ISIS Recruitment
Online Strangers
Violent Video Games…
Parents Need to Be Aware of Who Their Children and Teens are Engaging With Online and What Their Children and Teens are Doing and Seeing Online!
ISIS, the radical Muslim terrorist group also known as the Islamic State, is recruiting vulnerable youth worldwide using social media. “By May 2015, hundreds of U.S. citizens had joined the fight on the side of the extremists.” Teens ranging in age from 13 to their early 20s are being deceived into leaving their homes in the U.S. and Western Europe to travel to the Iraq and Syria for indoctrination into the group’s radical theology and training in their terrorist tactics. “In their efforts at both radicalization and recruitment, terrorists, militias, and other illicit organizations have used social media in a calculated strategy.”
In light of the latest carnage at the nightclub in Orlando this is something that needs repeated discussion.
When children and teens go online:
- Parents need to be aware of who their children are engaging with online.
- Parents need to be aware of the kind of propaganda they are viewing online.
- Parents need to be aware of the appropriateness and level of violence in the games their kids are playing.
Teens are pushing away from their parents in search of independence and can be influenced via the vast social networking online. Twitter, Facebook, You Tube, Instagram, on and on… They can connect with anyone across the globe. Some teens who may be lonely may yearn for these online connections.
Teens are also curious and may simply be searching the online world and stumble upon propaganda that seems interesting. They may be unaware of the insidious and potentially evil nature of what they are viewing.
All kids love video games. Some are extremely violent. Do they have an impact? The research says no. “Violent video game play is linked to increased aggression in players but insufficient evidence exists about whether the link extends to criminal violence or delinquency, according to a new American Psychological Association task force report.”
I still believe that common sense says that when a person sees a violent act over and over they become desensitized to violence. Kids don’t need to see such violent acts even if it’s virtual pretend. So I say to parents be aware of the kind of game your child is playing and make sure it’s appropriate. “No single risk factor consistently leads a person to act aggressively or violently. Rather, it is the accumulation of risk factors that tends to lead to aggressive or violent behavior. The research reviewed here demonstrates that violent video game use is one such risk factor.”
The gaming industry doesn’t care about your kids… they are making huge profits. 
“Total revenues for the industry in the U.S. hit $23.5 billion last year—a 5% jump over 2014, according to the Entertainment Software Association, the industry lobbying body, which also hosts the E3 trade show in June.” So it’s up to you to care about your child, pay attention to what they’re doing online and occasionally uttering that two letter word, No… you can’t play that game it’s too violent.
A great resource to find out about whether a game may be appropriate is Common Sense Media.
