Grand Theft Childhood

Grand Theft Childhood
Author: Lawrence Kutner
Publisher: Simon and Schuster
Total Pages: 275
Release: 2008-04-15
Genre: Family & Relationships
ISBN: 1416564691

Listening to pundits and politicians, you'd think that the relationship between violent video games and aggressive behavior in children is clear. Children who play violent video games are more likely to be socially isolated and have poor interpersonal skills. Violent games can trigger real-world violence. The best way to protect our kids is to keep them away from games such as Grand Theft Auto that are rated M for Mature. Right? Wrong. In fact, many parents are worried about the wrong things! In 2004, Lawrence Kutner, PhD, and Cheryl K. Olson, ScD, cofounders and directors of the Harvard Medical School Center for Mental Health and Media, began a $1.5 million federally funded study on the effects of video games. In contrast to previous research, their study focused on real children and families in real situations. What they found surprised, encouraged and sometimes disturbed them: their findings conform to the views of neither the alarmists nor the video game industry boosters. In Grand Theft Childhood: The Surprising Truth about Violent Video Games and What Parents Can Do, Kutner and Olson untangle the web of politics, marketing, advocacy and flawed or misconstrued studies that until now have shaped parents' concerns. Instead of offering a one-size-fits-all prescription, Grand Theft Childhood gives the information you need to decide how you want to handle this sensitive issue in your own family. You'll learn when -- and what kinds of -- video games can be harmful, when they can serve as important social or learning tools and how to create and enforce game-playing rules in your household. You'll find out what's really in the games your children play and when to worry about your children playing with strangers on the Internet. You'll understand how games are rated, how to make best use of ratings and the potentially important information that ratings don't provide. Grand Theft Childhood takes video games out of the political and media arenas, and puts parents back in control. It should be required reading for all families who use game consoles or computers. Almost all children today play video or computer games. Half of twelve-year-olds regularly play violent, Mature-rated games. And parents are worried... "I don't know if it's an addiction, but my son is just glued to it. It's the same with my daughter with her computer...and I can't be watching both of them all the time, to see if they're talking to strangers or if someone is getting killed in the other room on the PlayStation. It's just nerve-racking!" "I'm concerned that this game playing is just the kid and the TV screen...how is this going to affect his social skills?" "I'm not concerned about the violence; I'm concerned about the way they portray the violence. It's not accidental; it's intentional. They're just out to kill people in some of these games." What should we as parents, teachers and public policy makers be concerned about? The real risks are subtle and aren't just about gore or sex. Video games don't affect all children in the same way; some children are at significantly greater risk. (You may be surprised to learn which ones!) Grand Theft Childhood gives parents practical, research-based advice on ways to limit many of those risks. It also shows how video games -- even violent games -- can benefit children and families in unexpected ways. In this groundbreaking and timely book, Drs. Lawrence Kutner and Cheryl Olson cut through the myths and hysteria, and reveal the surprising truth about kids and violent games.

Violent Video Game Effects on Children and Adolescents

Violent Video Game Effects on Children and Adolescents
Author: Craig A. Anderson
Publisher: Oxford University Press
Total Pages: 200
Release: 2007-01-11
Genre: Psychology
ISBN: 0195345568

Violent video games are successfully marketed to and easily obtained by children and adolescents. Even the U.S. government distributes one such game, America's Army, through both the internet and its recruiting offices. Is there any scientific evidence to support the claims that violent games contribute to aggressive and violent behavior? As the first book to unite empirical research on and public policy options for violent video games, Violent Video Game Effects on Children and Adolescents will be an invaluable resource for student and professional researchers in social and developmental psychology and media studies.

Child and Adolescent Psychiatry and the Media

Child and Adolescent Psychiatry and the Media
Author: Eugene V. Beresin
Publisher: Elsevier Health Sciences
Total Pages: 215
Release: 2018-10-12
Genre: Medical
ISBN: 0323548555

Get a quick, expert overview of the increasingly important topic of technology and social media and its impact on children and adolescents. This practical resource presents a focused summary of today's current knowledge on topics of interest to psychiatrists, pediatricians, and other health professionals working with children and adolescents. It provides current, relevant information on a wide variety of media-related topics as they relate to child and adolescent health and mental illness, making it a one-stop resource for staying up to date in this critical area. - Discusses the effects of violent media; the impact of reality TV on female body image; bullying, sexting, and other negative impact of new apps; sex in the media; media outreach for child psychiatrists; the use of telepsychiatry; the role of media in the destigmatizing of mental illness; media literacy for parents; and media portrayal of modern families. - Includes coverage of dystopian movies and YA novels; media addiction; the neuroscience of media; the use of media by preschool and young children; the use of media regarding minority populations; and more. - Consolidates today's available information on this timely topic into one convenient resource.

