The Politics of the Hijab Case Study Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

The Politics of the Hijab - Case Study Example da is constitutionally and professedly a multicultural nation that supports religious and cultural diversity, actually speaking Canada is not that tolerant of the religious rights of minority communities. In that context Hijab relates to the assertion of political, cultural and gender identity in a Canadian context. The young Muslim women in Canada see Hijab as an umbilical cord that ties them to their culture and endows them with community acceptance and sustenance, as they move out in the larger Canadian society to eke out their identity at their own terms. Hijab allows women to deny the patriarchal practices typical to their culture of origin while allowing them to solicit familial and community support as they adapt to the Western way of life. Many young Canadian Muslim women also use Hijab to assert their cultural identity in a society dominated by majority norms and as an expression of their religious pity, modesty and political beliefs. Thereby, Hijab is not a monolithic symbol of patriarchal oppression, but carries a range of meanings and implications. It is true that Hijab is used as a way of oppressing women in many totalitarian Muslim nations (Lazreg, 2009). Yet, using this fact to assign a singular meaning related to patriarchal dominance to Hijab is unjust and wrong (Elver, 2012). Many a times some sections of the majority community in Canada associate simplistically derogatory meanings with Hijab, not because they care about women rights, but because the Hijab stands out as a potent symbol of a minority culture and identity. It sounds really modern to use the ploy of women rights, while demeaning a symbol of minority identity and religion (Scott, 2007). There are also sections of the majority community who do genuinely believe that the Hijab worn by the young Muslim women in Canada conveys their surrender before the patriarchal domination. This is actually a gross misconception. For many young Muslim women in Canada, Hijab is a thing that keeps

Internationalization And Globalization Strategy Business Essay

Internationalization And Globalization Strategy Business Essay This paper attempts to explore the notion of regionalisation in the global context and critically analyse the theory and practice of regional strategy as a response to Osegowitsch and Sammartino analysis. Globalization, Regionalisation, Regional Strategy Theory. Executive Summary It is clear enough that in todays era it is extremely critical for firms to adopt global and regional business strategies in order to attain sustainable competitive advantage. But the question arises regarding classification of a MNE (Multinational Enterprise) as a global firm. This essay critically analyses the work on regional strategy as a response to Osegowitsch and Sammartino and attempts to cover the following aspects in detail. Notion of Globalization and Global Strategy This section highlights the notion of globalization and way organizations today establish a global presence by adoption of unique business strategies. This part also details the three different kind of global strategies. Regional Strategy Analysis This part analyzes the theory and practice of regional strategy concept of Globalization in particular as a response to Osegowitsch and Sammartino (2008). It aims to justify that in todays era very few global firms exists and secondly that sufficient amount of international business literature and theory is required to draw reflection on regional vs global MNEs (Multinational Enterprises) strategy. The Theory of the Regional Strategy This section explains the concept of regional strategy analysis and illustrates the various regional theories as explained by Osegowitsch and Sammartino. Introduction With the concept of globalization and internationalization gaining more and more momentum everyday, this essay attempts to critically analyse the work of Osegowitsch and Sammartino on regional strategy. It starts with explaining the concept of globalisation and global strategy and tries to justify that in todays era very few global firms exist. Secondly, it tries to establish that significant amount of international business literature and theory is demanded in order to draw conclusion on regional vs global MNEs strategy by exploring the theory of regional strategy. Notion of Globalization and Global Strategy Globalization can be defined as a complex concept which enables firms to operate in various continents and countries across the globe in order to improve and maximise their profit margins, sustainability, worldwide existence and economies of scale (Blyton et al., 2001, p446). Globalization provides platform not only to consumers but also to organizations to help them satisfy their needs globally. According to Marquardt Berger (2003, p286), Trade, Travel, Technology and Television are the four major developments that have resulted in Globalization. The four Ts of global development are the outcome of human brain and its creative innovations. These advancements have further encouraged and made possible continuous exchange of ideas, information and knowledge between human resources by breaking the barriers of distance. Moving ahead, Bratton Gold (2007, p92) state that Globalization is a global process of political convergence, social economies and national sentiments, in which space, time and Government are not given much importance. The paragraph below will now