Do Video Games Promote Violence?

I do NOT believe that video games promote violence or encourage people to be violent. While it is true that some video games contain violence,they don't promote violence at all. Have you ever heard the saying “Correlation does not mean causation?”

Just because two things happen and appear to be connected doesn’t mean one thing causes the other. For example, we all breathe air and we will all die one day. Does that mean breathing kills you? Nope, quite the opposite; we need to breathe to live! Breathing and dying both occur, but one does not cause the other.

The problem is that people think video games promote violence, but I am committed to explaining why that is NOT true. People all over the globe play video games, but only in the United States do we hear so many people claim that video games are actually the cause of violence?

While gaming has become more and more popular year after year, the rate of violent crimes in the USA has actually declined. Video games cannot make people violent if they are gaining in popularity while crime rates are declining.Now you might say, “Jacob, why do we hear about so much violence every day if rates are declining?” Yes, it does seem like every day we hear about violent crimes, but maybe that is a reflection of us living in a more connected world, where we quickly get stories from around the globe. A shooting in Alabama, for example, might not have made our local news twenty years ago, but is now able to be in our social media feeds moments after it happens, and sometimes even WHILE IT’S HAPPENING! Violence might not be increasing. It could be the amount of violence “shared” by the media and the fact that it can be shared all over the world in an instant.

Another reason I don’t believe video games make people violent is because video games are hugely popular around the globe and no other country blames their crime on gaming. If video games made people violent, wouldn’t we see a rise in crime across the globe?

My point is that while some video game titles can sound violent,they don't promote people using violence. Before we had video games, we had violent movies and they didn’t turn everyone who went to the movies into violent criminals.

The reasons people are violent might include that they are born that way, maybe a trauma or something terrible happened to them that impacted them mentally, or maybe they were raised by violent people and it's all they know. To blame video games seems to be the lazy and easy explanation. Instead, we should focus on the mental health issues that might actually cause people to be violent, instead of blaming gamers who just want to connect with friends and have a good time when not at school or work.