How Violent of an Influence are Video Games?

I was scanning the December 4th issue of Science magazine and came across a short summary entitled "Doom Didn't Make Me Do It." It explained that much study has been expended on the subject of whether or not violent TV programs and video games cause people to be violent. Now, Christopher Ferguson, a psychologist at Texas A&M International University has published a graph showing that video game sales have soared and youth violence has actually decreased. He contends that this demonstrates that lab-based experiments showing increased "aggression" from exposure to violent TV programs or video games may bear little relationship to actual violence. Others contend that this graph does little to dispel their belief that early viewing of violence by children will likely negatively influence later behavior. What makes sense to me is that this is just a piece of a much bigger context. Most people would probably advise avoiding activities which teach young children inappropriate aggression or desensitize them to violence. If TV programs and video games are the major influence in a young person's life, though, I don't think many people would see that as a good situation. It seems to me that, in most real world situations, children are also going to be heavily influenced by the way they are treated by others and how they see adults and their peers around them behave toward each other. It seems to me that these studies cannot adequately factor in variations in this bigger contextual environment. Also, it occurred to me that an increased allotment of time to video games gives people less time to perform real-world violent acts. I'm not saying that this is the best way to keep kids off the streets and out of trouble nor the worst. It may or may not have the positive character building aspects that we often attribute to sports, clubs, or other activities, but like these, video games and TV programs are a time commitment of sorts. My philosophy is that, in many things (not all) moderation is a good approach. With kids, video games, and TV, that is kind of where I fall. I'm not sure that it is necessary or helpful to shelter children from everything bad on TV and/or video games. Neither would I advocate unfiltered access to things such as TV and/or video games. What seems most important to me, however, is to provide them a greater context which teaches them the values that you feel are important.

This is pretty complicated and controversial stuff for a Blind Bambi like me to ponder. I think my New Year's resolution should be to address less weighty issues in future posts.