highlight the three different views on global strategy. The First view states that the global strategy is one of the particular and specific forms of Multinational Enterprise (MNE) Strategy. Further, it highlights the fact that Globalization considers all the countries of the world alike (Levitt, 1983, p97). The Second view considers global strategy as International Strategic Management (Bruton et al., 2004, p418) which is no doubt wider concept than global strategy mentioned in the first view. Lastly, the third view describes global strategy in even broader term; The strategy of the firms that exist all over the globe and this can be concluded as the firms theory of how to become a successful competitor (Peng, 2006). Having discussed the various forms of global strategies which are adopted by firms today, this essay now moves ahead to analyse the theory and practice of regional strategy concept of Globalization in particular as a response to Osegowitsch and Sammartino (2008). It aims to justify that in todays era very few global firms exists and secondly that sufficient amount of international business literature and theory is required to draw reflection on regional vs global MNEs (Multinational Enterprises) strategy. The Regional Strategy Theories According to Rugman and Verbeke (2007), recent literature on globalization suggests that a firm is categorised as global if maximum 50% of its total sales are in its home territory (EU) and minimum 20% of sales in each of the NAFTA zone and Asia. He adds to it by bringing to surface the outcome of survey based upon this theory that indicated only nine global firms in Fortune Global 500 and also the orientation of numerous firms towards the home-region. In response to the above mechanism for classifying the firm as global, Osegowitsch and Sammartino (OS) (2008) have provided three basic criteria and comments that can be helpful in future classification of firms according to their geographic sales dispersion. Firstly, OS suggest that it is not appropriate to classify statistical data straightaway. It should be realised that since this is a growing area of research, usage of any kind of classification tool is open to criticisms as it is not simply the categorization of Multinational Enterprises (MNEs) following particular regional strategy theories. As an example, OS focus on building and having strong position in the region by illustrating that if the EU, NAFTA region and Asia represents 90% of the total world sales output, an absolute division would require all the three regional triads to have 30% sales each and not 33.3% in order to encourage the strategy of lower thresholds. In other words, a firm can be defined as global if it has at least 20% of the total sales in the two host-triad regions and without any kind of imposition on the maximum sales threshold in the home territory (Rugman and Verbeke, 2007, p2). Additionally, it should also be noted that it is not at all relevant to cat egorize a firm as having strong position in the market if its threshold is lower than 20% of the total sales. OS even conducted a simulation using threshold value as 10% of the net sales in order to identify a string position in the host region as it would result to USD $1 billion even for the smallest of the Fortune Global 500 firms. But unfortunately, it didnt present a strong position and can by no means be considered as an essence for strategic decision making in the worlds largest organizations. OS clearly argues that using various thresholds is helpful in assessing the sensitivity of firms positions in the classification system but the main function should always be to provide an assessment of the Future Global 500 and to easily track firms whose thresholds are continuously changing from one category of threshold to another. A clear example of this is Nokia which encountered a 4% decline in sales in the year 2002. However, this change in sales pattern reflected a short term fa ilure in inter-regional growth but OS criticizes that it cannot be simply neglected. Movement of Nokia from a global organization in 2001 towards a home based firm in 2001 was a remarkable concern. In one line, it can be stated that having threshold below 20% simply leads to generation of more bi-regional firms and which cant be regarded as truly global organizations. Moving ahead, the second regional strategy criterion which OS highlights is that the sales variations are highly industry specific. According to OS, industry plays a significant role and all future researched should aim at exploring the regional vs global strategies at the industry specific levels and try to establish the difference. It is truism that a majority of firms are not properly internationalized and their sizes varies across regions but then its some of the worlds biggest MNEs that have constantly been regarded as capable of compensating for the weaknesses of the other sectors in different regions of the world. The main point to be considered is that our analysis are independent of differential size of numerous industries that exist across the region, as MNEs are able to establish regional markets and to further develop insufficient markets. Lastly, in third comment it is argued that it would be irrelevant to prefer regional strategy over global strategy. Regional strategies come into existence when it becomes very difficult or impossible to adopt conventional global strategies efficiently, or when they fail to function, keeping in mind that global strategies cannot be evaluated in isolation. Further, it