Monkey See, Monkey Do — Monkey Kill?
The debate in Congress about whether or not violent video games create a culture of violence is ongoing. Of course, the recent massacre in Newtown, and the claims the gunman liked such games, has reignited the effort by those demanding stronger regulation on video game manufacturers.
Does someone become violent because they play Call of Duty or do they obsess over Call of Duty because they have violent tendencies?
Here’s the way I see it. The games have to be damaging on some level. It cannot be psychologically healthy to sit in front of a television and shoot “people” for hours on end. Anyone who says it is completely harmless is either under the age of 16 or works for the $60 billion video game industry. Do I think these games are alone responsible for creating psychopathic murderers? Not really … but, I know they don’t help.
Prior to the other day, this wasn’t a personal issue for me. Then, I left my 3 year old boys alone in the next room, eating apples — for less than five minutes. Their giggles should’ve cued me in something wasn’t right. When I walked back into the kitchen, they both had cheese spreading knives in their little hands, and there were small pieces of fruit splattered all over the room. Seriously, all over the room — I was begrudgingly impressed by their cutting skills. Looking at the impish grins and the “weapons” in their chubby little hands, I had an immediate Newman-type revelation — FRUIT NINJA.
At some point one of my girls put this game on my phone. I’ve been using it to steal an extra few minutes sleep when the little monkeys climb into my bed in the morning. If they like using their fingers to slice and dice virtual fruit, wouldn’t the real thing be even better?
Congress will do what Congress will do, but my kids are my responsibility. I will be keeping a close eye on the media they are exposed to, not because I fear they will grow up to be criminals, but because I don’t want violence to become part of their little world. I certainly don’t want them to become desensitized to it. As a parent, I am always thinking of the health of their bodies. It would be negligent to ignore the health of their minds.
Besides, it is so much easier to blame Fruit Ninja than my increasingly lax disciplinary techniques.
