Video Games and Children (REVISED)

This article uses Logos very well because the author uses statistics to encourage the reader to draw conclusions.

For example, in the section titled Video Game Use by Children, it says, “In 1967, the average sixth-grader watched 2.8 hours of television per day. Data from 1983 indicated that sixth-graders watched 4.7 hours of television per day, and spent some additional time playing video games” (Video Game Use By Children, Cesarone). In this way, the article uses numbers to show an increase in the problem and create a sense of urgency.

The article also uses ratios to create a sense of alarm. In the section titled, Effects of Other Characteristics of Video Games, it states that the covers of the 47 most popular Nintendo games showed 115 male characters and 9 female characters. In this way, the article shows that video games subliminally depict females as the lesser gender.

The article has sufficiency because there is a substantial amount of evidence listed. It also has accountability because the author addresses the counterargument on several occasions. One example of this is the first two sentences of the section titled “Effects of Other Characteristics of Video Games”, which read, “Some adults believe that video games offer benefits over the passive medium of television. Among mental health professionals, there are those who maintain that in playing video games, certain children can develop a sense of proficiency which they might not otherwise achieve.” Of course, it then goes on with "however" and evidence on the other side of the issue, but the fact that the author mentions a side to the issue that is not his own shows that he understands the other views and how to counteract them.