Grand Theft Horse

Grand Theft Horse
Author: Greg Neri
Publisher: Tu Books
Total Pages: 0
Release: 2018
Genre: Young Adult Nonfiction
ISBN: 9781620148556

After horse trainer Gail Ruffu decides to take a racehorse from the hands of its abusive co-owners, she faces legal battles in this graphic novel inspired by real events.

Moral Combat

Moral Combat
Author: Patrick M. Markey
Publisher: BenBella Books, Inc.
Total Pages: 256
Release: 2017-03-21
Genre: Social Science
ISBN: 1942952996

In family rooms across America, millions of children and teenagers are playing video games, such as Call of Duty, Halo, and Grand Theft Auto, roaming violent virtual worlds—with virtual guns in their hands. In what sometimes seems like an increasingly violent world, it's only natural to worry about the effects of all this pixelated gore. But is that concern misplaced? Authors and psychologists Patrick M. Markey and Christopher J. Ferguson say it is. The media and politicians have been sounding the alarm for years, and with every fresh tragedy involving a young perpetrator comes another flurry of articles about the dangers of violent media. The problem is this: Their fear isn't supported by the evidence. In fact, unlike the video game–trained murder machines depicted in the press, school shooters are actually less likely to be interested in violent games than their peers. In reality, most well-adjusted children and teenagers play violent video games, all without ever exhibiting violent behavior in real life. What's more, spikes in sales of violent games actually correspond to decreased rates of violent crime. If that surprises you, you're not alone—the national dialogue on games and violence has been hopelessly biased. But that's beginning to change. Scholars are finding that not only are violent games not one of society's great evils, they may even be a force for good. In Moral Combat, Markey and Ferguson explore how video games—even the bloodiest—can have a positive impact on everything from social skills to stress, and may even make us more morally sensitive. Tracing the rise of violent games from arcades to online deathmatches, they have spent years on the front lines of the video game debate and now offer a comprehensive overview of the scientific research on gaming. With humor, complete honesty, and extensive research, they separate the myth from the medium. Moral Combat is an irreverent and informative guide to the worries—and wonders—of our violent virtual world.

Everything Bad is Good for You

Everything Bad is Good for You
Author: Steven Johnson
Publisher: Penguin
Total Pages: 274
Release: 2006-05-02
Genre: Social Science
ISBN: 1101158018

From the New York Times bestselling author of How We Got To Now and Farsighted Forget everything you’ve ever read about the age of dumbed-down, instant-gratification culture. In this provocative, unfailingly intelligent, thoroughly researched, and surprisingly convincing big idea book, Steven Johnson draws from fields as diverse as neuroscience, economics, and media theory to argue that the pop culture we soak in every day—from Lord of the Rings to Grand Theft Auto to The Simpsons—has been growing more sophisticated with each passing year, and, far from rotting our brains, is actually posing new cognitive challenges that are actually making our minds measurably sharper. After reading Everything Bad is Good for You, you will never regard the glow of the video game or television screen the same way again. With a new afterword by the author.

A Mindful Nation

A Mindful Nation
Author: Tim Ryan
Publisher:
Total Pages: 231
Release: 2013-03-27
Genre: Psychology
ISBN: 1401939309

Originally published: Carlsbad, Calif.: Hay House, 2012.

Jacked

Jacked
Author: David Kushner
Publisher: Wiley
Total Pages: 304
Release: 2012-04-03
Genre: Games & Activities
ISBN: 9780470936375

Inside the making of a videogame that defined a generation: Grand Theft Auto Grand Theft Auto is one of the biggest and most controversial videogame franchises of all time. Since its first release in 1997, GTA has pioneered the use of everything from 3D graphics to the voices of top Hollywood actors and repeatedly transformed the world of gaming. Despite its incredible innovations in the $75 billion game industry, it has also been a lightning rod of debate, spawning accusations of ethnic and sexual discrimination, glamorizing violence, and inciting real-life crimes. Jacked tells the turbulent and mostly unknown story of GTA's wildly ambitious creators, Rockstar Games, the invention and evolution of the franchise, and the cultural and political backlash it has provoked. Explains how British prep school brothers Sam and Dan Houser took their dream of fame, fortune, and the glamor of American pop culture and transformed it into a worldwide videogame blockbuster Written by David Kushner, author of Masters of Doom and a top journalist on gaming, and drawn from over ten years of interviews and research, including firsthand knowledge of Grand Theft Auto's creators and detractors Offers inside details on key episodes in the development of the series, including the financial turmoil of Rockstar games, the infamous "Hot Coffee" sex mini-game incident, and more Whether you love Grand Theft Auto or hate it, or just want to understand the defining entertainment product of a generation, you'll want to read Jacked and get the real story behind this boundary-pushing game.

The Thief Lord

The Thief Lord
Author: Cornelia Funke
Publisher: Chicken House
Total Pages: 350
Release: 2013-10-03
Genre: Juvenile Fiction
ISBN: 1909489158

Amid the crumbling splendour of wintertime Venice, two orphans are on the run. The mysterious Thief Lord offers shelter, but a terrible danger is gathering force...