Are violent TV, movies and video games to blame?
It depends who you are whether violent TV, movies and video games are to blame for campus shootings. If you have particular personality traits, then there is some debate as to whether violent media can influence your likely behavior – including shootings but in general the answer is ‘no’. Funnily enough, I have just discussed this with a 16 year old who said that he is often surprised at how little he feels when seeing shootings in films where the people just fall down (we were watching a Steven Seagal film at the time). I said I thought he would feel very different if it were even one person shot in reality and it was real and he totally agreed. Most of us can distinguish from an early age the difference between reality and acting. The same goes for video games- even the most hardened video gamer knows they are indulging in a fantasy world – which is why they enjoy them so much. They also have control – if the situation were real they would not have the control and the effect would be