can be said that heterogeneous geographic space beyond the home country border is essential for most of the companies now if not all of them. Moving ahead, this section of the essay will now make an attempt to tackle the criticism formed by OS concerning the contribution of regional strategy to the international business theory. According to (Rugman and Verbeke, 2007, p3), the regional strategy is structured around three simple but fundamental empirical observations which demand international business theory to be extended and enhanced. First of all, only a small number of MNEs have a balanced geographical sales distribution pattern across the global market, although it counts towards the risk diversification at the downstream end of the value chain. OS illustrate that a balanced and structured distribution of sales geographically would contribute towards enhanced global acceptance by the customers of the companys products and services. With only the exception of resource-based industries, the triad comprising the EU, NAFTA region and Asia demonstrates a first cut though not certainly a fixed one mechanism to identify the extent to which an MNEs net sales are distributed worldwide. Further, this triad has gained so much importance as it is the home of worlds most large MNEs as well as the locus for a number of outstanding innovations in most industrial sectors. The triad also demonstrates the world demand pattern for most knowledge intensive services and goods. But its unfortunate to mention that only a small number of MNEs in the Fortune Global 500 are capable of performing equally well in each of the three regions of the triad. It is often observed that a strong position in the home-triad region is not supported with an equally strong position in both the other two remaining triad environments. Classification tools are now irrelevant as among the firms with international operations only a small percentage are truly global i.e. may be even less than 5% (Ghemawat and Ghadar, 2006). They further add to it and state that different firms rule in different parts of the world. Second wing of the regional strategy focuses on the fact that several MNEs have regional features in the organizational structure such as geographic divisions and having individual divisions for different regions is supported mainly by the concept of regional heterogeneity demanding idiosyncratic management. In this case, the intra-regional institutional and economic distance is not just smaller but also very different from that of the interregional. It has been observed that for most MNEs, managing operations and work system in EU is very different from functioning system of the NAFTA region or as compared with the work cultural of Asian environment. These differences may further be enhanced if the work unit is further subdivided into smaller units. Fratiannin (2006) states that these differences in work system signal the importance of regional level in the business strategy and structure of MNEs. Today, almost all big firms such as Toyota, General Electric (GE) have embedded region al elements in their business and operational strategies and these companies are often wrongly referred to as global organizations not just because of lack of balanced geographic distribution but also because of their world wide global operations and manufacturing (Ghemawat, 2005, p102). Thirdly, it should be noted that more than fifty percent of the geographic area in terms of sales is normally the main source of the firms cash flows and the centre point of most of the firms both tangible and intangible assets. In the coming years, the concept of having more than 50% sales in the home territory would not be significant enough in EU and North America specifically but it would gain momentum in Asian region as intra-regional distance is minimizing and thereby driven by a reduction of investment barriers and trade. Competition among industries would be more prevalent at the regional level instead of the national level. OC highlight that attention should now be laid on the development of classification tool that will help bundle the home country sales with the sales in the remainder of the home territory rather than paying attention separately to the sales in the home region and remaining of the home region especially for MNEs based in Asia and EU. Moving ahead, the above discussed observations and theories clearly demonstrate the need for an extended international business theory. These observations are independent of specific categorization approaches to measure specific home-region vs rest-of-the-world market position of MNEs. A trend has always been seen that all the MNEs are much stronger in their home regions as compared to that in other triad regions. These top MNE firms have formulated their organizational structures around the regional component and a varying market position in each region raises call for a regional approach rather than a global strategy approach. The paragraph below now will bring to surface the three main components for the extension on mainstream international business theory (Rugman and Verbeke, 2007, p3). Firstly, it is noticed that impact of country border does not provide strong basis for distinguishing between non- location bound (or internationally deployable/exploitable) and location bound. In todays period of excess regionalization, it is very easy for some companies to exploit and deploy their strengths throughout the home country border. Further, proxies for internationally