Do video games cause violence?

There are known cognitive benefits to frequent video game use

Question: Do video games cause violence?
Position1 of 3›: No, video games do not cause violence
Argument‹2 of 2: There are known cognitive benefits to frequent video game use

Some claim playing video games is directly responsible for violence and severe mental disturbance. Yet research contradicts this.

The argument

Neurologists and scientific researcher doubt the harmful effects of video games.Many scientific studies on video games' impact on the shape and neural patterns of the brain focus on violence. These studies show there is no evidence for a link between violent video games and gamer violence, but that video games can actually improve spatial reasoning and prolonged attention or concentration. According to MedicalNewsToday, "For video game use by children, most parents – 71 percent – indicate that video games have a positive influence on their child’s life[...]The top three best-selling video games of 2016 were Call of Duty: Infinite Warfare, Battlefield 1, and Grand Theft Auto V. "Also citing improved memory for older brain-boosting mobile games, these scientific studies shed new light on how beneficial, instead of destructive, video games can be to a player's neural networks. Rather than finding a link between violence and violent video games, scientists have found something incredibly promising.

Premises

[P1]Scientific studies of how video games affect the brain find no evidence of a link between violent games and violent behaviour in players. [P2] Instead, those studies show video games can improve spatial reasoning, sustained attention and memory, and most parents report a positive influence on their children. [C] Because the research reveals cognitive benefits rather than a violence link, video games do not cause violence.

Counter-arguments

Video games have a proven negative impact on the brain. Chief amongst these is a common addictive problem called "internet gaming disorder."A lack of evidence for violence does not necessarily equate to complete incongruity. As its addictive side-effects show, gaming can have long-lasting negative effects on a person.

Rejecting the premises

[Rejecting P1] A lack of evidence does not always necessarily lead to a complete refutation of a correlation, and failing to state both the positive AND negative attributes of the topic in question is disingenuous. [Rejecting P2] Gaming has pros and cons, one of the most essential cons being a diagnosable mental disorder regarding video game addiction. Violence cannot be immediately disregarded because of gaming's cognitive benefits. [Rejecting P3] The claim that video games do not cause violence is illogical based off of the previous premises.

Framing

When research not only entirely refutes a supposedly sound claim, but makes another claim based off of newfound data pointing in the opposite direction, the original claim is a proven falsity. The benefits of video games use outshine the glaring lack of evidence among the scientific community for real-world gamer violence.