents are blaming videogames for violent acts among children and those less than 18 years of age. But could videogames be the sole cause of violent crimes among children? In the fall of 2005 I took a course here at Coker called Videogames – Analysis and Research. The most popular topic discussed in our class was Violence and Aggression as a result of Violent Videogames. We studied research conducted by many studies concluding that violent videogames is not a direct cause in aggressive youth behavior. Surprisingly it is actually the opposite. Many children feel that videogames is an outlet for their stress and angry emotions. Cheryl K. Olson, ScD, Lawrence Kutner, PhD, and Eugene V. Beresin, MD have done research on this topic and published it in the Psychiatric Times. They presented children and adolescents with a list of 17 possible reasons for playing video games. More than half cited creative reasons for play, such as "I like to learn new things" and "I like to create my own world." "To relax" was chosen as a reason to play by the majority of boys and close to half of girls. "To get my anger out" was selected by 45% of boys and 29% of girls; 25% of boys and 11% of girls said that they played to "cope with anger." Violent video games might provide a safe outlet for aggressive and angry feelings. This use of video games to manage emotions came up repeatedly in focus groups they conducted with 42 young adolescent boys. A typical comment was, "If I had a bad day at school, I'll play a violent video game, and it just relieves all my stress." They found that Children also play violent electronic games for