transferable FSAs such as firms level predictors of internationalization like firms level of RD do not hold much importance in explaining intra-regional expansion occurring in home region, given the distance gap between the home country and rest of the home region is very less. As a result of well-functioning trans-European transport and logistics networks enabling fast response and just in time strategies covering the whole continent, the significance of geographic distance has decreased in EU. The EU integration process itself has let to decrease in Institutional distance. Further, Economic distance has l ost its relevance because of many reasons such as development of new services and products at par with European level, possibility of cross border shopping made possible by web based searches, continuous attempts made by many companies to gain scale and scope efficiencies at the European level and lastly, increased importance of EU as a geographic space to ascertain companys conduct, structure and importance. Finally, decreased significance of conventional measures of cultural distance mainly in the business to business area as it is easy to get labour in Europe, considerable increase in use of English as the lingua franca inside the region. On sharp contrast between past and present position of conventional location bound FSAs it can be clearly stated that previously they allowed firm expansion only upto country borders but now it can be easily upgraded, and made deployable and exploitable even beyond the home country borders and also in other home region countries. Secondly, their is a need to reconsider the fact that non-location-bound FSAs like technological knowledge or brand can be easily exploited and deployed nationwide. Today also it is necessary to complement existing FSA bundles with an additional FSA bundle in high distance environments which implies distance still plays an important role. According to Ghemawat (2005, p104), there are several ways to differentiate between low and high distance environments, one major distinction being that between home regions and host regions in a triad context. Moreover, it is clear that extension and scope of mainstream international theory is free from any scholars disagreeing with the concept of the triad region as the best proxy to discriminate between low-distance environments (in this case the home-triad region) and high-distance environment (in this case the two host-triad regions). High distance implies to making more substantial investments in order to complement its present FSA bundles, al so enabling maximum and profitable exploitation in the host region environment. Here, the apparent trade off becomes obvious: further the efforts to expand the high-distance environment may not be proved to be as successful and profitable as the expansion of low distance environment, even if it is suggested by macro-level parameters which measure the attractiveness of the high-distance environment that they have strong location advantages. As stated by Nachum and Wymbs (2007, p240) in regard to global cities that FSAs and location advantages are dependent on each other. High distance bundles also has many risk factors along with it like melding the extant FSA bundles with newly developed or accessed resources in the high distance environment may lead to burdened with several operational problems, decreased or disappointing sales, as exemplified by the retreat of some of the worlds largest MNEs from high-distance contexts, for example, Wal-Marts exit from Germany and Korea. . Thirdly, the theoretical difference between the two FSAs namely location bound and non-location bound FSAs assume conventionally easy developments and profitable exploitation of FSAs (like brand names or technological knowledge of proprietary) across borders. Moreover, it is very essential to acclimatize the brief contents of these two concepts to the authenticity of regionalization. More particularly, the factors that determine the extent of FSAs are, its distance accompanied by its geographic, institutional, economic and cultural components. The level at which a FSA should be called location-bound vs non-location bound is estimated by decay in value across a space. On the basis of terms like region bound nature of FSAs and the liability of inter regional foreignness it has been highlighted that for international business other geographic borders hold more importance than conventional country borders in our previous study. After studying the concepts and theories of regional strategy, we now try to establish the extent to which Procter Gamble could be categorized as a global firm in terms of its business and operational strategies. The Case of Procter Gamble Procter Gamble Co. One of the worlds leading consumer goods manufacturer such as Tide, Pantene, Ariel etc was established in 1837 from an original candle and soap company. The firm now operates in 180 nations with more than 138,000 employees. According to Lafley, A. G., Chairman of the Board and chief Executive Officer, PG, the firm has over 171 years of history and has always been driven by creativity and innovation. Additionally, improved sales and long term success have always been the strategic goals of this corporation. And it understands the fact that these goals can be attained by constantly appreciating changing consumers needs, innovation, branding and market needs. Depending entirely on skunk work such as acquisitions, internal RD and selective innovations has proved to be inefficient and