Hugo Scornik, M.D., F.A.A.P.
Let me
start this post with an introduction. I am an overworked general pediatrician
practicing in Conyers, Georgia and by no means do I consider myself a child
media expert.
And now the
confession: a few years ago, after
hearing months of pleading and begging from my boys, ages ten and eight at the
time, I let them purchase Call of Duty,
the wildly popular, yet violent, video game. The game is rated Mature, for ages
17 and up, with “blood and gore, intense violence, and strong language”
according to the label.
When my
kids brought the game home, I was surprised to learn that they already knew how
to play since they had been surreptitiously playing at their friends’ house.
Their eyes lit up as they blasted their way through the various levels. In one particularly vicious scene, the player
is asked to sneak up behind an enemy soldier and choke him with a chain. My
young kids howled with delight. I observed them and wondered to myself, “What
have I done?”
But after a
couple of months, a curious thing happened. My kids gradually lost interest in Call of Duty. They moved on, now more
obsessed with playing basketball outside. While I realize that buying the game
may not have been my best parenting moment, it seems that no permanent damage
was done. My kids were no more violent. Their grades never slipped. They still
enjoyed plenty of outside time and activities with their friends. In fact, I
felt a bond develop between my kids and me as they implicitly thanked me for
trusting them with the game.
How can
this be? Why do some children (and adults) become obsessed with video games
while others easily maintain a healthy balance? Why are some not able to
properly separate fantasy and reality while others seem not to be affected at
all? I was curious enough to conduct a literature search but could find no
clear answers. On the one hand, habitual video game play has been shown to
increase short term aggression in children (Anderson et al, Pediatrics, 2008) and can become so
excessive in some as to be described as “pathological” (Gentile et al, Pediatrics 2011). On the other hand, I
could find no definite cause and effect between criminality and video game
playing. It’s also interesting to note that according to FBI crime statistics,
violent crime among youths has hit historic lows at the same time that video
game popularity has soared.
As
pediatricians grapple with the impact of video games on children, it’s easy to
state that no child should ever be exposed to these games. But this may be too
simplistic; remember that long before there were X-Boxes, the corruption of our
youth had been blamed on everything from comic books to rock and roll music. Furthermore,
other exposures may have a much larger impact. Exposure to a dysfunctional
family, to a violent neighborhood, or a mental health disorder is far more
likely to create a violent individual.
So in my
clinic, I do ask about video game play but I also attempt to put this habit in
the larger context of the world in which the child is living. I often fall back
on common sense and experience when crafting my advice knowing that being
overly dogmatic usually doesn’t work. As a parent, I try to strike this same
balance, even if it means occasionally trusting my children’s instincts over my
own.
