Why let facts get in the way of cold hard opinions (Score 1)

Sure, the vast majority of people who watch violent TV or play violent video games are not a threat to society. The claim that violent media are as dangerous as smoking is foolish, and not what the article actually said. But overwhelmingly research does support the contention that people can learn behaviour from watching programs and playing games, and that can make people more violent than they would have been if they'd spent their time some other way. What's remarkable is how people can dismiss all the research, much of which is painstakingly performed by experts in the field, just because they dislike the results. (Or maybe that's not remarkable, depending on how cynical you are about people's rationality.)

An article I read earlier this year really changed my opinion on this subject. From issue 2600 of New Scientist magazine, 19 April 2007, page 33-37:

The overwhelming majority of studies about modern media and the mind, however, have focused on violence on and off the screen. Although there has been more than 50 years' worth of research, most people seem to have the idea that, while these studies suggest there might be a small link, the jury is still out. Wrong, says John Murray, a developmental psychologist from Kansas State University, one of the editors of the book Children and Television: Fifty years of research and author of US government-sponsored reports in 1972 and 1982. Murray is exasperated by this kind of ambivalence. He says it is impossible to conclude anything other than that violence on TV has raised the level of violence and aggression in our society - and while research on computer games has begun only recently, what there is suggests violent games have an even stronger effect....

Not everyone is affected, and we are not all affected in same way, but overall, media violence does affect viewers' attitudes, values and behaviour, Murray says. Hundreds of studies demonstrate this, so why the doubt?

One reason is that media reports tend to give equal prominence to the naysayers. The debate also has its hired guns, with industry organisations such as the Motion Picture Association of America sponsoring prominent books arguing against any links....

The effects fall into three categories, says Murray. There's a kind of imitation effect, where we seem to learn by example how to behave in certain situations. There's desensitisation, which means we become less shocked by and more tolerant of violence. Finally, there is the "mean world" effect, where people feel more vulnerable after seeing images of bad situations.

These effects are not always bad. Take desensitisation - if you're training medical students you want them to get used to gore, rather than vomiting when they see blood.

Our values, attitudes, family and education also work to mitigate the effects. Home life has a very big impact. If your family portrays attitudes that differ from the violence on TV, that really lowers the risk, says Joanne Cantor of the University of Wisconsin. "If you live in a violent area or abusive home, it increases the likelihood that violence will have an effect. But even kids with good things in life are affected. Maybe they will not be more violent but perhaps more hostile in their interpersonal relationships."

The big picture is clear. Modern media such as TV and computer games are changing our minds, and the more we are exposed to them the greater the changes. They are making us smarter and better at some tasks, but worse at others. And there is no getting away from the fact that on-screen violence fosters off-screen violence.

If anyone is thinking of replying to this, let me save you some time by preparing some responses.

1. But the article doesn't repeat all these hundreds of studies, so they must be made up!
2. And those studies must be by paid shills of the powerful liberal anti-gaming conspiracy/my mom!
3. If all these studies show the same thing, that just shows how biased they are!
4. And violence is a natural response. So being exposed to violence will never make people more violent, because peoples behaviour is determined by genetics, not experiences. It's natural. See?
5. I play violent games and watch nothing but splatter films and have never killed anyone, so all these carefully constructed studies show nothing.
6. Most violent people don't play games, so games/TV clearly have no effect at all on violence.
7. America has lots of guns and murders, Britain has few guns and a lower but rising murder rate, therefore... erm... something.
8. Crime rates are falling, so these studies must all be lies, even though they aren't about crime rates.

Just type the number of the option closest to your opinion, and save yourself the trouble of explaining in detail why your preconceptions trump all those nasty facts. (Ooooh, I've gotten all sarcastic at the end here, haven't I? I've been playing too much CounterStrike. :-) )