insufficient for attaining the business target of $4 billion business in a time period of one year. It can be clearly seen that invent- it-ourselves model along with global research facilities and recruiting and holding of the best talent nationwide attained success till the year 2000 but nowadays satisfying high levels of top line growth has become a big challenge for an organization The approach through which the radical strategy of open innovation helped an organization attain its business mission and goal can be typified in the following lines. To face the challenge, PG adopted a brand new technique of innovation: Develop and Connect model in the year 2000 which lays great importance on searching good and new ideas and information outside and bringing them in, in order to give internal capabilities a boost and make most out of them. With the perspective of manufacturing improved and relatively cheaper products faster the business strategy involved in this model was to leverage assets of people, products and property available externally and applying it to their respective RD labs, purchasing, market capabilities and production. The foremost work of this strategy is to recognize top ten preferences and needs of the consumer. Moreover, it is very essential that the customers are fully satisfied by the products manufactured and which will finally result in increased sales and profit. Moving ahead, alike products or related technologies which already exist in the market and occupy good position are recognized. Lastly, analysing the influence of technological acquisition of one area over the other areas. Networking is the backbone of this approach. Along with having business collaborations with open networking companies such as InnoCentive and Ninesigma, the PG group has long chain of suppliers and technological entrepreneurs worldwide. They play a crucial role by finding solutions to PG internal problems in the outside world. Thus, by constructing such type of infrastructure PG has been able to reduce its investment in technology along with achieving stable top line growth and required sustainability. According to Huston, L. Sakkab, N., 2000, p.3 by shifting to Connect and Develop model their has been a remarkable increment in our RD production by 60% and the progress rate of innovation has undoubtedly doubled. The Procter Gamble figures out how an organization can maximize its profitability levels by switching to new and annovative The Procter Gamble examples mirrors the way how switching to new and innovative approaches of using information and technology can help maximise profit margins. It is one of the organisations which has developed enabling infrastructure fabricated around innovation with a huge world wide network combining human capital, ideas and technology. Conclusion This essay has brought to surface a number of strategies which can help firms to establish strong positions globally like having a threshold of 20% etc. The main aim which was to justify that a firm cannot be simply categorized as global based upon statistical data has been justified. A number of measures have also been illustrated which can help differentiate the firms regional strategy from the global strategy.

Farewell the Tranquil Mind! :: essays research papers

Shakespeare might very well have made the decision to name his play â€Å"Iago† and not â€Å"Othello,† but I suppose he had a knack for catchy titles. Since it is Othello’s tragedy, even if it is Iago’s play, â€Å"Iago† would be an inappropriate title, especially since it is not Iago’s life that is ruined, and although he takes part in most—if not all—of the action in the play, it still revolves around Othello. That notion aside, one might take the time to raise more important or deeper points of discussion surrounding and filling the play. Notice that Iago’s reason for driving Othello to ruin is jealousy. Iago was passed up for a promotion, and became jealous. So what did he do? He made Othello so crazy that he passed out in epileptic seizures, and so jealous that he killed his one true love, Desdemona. The most basic â€Å"eye for an eye,† it is quite probable that this is Shakespeare’s way of commenting on human nature. Every character that speaks of Iago calls him honest. Perhaps he was at one point, but it is obvious that he has always been a rascal. During the storm, when Desdemona, Iago, and the others are waiting for Othello to arrive, Iago jokes about women being fair and wise or fair and foolish, etc., and the others are entertained by his crassness. It is certain that they are all familiar with and fond of each other, and in their closeness, regard Iago as a sharp-witted, and even sharper tongued, shameless rascal. This combined with the fact that they all consider him honest, they hold him dear and, to their detriment, trust him. It is important to note Iago’s relationships with the other characters, and to see exactly how it is that he plays them like pawns. He pretends to be the one true friend, feigning concern and jumping at every opportunity to manipulate. He uses the trust of Othello to drive him crazy, and the trust of Cassio to lead him into a trap, for if he had not done as Iago advised, then Othello never would have had reason for his initial suspicion. His wife Emilia and good friend Roderigo are simply his ignorant accomplices that, even though some suspicion may arise in their minds of his motives, still do as he says and believe his lies. But no such suspicion could have foretold what Iago had planned in his head.

