Toss the Video Games

2007 is the Chinese year of the boar, considered to be a very lucky year, but perhaps 2007 will be better remembered as the year of the recall. Week after week parents are warned on the news and on the Internet about lead paint being found in their children’s toys. Lists of affected toys grow longer and longer with every passing day. Fisher Price, Disney, Kids II, all trusted names by parents, recalling millions of toys due to violations in lead paint standards. Parents are scurrying around comparing their child’s toy’s lot numbers to lot numbers on long lists or simply throwing away hundreds of dollars of toys just to be safe. For those that do not know, lead paint is attributed with causing developmental delays, brain damage, multiple health problems, and behavioral problems. Very scary stuff!

I find myself wondering how many of those same parents would go into their older child’s room and throw away his or her video games. Why would I suggest parents throw away not just hundreds of dollars but sometimes thousands of dollars of video gaming equipment? How is it related to lead paint exposure? It isn’t exactly. Bear with me a moment while I explain. First, can anyone among us claim that we haven’t heard that violent video games increase aggressive behavior? Well, you have now! The question is, do you believe it?

Many years of research have proven without doubt that violent tv shows and movies increase aggressive behavior but video games are a newer medium so there has been less research to date. While the quantity of research is not as great, the conclusion is the same. Violent video games increase aggressive tendencies in children and adults. In one particular study teachers were asked to rank 600 8th and 9th grade students based on aggression, argumentativeness, and hostility. The children who regularly played violent video games were consistently rated higher in all three categories than children that did not play violent video games. Furthermore, self-reporting studies have linked excessive violent video game play with delinquency, assault, and robbery.

Ok, I’ll hop off my statistics soapbox and get to the point. I promised to tell you how lead paint exposure in children’s toys is related to playing video games. According to an article I read in Psychological Science Agenda your child, my child, children throughout our communities have a higher chance of becoming violent criminals through exposure to violent video games than the chance they will ever develop ill effects from consuming lead paint from toys. So, while you are contemplating purchasing a lead paint detection kit from your local hardware store to examine all of your infant or toddlers toys, consider also throwing out the video games that belong to your older child and protect him or her from unnecessary violence.

References
Anderson, C.A. “Violent Video Games: Myths, Facts, and Unanswered Questions,” APA, http://www.apa.org/science/psa/sb-anderson.html, 11/20/07.

Kieffer, Kevin. “Review of Research Shows that Playing Violent Video Games can Heighten Aggression,” APA Online, http://www.apa.org/releases/violentvideoC05.html, 11/20/07.

Toy Hazard Recalls, CPSC, http://www.cpsc.gov/cpscpub/prerel/category/toy.html, 11/20/07.

“Violent Video Games - Psychologists Help Protect Children from Harmful Effects,” APA Online, http://www.psychologymatters.org/videogames.html, 11/20/07.

“What are the Dangers of Lead Paint?,” Wisegeek, http://www.wisegeek.com/what-are-the-dangers-of-lead-paint.htm, 11/20/07.