I tend to disagree, to some extent. I think it's okay to let children play video games, depending on age and type. Of course only allowing them to play for a certain amount of time per day. "Professor Ryuta Kawashima, a brain imaging specialist, from the University of Tohoku Japan has been performing numerous studies on children who play video games comparing them to those who dont. The results were suprising. Kawashima made use of new brain imaging technique that can tell us which parts of the brain children are using along with the parts that they aren't while playing video games. The console of choice was Nintendo. The brain activity of those who were not using Nintendo was measured using the Kraeplin Test. The tester would add single digit numbers for a time span of 30 minutes without any breaks. The Nintendo group was found to only be using parts of the brain associate with vision and movement. The arithmetic group was found to use both left and right hemispheres of the frontal lobe- areas of the brain associated with learning, memory, emotion and impulse control. The argument can be, well does this test really compare to what children are using compared the Nintendo games? The answer is yes. The number test requires less brain activity than would a game on Nintendo ( Heavy Video Game Use by Kids May Slow Brain Development, 2001)". To me this is even more alarming! Children are starting to play violent video games without any parental guidance at younger ages, when brain development is starting to peak. I have family that play Call of Duty on a regular basis. From hearing the younger kids, their language and attitude towards others while "sitting in" for a session, well needless to say it's disturbing. I know that there are games out there that can be educational and possibly good for development. However, those aren't the games that 10 to 15 year olds want to play. With the growing popularity of video games we need to start to think outside the box and the possible outcomes exposing young children to violent video games can do in the future, especially at such an important time in their development.

Works Cited:
"Heavey Video Game Use By Kids May Slow Brain Development." The Observer, 19 August (2001): Rpt. in http://www.About.com/MentalHealth.com; 5 November 2005. Web.