Bronfenbrenner’s Ecological Systems Theory

Bronfenbrenner’s Ecological Systems Theory According to Bronfenbrenner’s Ecological Systems Theory, microsystem refers to the groups that immediately influence and directly impact the development of a child. In my life this impact came from my family and church. As a young child I was very timid and shy. My family taught me how to be resilient in challenging situations. For example during large family gatherings, where confrontations occur among my cousins and I, there were several opportunities to voice my opinion and stand for what I feel was right.The church I attended gave me a different paradigm on life. Being a part of this ministry allowed me to see my potential on a greater level. Over the years, I was given many chances to interact with children in a supervisory position. This experience helped me to discover my gift for teaching young children. Exosystem is the link between a social setting in which the individual does not have an active role. Being a military family, exosystem, also had a strong influence on my development as a child.My step father was enlisted in the US Navy. At the age of eight years old, my family and I relocated to Virginia from Florida. We resided here for 4 years. During my time in Virginia, I discovered that school was more challenging than that of Florida schools. I struggled academically, especially the first two years. The academic lessons are a little more than a year worth of difference between the two school systems. So the two systems that impact me the most are the microsystem of my family and the exosystem of being a military family.Nurture and Nature does have an influence on adult development, but not as great as it is on children. Let’s look at nurture, as a child you are still developing. A child has minimal control over his or her environment and development has not reached maturation, that’s why children need adult supervision and guidance. Once a child becomes a mature functioning ad ult he or she can make sound decisions what is accepted in his or her environment. For example, Victor does not enjoy the city that he resides in. There are not a lot of opportunities for the career field he is working in.Victor can make a conscious decision to move to a more suitable location. A minor has very little influence on where he or she lives. With the latest advancements in science we are fortunate to have the knowledge to counteract the negative effects of genetics. Nature influence on our quality of life is weakening. Maria’s family has a history of heart failure and diabetes. Maria’s, physical make up is that of her biological father. She is petite and pear shaped. Her paternal great grandmother, great aunt and grandmother died from complications of heart disease.Maria has control over the foods she eats and activity levels. On the other hand, children foods and playtimes are decided by consenting adults. Through proper education and a healthy lifestyle s he has a better chance of a life free of this illness. Even though nurture and nature have a minimum influence on adults, ultimately adults make the final decisions on their lives. Choose Wisely. 1. Witt, G. A. , & Mossler, R. A. (2010). Adult Development and Life Assessment. Retrieved from https://content. ashford. edu/books/AUPSY202. 10. 2

Negative Effect of Video Games on Children Essay

The Negtive Effects of Video Gaming on Children Children don’t have to buy an expensive gaming system to play video games anymore, than can simply log onto the internet through their home computer or their handheld devices and they have an array of videogames to choose from. Every time a child pops a role playing videogame into their gaming console or logs onto the internet to play so called interactive video games, they enter a virtual world where there are no real consequences for their actions. While playing violent video games children can choose to play the violent roles of either car thieves or killers. The more time a child spends playing video games the less time they spend engaged in normal social activities with their friends. When a child is allowed to spend hours a day playing video games, especially violent role playing games, they can cause them to become violent, socially isolated, and depressed. First person role playing games allow children to identify with their character (Harding). The more time children spend as killing machines in the false reality of the video gaming world, the more desensitized they become to death and killing in the real world. Studies have shown the more time children spend playing violent video games, the more likely they are to respond to real world situations with aggression and violence (Gordon). A 2004 study published in the Journal of Adolescence found children, particularly teens, who played violent video games are more likely to become aggressive, confrontational, and see a