MAR 2013
iNSiDE
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The Desensitized Generation by Kim Green-Spangler
Reality or Fiction?
Y
our child spends hours sitting in front of a video game console. You know where he is. He’s at home safe and sound and isn’t getting himself into trouble, or any dangerous situations, right? Well, the answer may rest on whether he’s playing Tetris, or Mortal Komabat? If it’s the latter, the jury is still out. He may be distorting his take on reality. Parents and psychologists, alike, worry about the effects of violent television, movies and video games on cognitive, behavioral and affective processes in young minds. Why is this An Issue? Columbine, the movie theater and mall shootings, and the Sandy Hook Elementary School shooting in December of 2012 are all red flags that have parents, medical professionals and government officials wondering exactly what is impacting our society. Why are these young men, in these cases, losing their grasp on reality and reacting to situations so violently? Is it a “last straw” scenario? There seems to be a common thread of serious thought and planning in each of these cases. So, what makes someone so angry they want to kill innocent people? Are the shooters aware they are pursuing living, breathing people, some of them innocent children? Or are they in a place absent of reality while they are on their “mission?” Does it sound like a video game sequence? Plan the attack and execute the plan as flawlessly as possible? Perhaps, but according to the Media Education Foundation, did you know that “by the time the average child is eighteen years old, they will have witnessed 200,000 acts of violence”? This includes not only video games, but movies, television shows and commercials. Does this statistic have no relevance, or is it the key to the problem? How much is too much?
it’s via YouTube, the local news, or commercials interspersed between “wholesome” television shows the information available in the 2010s is very different from the media exposure of the previous generation. Remember when if a movie was R-rated, the scenes that gave it the R-rating was not shown or alluded to as trailers? Remember when men were raised to be gentlemen and you did not see or hear them belittling women on television verbally or physically? Remember when human life was taught to be valued and a murder was not seemingly an everyday occurrence?
The Reality The reality is that short of banning technology from all homes, placing children on house arrest and restricting them from all public places and access to any technology whatsoever, they are going to be exposed to screen violence. Whether
The Findings There have been several key studies performed within the last five years to determine whether children can be desensitized as a result of screen violence. While movies and television are primary culprits it’s the video gaming that comes under
fire the most. Why? Players are the aggressors in video game play. They are not bystanders, but are put in the role of avenger and/or killer. The findings from a 2006 study written by Doctoral candidate Holly Bowen, from the psychology department at Ryerson University in Toronto were interesting. Study participants were shown violent images. Participants were separated and asked to watch nonviolent games and violent games. The theory was, if they were desensitized they would have a difficult time recalling the images and would not be affronted by the content. However, it was determined that the memories and arousal of violent video gamers and nonviolent gamers were identical after exposure. Both sets were able to recall details about the images they were shown, and were able to convey evidence of having seen something horrific. However, Ms. Bowen also stated that “much
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