Violent Video Games on Impressionable Young Minds
Tara Paterson
August 14, 2008
"In automobile terms, the child supplies the power but the parents have to do the steering." –Benjamin Spock
My oldest son and I were on one of our Sunday walks when the question- "why can't I play the video games my friends can play," came up. Of course I knew he was referring to the violent, shoot 'em up kinds, which are absolutely forbidden in our house, but I decided to turn this into an impressionable conversation.
The road we live on is a beautiful country road that winds through the Blue Ridge Mountains in Virginia. Everywhere you look there are sprawling hills and beautiful vegetation. There are many horse farms and other forms of wildlife which further enhances the beauty of the landscape. I stopped in front of one of the many 50 acre horse farms and began to paint a picture for my son.
"Look around at everything you see; the trees, the sky, horses, cows, birds, grass, a barn, ducks…; now imagine that everything you see right now is being photographed by your mind. At any time you may see a flash of this landscape because somewhere in your brain, these pictures have been downloaded like photos on a computer; these images can be called on at any moment. If you stood here and looked at this view every day and meditated on its beauty, you would eventually be able to pull the visual image you see now, to you at any moment. You would get to the point where anytime you closed your eyes and imagined this picture in your mind, you would be able to see it like a picture. This is what happens if you spend large quantities of time playing violent video games. You get to the point of imagining those types of images in your mind and in some cases, this has lead to kids doing things they may not have otherwise done."
My son looked at me wide eyed and I knew in that moment, he completely and fully understood what I had explained to him. For me, it was a great accomplishment, because I have entered the tween stage of development for my child and the challenges around things such as the media, peers, school, etc, etc are just around the corner and the issue of violent video games is certainly a volatile topic of concern (no pun intended). Later that evening while headed to a neighbor´s house, we passed the same spot we had stopped to have our discussion and he said- "mom, remember the picture?" I smiled, because it confirmed he heard what I said.
I remember a statement my mom made once upon a time, which I didn´t really understand until now- what we put into our mind through vehicles such as television and other forms of media carry energy which can manifest into things in our experience. As I have evolved, I have come to know this more as truth. So where do we start? What can we do to change the things that are being created in our outer reality? Awareness is always the first step, but more importantly, we need to pay attention to what our children are downloading. If they are putting energy into violent video games, which in turn sends the energy back to them through their own aggression around the game, they are absorbing this energy into their being. I have noticed this for my son on more than one occasion especially with his sport´s games. He would truly engage in the competition of the game, be it football or baseball, and within an hour would become angry and prone to acting out in a physical way. It is now at the point where we have to limit any game play to an hour or less and only on weekends.
It is apparent how images through the absorption of energy by real imagery has a profound affect on children. It's important for parents to pay attention to what their children feed their mind so as not to alter the "being" of who they are.
"Seek the wisdom of the ages, but look at the world through the eyes of a child." –Ron Wild
2008 by Tara Paterson, All Rights Reserved
co-author of Raising Intuitive Children (New Page Books, spring '09)
My oldest son and I were on one of our Sunday walks when the question- "why can't I play the video games my friends can play," came up. Of course I knew he was referring to the violent, shoot 'em up kinds, which are absolutely forbidden in our house, but I decided to turn this into an impressionable conversation.
The road we live on is a beautiful country road that winds through the Blue Ridge Mountains in Virginia. Everywhere you look there are sprawling hills and beautiful vegetation. There are many horse farms and other forms of wildlife which further enhances the beauty of the landscape. I stopped in front of one of the many 50 acre horse farms and began to paint a picture for my son.
"Look around at everything you see; the trees, the sky, horses, cows, birds, grass, a barn, ducks…; now imagine that everything you see right now is being photographed by your mind. At any time you may see a flash of this landscape because somewhere in your brain, these pictures have been downloaded like photos on a computer; these images can be called on at any moment. If you stood here and looked at this view every day and meditated on its beauty, you would eventually be able to pull the visual image you see now, to you at any moment. You would get to the point where anytime you closed your eyes and imagined this picture in your mind, you would be able to see it like a picture. This is what happens if you spend large quantities of time playing violent video games. You get to the point of imagining those types of images in your mind and in some cases, this has lead to kids doing things they may not have otherwise done."
My son looked at me wide eyed and I knew in that moment, he completely and fully understood what I had explained to him. For me, it was a great accomplishment, because I have entered the tween stage of development for my child and the challenges around things such as the media, peers, school, etc, etc are just around the corner and the issue of violent video games is certainly a volatile topic of concern (no pun intended). Later that evening while headed to a neighbor´s house, we passed the same spot we had stopped to have our discussion and he said- "mom, remember the picture?" I smiled, because it confirmed he heard what I said.
I remember a statement my mom made once upon a time, which I didn´t really understand until now- what we put into our mind through vehicles such as television and other forms of media carry energy which can manifest into things in our experience. As I have evolved, I have come to know this more as truth. So where do we start? What can we do to change the things that are being created in our outer reality? Awareness is always the first step, but more importantly, we need to pay attention to what our children are downloading. If they are putting energy into violent video games, which in turn sends the energy back to them through their own aggression around the game, they are absorbing this energy into their being. I have noticed this for my son on more than one occasion especially with his sport´s games. He would truly engage in the competition of the game, be it football or baseball, and within an hour would become angry and prone to acting out in a physical way. It is now at the point where we have to limit any game play to an hour or less and only on weekends.
It is apparent how images through the absorption of energy by real imagery has a profound affect on children. It's important for parents to pay attention to what their children feed their mind so as not to alter the "being" of who they are.
"Seek the wisdom of the ages, but look at the world through the eyes of a child." –Ron Wild
2008 by Tara Paterson, All Rights Reserved
co-author of Raising Intuitive Children (New Page Books, spring '09)
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