Study: Kids Get Fat and Violent Playing Video Games

By George Anderson

A Reuters report says a documentary created for Swedish television, Deadly Game, maintains “Video games can make children fat and, in the case of violent games
popular among teenage and younger boys, aggressive and even criminal.”

Frank Lindblad, a child psychiatrist at Sweden’s Karolinska Institute university hospital said, “It has been proved beyond dispute that people who watch a lot of violence on
television develop aggressive behavior. They run a very high risk of criminal behavior … there’s a lot suggesting that video games are worse.”

Video gaming is a $10 billion a year business in the U.S. and $200 million in Sweden.

Moderator’s Comment: Are greater controls needed on the video game market; who sells
the games and who has access to them?

Michael Rich, a member of the American Academy of Pediatrics was interviewed for the documentary and spoke about kids playing the popular Grand Theft Auto
video game. “It’s concerning because they are rehearsing scripts of behavior that will possibly play themselves out in real life,” he said.
George
Anderson – Moderator

BrainTrust

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