Oh look, it’s this question again. Unfortunately, a new study shows that playing videogames as a child may actually make you more violent. The study, which took place over three years, examined 3,000 children from ages 8 to 17. The children were asked how often they play videogames as well as how likely they would be to strike someone if physically provoked. It found that children who regularly play violent videogames tend to grow into more aggressive tendencies.
“Just like children’s bodies can be affected by what they eat, their brains can be affected by what they repeatedly do,” said Iowa State University researcher Douglas A. Gentile.
That being said, the study is coming under fire by critics, including Stetson University media research professor Christopher Ferguson. “This is not a very good study,” Ferguson said. “This data set has been criticized before.” He went on to say that one problem with the study is that children may be unlikely to report their true feelings, or that they may skew the data depending on how the question is asked. Research on this scale needs more than simple polls, and would be better served with an observational study.
Source: Reuters