Children who play videogames are more violent

 First of all; no. This is one of the most frustrating assumptions to me, largely because it makes no logical sense; would you blame a game of lazer tag for promoting war? Or wine gums for encouraging alcoholism in teens? No you wouldn’t. Because it’s ridiculous to accuse an inanimate object for the decisions of a sentient human being.

 It is, for the most part, an opinion of parents who want to protect their children from “harmful” media. But in reality they are digging themselves a larger hole; the more they try and place their kids in a cellophane bubble, the more fervent they will be in their inevitable escape. Kids are naturally curious. So what happens when you take away their access to answers? They find other ways of accessing it. The parents have in fact left their children ill prepared for the reality that will meet them when they become independent. To me, at least, this seems more like a disservice than any form of protection.

 That’s not to say that at a young age media does not have the ability to influence a child’s philosophies and values, but a parent blaming a video game for their child growing up to be a serial killer? That’s inexcusable. It seems we have forgotten who truly has the most influence of their child; the parent. If they have not brought their child up with enough intelligence to know the difference between Call of Duty and real life then they may want to consider not producing any more offspring.

 So to conclude, using video games as scapegoats for poor parenting is inexpiable. A violent child is the produce of poor morals taught by bad parental figures, not Super Mario, not Battlefield 4 and not fucking Angry Birds. Age ratings suggest our minds are like sponges, perhaps they are, but not empty ones. We are all, and I mean  all capable of deciphering the difference between a Kill-streak and a Mass murder. Maybe it’s time to give the next generation a chance to truly and freely be the next generation and not a carbon copy of the previous one.