How does tv and video game violence influence children?
My son is 8. We allow him to play Unreal Tournament, but the gore level is turned all the way down as is the mature language filter. He plays Halo as well and World of Warcraft. When he goes outside to play he does the normal boy things, like pretend that my garden accessories are futuristic guns, and he “dies” a pretty dramatic death when the invisible man behind the birdbath shoots him with a laser, but violence on television bothers him very much. He walked in while I was watching a particularly brutal scene of “The Last Samaui” and burst out into tears, “Why are they killing the families???” I think he knows that the video games are just that, games, and not real, and it also helps that the games he plays do not take place in “present times” they are all fantasy, but live action television is completely different to him. In all, I think it depends on if a child can relate to what they are seeing on television and such to their daily lives. Then I don’t think it is good in any way.