decline in their academic performance (Harding). Allowing children to play violent video games is not worth the risk they pose! Children are exposed to enough violence through television without the help of violent games offered to them over the internet and through popular video gaming systems. Video games do not only expose children to violence they allow them to engage in it through the violent roles they allow them to play. Many of the roles children play over the internet or through their game consoles simulate real world situations where they can steal and murder with no consequences. Parents should not need to read the results of a study for them to realize that allowing their hild to play violent roles in video games, where they kill and steal, will encourage violent behavior from them in the real world. During September 2009 in Ohio a sixteen year old boy named Daniel Petric was forbidden by his father from buying the new version of the violent video game Halo that he was obsessed with. After being forbidden from buying the new version of the violent game Daniel snuck out of his house and bought it anyway. When Daniel’s father discovered he had disobeyed him, and bought the game, he took it away from him and locked it in his lockbox where he kept his gun. Later that same night, sixteen year old Daniel unlocked his father’s lockbox to retrieve his game and found his father’s gun. After finding the gun Daniel went into his parent’s bedroom and shot both his father and mother in the killing them (Gordon). No one can say with absolute certainty that the video game Halo caused the boy to shoot his parents. One thing is obvious, if the boy’s account of events are to be believed, the game played a huge factor in his descion to murder his parents that evening. Violent behavior unfortunately is not the only negative effect from children playing video games to often. A recent study by Douglas A Gentile, an associate professor of psychology at Iowa State University found that children who spend several hours a day playing video games are at risk to become addicted to them. Once a child becomes addicted to their video game, their addiction can cause them to become depressed, anxious, and have social problems including social isolation (Gilmore). If a child is spending several hours a day gaming they can very easily become depressed. When a child spends most of their day playing video games they do not engage in normal healthy physical activity with their friends. It makes sense that the more time a child spends isolated playing video games the more likely they are to become depressed. Children need to spend time interacting with their friends in order to develop normal social skills. When children isolate themselves playing videogames alone all day, they begin to lose their friends and social skills. Studies show that the depression caused from children pathologically playing video games can be easily lifted when they simply stop playing them (Frontelera). Douglas Gentile said, â€Å"We found in children who started playing pathologically anxiety and depression got worse. And, when they stopped gaming the depression lifted† (qtd. in Gilmore). The idea that allowing a child to play his or her favorite video game for a couple hours a day can lead them to social isolation may sound farfetched, unfortunately it is not. The more time a child spends playing video games the less desire they have for one on one human contact. Although, children have the ability to interact with other players including their friends through the internet, their friends become part of the game itself and there is no real contact. Children need to spend time in social environments with their peers in order to learn and maintain the social skills they need to navigate through life. When a child loses his or her social skills they quickly become isolated and depressed. Their isolation and depression can lead them to identify themselves more with the character they are playing in their videogame than their own real life. First person role playing games allow children to identify with their character. Studies have shown the more time teenagers spend playing violent videogames at home the more likely they are to respond to real world situations with aggression and violence. A child’s imagination is amazing and sometimes limitless, unfortunately it can become dangerous when they begin to imagine themselves stealing cars and murdering people while playing first person role playing Videogames allow children to become kings and queens, or car thieves and murderers. Children can become so entranced by the different roles they play in the virtual worlds created for them through videogames that the line between the real world and the virtual one depicted in the video games they are playing becomes blurred. . Violent video games rewarded children for things like stealing cars and killing people.