Adults often complain that kids are playing video games more often.  The students on the Troy City Schools GATE Youth for Justice team looked into this issue.  The students were concerned about their peers playing violent and graphic video games and the potential effects from this.

Through their research with Common Sense Media, the students found that kids aged 8-16 years old play about 13 hours of video games per week.  Of even more concern to the YFJ students is that the violence in the games has a negative impact on the mental health of youth.  They found violent video games may be more harmful than violent television and movies because the video games are interactive.  In a survey of fifth graders at their school, the YFJ team found that 56% of students have played a violent video game and 18% of them feel they act aggressively after doing so.

To counteract this, the team is trying to raise awareness among parents and kids of the rating system displayed on every video game.  The students created flyers with tips for decreasing the amount kids play violent video games.  They distributed the flyers to parents and students around the community.