Can video games stress the nervous system enough to cause mood changes? Tantrums? Explosive behavior?

Let’s be honest. By age five, these kids usually have the mouths of sailors. A wise man once said that a normal person, plus anonymity, plus an audience, equals…F@#$%wad. The tendency for anonymous crowds to be abusive is well-known, and adding in the competitive nature of online multiplayer games doesn’t help things.

You may have experienced it yourself, that player in the chat who gets angry and aggressive; calling people names and filling the screen with lines of typed abuse. If you’re on voice-chat, it could be shouted insults filled with curses, or sneered commands from someone convinced they’re superior.

This environment can become overwhelming for some, and many decide to drop out and play something else. At first, you might be driven by your emotions and react the same way, but after you realize it’s just a game and it’s not actually worth it, you’ll start looking for different online games that will not have these kinds of upsetting interactions with other players.