Do Video Games Kill Analysis

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For years, violence has been a staple in the media and has been a part of society’s day to day life. Movies, books, newspapers, television, and video games are all littered with violence. In the early 1990s, video game violence became the topic of conversation in regards to its influences on school violence. Although violent video games were a common factor among the teens responsible for these acts of violence, the video games should not be blamed as the reason behind these acts because there are many more factors that could have influenced their violence.
In Karen Sternheimer’s article “Do Video Games Kill?”, many studies show factors such as “poverty, neighborhood instability, unemployment, and even family violence to fall by the wayside” (216). There have been many articles and studies conducted that are easily accessible that a clear link between each of these factors and violent
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It is common knowledge that mental illnesses have a direct effect on the behaviors and thoughts of the individuals affected. These illnesses cause individuals to act out and behave in ways that they would normally not behave in in their normal state of mental healthiness. The problem with mental illness is that sometimes it is not easily notices when an individual is suffering from one, or many. There have been many mainstream cases of extreme violence that were a result of mental illness. The fact that these young individuals. Who have now become infamous for their violent actions were known to have awkward social behaviors, and in some cases suffered from depression, is overlooked due to the fact that they were avid players of extremely violent video games. “When reporters mention research to explain the shooters’ behavior, the vast majority of studies cited concern media effects, suggesting that videogames are a central cause” (Sternheimer