What is technology
doing to our kids? What can they expect in the future? What,
exactly, are the new dangers? Where, exactly, are the new
opportunities? Who's responsible for what? More importantly,
since we're all in this together, what should we do now?
What can we do?
These aren't easy questions to answer. And if we do answer
them, we often find we don't agree with other people's answers.
Most of the time, it's a lot more convenient to ignore such
questions. Modern life is complicated enough…which
is why we have so much technology in the first place.
This dilemma, a dilemma faced by every parent, is what prompted
us to convene the first National Summit on Video Games,
Youth and Public Policy, a two-day conference sponsored
by the National Institute on Media & Family and Iowa
State University. For the first time ever, the Summit gathered
academic scholars, public health officials, child health
advocates and representatives from the video game industry.
Together, we discussed the impact of violent and sexually
explicit video games.
Not everyone left the Summit in total agreement on every
issue. The industry representatives in particular were reluctant
to admit video games can ever cause harm to kids. However,
most of the rest of us, including leading researchers from
all across the country, signed a joint statement saying
research shows "that playing violent video games can
increase the likelihood of aggressive behavior in children
and youth."
In the end, I don't think our agreements and disagreements
are as important as this fact: everybody, on all sides of
the issue, came together to try to figure out a way to work
together.
Regular readers of this column know there a few simple things
individual parents can do to help protect their kids from
the harmful effects of media. Setting limits on content
and amount is a big start. Being aware of what's on the
screen - watching what your kids watch - is a big part of
it too. The reason these simple approaches work is because
they establish important connections with your kids. Watching
what your kids watch sends an important message: you care
what media does to them and you want to create a healthy
media diet, together. In a way, watching what our
kids watch, establishing important connections and setting
appropriate limits - it's exactly what the leaders on all
sides of the video game issue need to do too.
Regular readers of this column also know I have dedicated
much of the past decade to the issue of violent video games.
In those ten years, I've seen certain things get a lot worse.
The most violent games keep getting more disgusting and
graphic. And the latest research continues to show the harm
of such images. For kids who have no limits on their media
diet, these are dark times. But as I write these words after
the Summit, I see light at the end of the tunnel. For the
first time, I truly believe we'll get there together.
David Walsh, Ph.D. is the founder of the
MediaWise Movement, a program of the National Institute
on Media and the Family (www.mediawise.org).
His latest book, Why Do They Act That Way? A Survival
Guide to the Adolescent Brain for You and Your Teen,
is a national bestseller.
Our
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