Do films and video games encourage physical violence in children.

[Burningissues343]

I am worried about my children playing age restricted games. They are aged 16 and 12 and have become addicted to violent games such as “GTA” and “COD” and 18 rated horror films. I want my children to grow up as respectable members of society. Are age restrictions in place for a reason. Could they be influenced by the violent graphics ? Or am I just being silly maybe kids aren’t dumb enough to go out and shoot someone after playing a video game ?

Why are you letting them watch and play these?

In the world we live in its impossible to prevent children from gaining access to this material if they aren’t allowed to Watch/play it at home they will go to their friends, I cant keep them locked in the house forever can I ?

God this sounds like a research question again.... age ratings are there because they are deemed suitable for that particular aged person.

Children will grow up respectable members of society if their parents teach them manners, ethics and morals, and generally bring them up well. Parents that would stick a 10 year old on Grand Theft Auto, and ignore the age ratings is either
a) not a very good parent
B) a good parent making an uninformed choice about the game

yes, that's certainly the only answer, locking them up in the house forever.

Who doesn’t have a houseful or locked up children!? Oh the world we live in eh

Ive recently been looking into the Jamie Buldger case and am panicked that violence may actually have an impact on children, should i put my foot down now on the ratings and make my children hate me ?

Think there are psychological researches on kids when they’ve been shown examples of violence - hitting with an inflatable bat and then the children subsequently mimic the test examples. With GTA, it’s the normalization, desensitisation and dehumanising of sexual violence (for example) that’s worrying. Put simple these game may promote a blindsidedness to violence which maybe more corruptive than nurturing. To combat this the games have been given age restrictions to protect younger and more susceptible children. Like many things in life, try most things once but in moderation.

The boys in the Bulger case were horrifically damaged by their families, not games or films. I read that one of the lawyers at one point pinned the most damaged boy, his client, against a wall in the interview room and shouted at him 'why won't you show any emotion??' because he showed none at all. I think you're worrying too much, the worst that can happen is your children get upset by watching something they are too young for. Kids know perfectly well it's fantasy. We've had scares about it for decades, in the 80s it was 'video nasties', now it's games. You sound like a very caring parent, that's what matters, not a few years on a ratings system.

Would it be faire to allow my 16 year old to play the games and watch the films and prevent my 12 year old ? After all he’s only 2 years off, what’s going to be the difference between now and when he’s 18 ? Maybe I’m treating my 12 and 16 year olds too equally ?

Have been playing those games and watching those movies since before 12.

I like to think I am a normal member of society.

IMO blaming bad behaviour on video games is just an excuse for bad parenting.

Yes James Bulgers killers watched Chuckie, but they had useless reprobates as parents which counts for a lot more.

The short answer is no. Playing video games does not mean children are going to grow up violent criminals. Video games are at most 40 years old, violent criminals have been around since forever. Shit parenting/poor upbringing is what I think contributes mostly to violent criminals. But I could be wrong as I used to kill furry animals in a videogame as a child so who knows what kind of evil mastermind I really am.

I am typical alcholic mum and my kids love me, when there around anyway, i give them as much space as they need, haven't seen the baby one in months lol i like video games

Your a bad mum you should give me your kids, i need that child support money to keep my meth mouth up

Hi OP I work in safeguarding, and studies have shown that repeated exposure to violent video games can indeed normalise violence, cause mood swings and desensitise children (and susceptible adults) to violence and inappropriate behaviour so you need to monitor what they are playing, and how long for.

You do need to treat your 12 year old differently from your 16 year old, developmently their brains are very different and 12 year olds generally aren’t mature enough to watch what a 16 year old could cope with.

The answer is no.............

Ratings are either:
A) Random and based upon prejudices of the time
B) Fluid and responsive to shifting values
depending on your POV.

I took (then) 6yr LO to see Last Jedi. Rated PG12. It had explosions, killing, death scenes, etc. Just like the first Star Wars film, which is rated U. Did we learn something about what kids see and how they act in those years, or did censors just get more risk averse in the same span of time?

Violence, including sexual(ised) violence can be found throughout Shakespeare and the Bible; let alone Grimm tales, Grecko-Roman mythology, etc.
As said elsewhere on this thread, exposure to material that normalises or desensitises people to such behaviour is as ancient as it comes. Violence is as ancient as it comes. TV and videogames are infants.

TV and videogames do not cause violent behaviour any more than facebook causes cyberbullying. But, for those who are that way inclined, they might spark the imagination

I dont think this would make a child violent etc, i think people like to blame something but its the way u bring children up that counts not what they watch/play at the end of the day its just a game thats the way i see it x

As a child I played 18 rated games and came out fine. The fact that people think that video games cause violence is a bit silly in my opinion. At this point it's down the parent, if I were you I would try letting the child play the games to an extent. It's obvious that if you let your child play 10 hours a day it's gonna affect them socially and generally but at the same time I wouldn't let them play half an hour/1 hour because that's not enough time for the to enjoy it. I wouldn't personally let a child that isn't over at least 14 play gta as its got some pretty dangerous material in it but I don't understand not letting an 8 year old play fortnite as its not bad at all (the only reason it's rated 12 is because it involves death, albeit very tamely. I think at the end of the day it's down to the parent. I've always been a gamer and the media blindly and falsely accuses videogames of violence when actually its the behaviour towards it. Like anything else, if you do it excessively you're obviously gonna get addicted so there's my take on "ViDeOgAmEs CaUsE ViOlEnCe"

@concernedmum6969 Ah, a man of culture as well I see

Fortnite caused us massive issues ! Police round twice .