Study Suspects Violent Video Games Are Healthy!

As published in the Journal of Adolescent Health, they said that violent games don't necessarily lead to violence among children and that the kids could actually benefit from playing video games. (Alright!)

Massachusetts General Hospital's Cheryl Olson SC.D. also commented that the "idea that 'M' rated games cause shootings or major violence just doesn't hold water."

Anger management is important to everyone at any age and to me, I think that playing video games is a form of anger management. Olson continues, "We don't know whether playing to get anger out is a good thing or a bad thing for any individual child, but we suspect that it might be healthy for a lot of kids."

Video games also teaches us social interaction. The study found that the kids are more likely to be playing with a couple of friends, whether in the same room or over the net. In their study, none of the kids fell into the sterotype of the lone gamer who's out plotting the destruction of the world by intense violence.

Of course, the study is based on a group of 1,200 seventh and eight graders. And, as always, focus groups are always too small to be able to formulate a completely accurate generalization. I would say to still watch your kids for any signs of intense anger after playing video games. Sure, you win some and you lose some, but if your kid decides to go out and beat someone after he loses, that's a slight problem, I would say...

The conclusion, though, from Olson rests:

"It's not going to ruin them, they're not going to go out and pick up a gun. Violent video game play is typical and normal for kids nowadays. That doesn't mean that parents have to like it, but they shouldn't panic about it."

Like the saying goes, "Guns don't kill, people kill"...as long as your kids have a clear understanding that video games are just that: video games, your kids would have no issues playing with violent games...