7 'Controversies' That Are Total Bullsh*t
4. Video Games Cause Violence
The idea that video games give rise to unchecked aggression in our children (not the children!), has a lot more to do with intergenerational paranoia than and solid scientific evidence.
The connection between violent media and violent behaviour is nothing new. Before there were video games, people blamed movies, before movies, they blamed comic books and before that, they blamed penny dreadfuls and music hall culture. Media and moral panic have gone hand in hand for as long as they have existed.
Thanks to this tradition of handwringing, we have a fair amount of data on the emergence of aggressive behaviour in children and, in fact, many of these studies did appear to show that children can "learn" aggressive behaviour by observing others.
So, how can I possibly call this bullsh*t? Well, many now looking more closely at the data are pointing out that none of the experiments say anything about the effects of gaming on on real-world violence, and there is actually no evidence that the two are linked at all.
In fact, there are some who suggest that it was the experiments themselves and not the content that brought about the aggressive behaviour. In one famous study, some kids that were exposed to the unrelentingly gentle "Mister Rogers' Neighborhood" actually saw a three-fold increase in aggressive behaviour, so the relationship between media content and violence is clearly not as cut and dried as we'd like to believe.
We make the connection because we want something to blame. The Columbine shooters watched violent movies, but so did many of their peers. The Sandy Hook shooter played FPSs, but so do million of other teenagers - he was also obsessed with Dance Dance Revolution.
What is more likely is that violent games, or films, or even frigging penny dreadfuls, have a more profound effect on kids with a history of emotional trauma, not the other way around.
Blaming the video games deflects the blame and distracts from the real issue, which is the reason why we're no closer to solving the riddle of why some people sit in their room playing CoD and eating PBJs, and some commit mass shootings.