Notes

Introduction

1. Ardant du Picq, a nineteenth-century French officer and military theorist, 1821–1870, referenced in Richard Holmes, Acts of War: The Behavior of Men in Battle, The Free Press, 1986.

2. American Psychological Association, Policy Manual Chapter XII, “Public Interest, Violence in Mass Media,” 1994.

3. Joint Statement on the Impact of Entertainment Violence on Children Congressional Public Health Summit, July 26, 2000.

4. American Psychological Association, Policy Statement and Resolution on Violent Video Game Effects, 2015.

5. These mass murderers all committed their crimes in order to gain fame. I refuse to give it to them here. We will not mention the names of any killers in this book.

6. These are not “shootings.” They are massacres. The Boston Massacre left five dead, and it was one of the events that set off the American Revolution. The infamous St. Valentine’s Day Massacre left seven dead. These historical events are famous, but add up the Boston Massacre and the St. Valentine’s Day Massacre and then double that number, and you still have more dead at Sandy Hook or Virginia Tech. These are massacres, and throughout this book that is the term I will use. I consider our society’s failure to call these events by their proper term just another symptom of our deep denial of the full magnitude of this problem.

7. He had fired a .22 rifle once at summer camp. Other than that he had zero experience firing any actual firearm.

8. “‘Boom, Headshot!’: Effect of Video Game Play and Controller Type on Firing Aim and Accuracy.” Jodi L. Whitaker and Brad J. Bushman, Communication Research 41, no. 7 (October 2014): 879–91. Learn more at http://wamc.org/post/dr-brad-bushman-ohio-state-university-video-games-and-shooting-skill.

9. B. Bushman and C. Anderson, “Media Violence and the American Public: Scientific Facts Versus Media Misinformation,” American Psychologist 56, nos. 6–7 (2001): 477–89.

1. It’s Worse than It Looks: The Case Against the Media

1. Sharon Lafraniere, Sarah Cohen, and Richard A. Oppel Jr., “How Often Do Mass Shootings Occur? On Average, Every Day, Records Show,” New York Times, December 2, 2015.

2. Indicators of School Crime and Safety, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), 1992–2013. School-Associated Violent Deaths Surveillance Study (SAVD) (partially funded by the U.S. Department of Education, Office of Safe and Healthy Students), September 2015.

3. Monica Davey and Mitch Smith, “Murder Rates Rising Sharply in Many U.S. Cities,” New York Times, August 31, 2015.

4. http://news3lv.com/news/local/homicides-increase-100-percent-in-clark-county-between-2015-and-2016.

5. Anupam B. Jena, Eric C. Sun, Vinay Prasad, “Does the Declining Lethality of Gunshot Injuries Mask a Rising Epidemic of Gun Violence in the United States?” Journal of General Internal Medicine 29, no. 7 (2014): 1065–69.

6. David Kopel, “Guns, Mental Illness, and Newtown,” Wall Street Journal, December 18, 2012, http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424127887323723104578185271857424036.html.

7. Bureau of Justice Statistics, National Prisoner Statistics program, Census of Jail Inmates, and Annual Survey of Jails, 2004–2014; and U.S. Census Bureau, postcensal estimated resident population for January 1 of the following year, 2005–2015.

2. Guns, Drugs, and Denial: Common Excuses for the Virus of Violence

1. D. B. Kates and G. A. Mauser, “Would Banning Firearms Reduce Murder and Suicide? A Review of International and Some Domestic Evidence” (PDF). Harvard Journal of Law & Public Policy, 2007, http://www.law.harvard.edu/students/orgs/jlpp/Vol30_No2_KatesMauseronline.pdf.

2. Federal law first prohibited ordering “concealable weapons” (mostly pistols) by mail in 1927. The purchase of any firearm by mail order was prohibited in 1968. The Gun Control Act of 1968 is the first federal regulation (that I can find) limiting juveniles from buying weapons. I personally remember making such purchases as a kid in the early 1960s. Learn more at http://usgovinfo.about.com/blguntime.htm.

3. Many citations and footnotes have been left out here, but they can be found in the original, http://www.law.harvard.edu/students/orgs/jlpp/Vol30_No2_KatesMauseronline.pdf.

4. An article published in the Washington Post on December 14, 2012, is one example. It begins with a description of the Sandy Hook Elementary School mass murderer: “a really rambunctious kid, as one former neighbor in Newtown, Conn., recalled him, adding that he was on medication.”

5. This topic is covered at greater length in my book On Killing, which describes how human beings seek out violence as valuable survival information. This fascination is kept in check by the “safety catch” inherent in most species that creates a natural aversion to killing another member of one’s own species.

6. You can read more in Stop Teaching Our Kids to Kill, 132–36.

7. V. Mathews et al., “Media Violence Exposure and Frontal Lobe Activation Measured by Functional Magnetic Resonance Imaging in Aggressive and Nonaggressive Adolescents,” Journal of Computer Assisted Tomography 29, no. 3 (2005): 287–92.

8. C. Anderson, A. Sakamoto, D. A. Gentile, N. Ihori, A. Shibuya, S. Yukawa, M. Naito, and K. Kobayashi, “Longitudinal Effects of Violent Video Games on Aggression in Japan and the United States,” Pediatrics 122, no. 5 (2008): e1067–e1072.

9. D. Gentile, “Pathological Video Game Use Among Youth Ages 8 to 18: A National Study,” Psychological Science 20, no. 5 (2009): 594–602.

10. D. Gentile, C. Hyekyung, A. Liau, T. Sim, D. Li, D. Fung, and A. Khoo, “Pathological Video Game Use Among Youths: Two-Year Longitudinal Study,” Pediatrics 127, no. 2 (2011): e319–e329.

11. T. Hummer, “Media Violence Effects on Brain Development,” American Behavioral Scientist 59, no. 14 (July 2015): 1790–1806.

12. Several newspapers reported that the killer played video games, including Call of Duty. For example, see Dan Barry, Serge F. Kovaleski, Alan Blinder, and Mujib Mashal, “‘Always Agitated. Always Mad’: [Name deleted by author], According to Those Who Knew Him,” New York Times, June 18, 2016; and Daphne Duret, “[Name deleted by author], Suicide Bomber Seen at Party in Serious Conversation,” Palm Beach Post, June 16, 2016.

3. The Human Brain on Violence: How Violent Video Games Warp the Mind

1. M. Duggan, “Who Plays Video Games and Identifies as a Gamer?” Gaming and Gamers, Pew Research Center Report, December 15, 2015.

2. A. Lenhart, “Video Games Are Key Elements in Friendships for Many Boys,” Teens, Technology and Friendships, Pew Research Center Report, August 6, 2015, http://www.pewinternet.org/2015/08/06/chapter-3-video-games-are-key-elements-in-friendships-for-many-boys/.

3. For more on this topic, please refer to my previous book On Killing.

4. Several studies have shown that players exhibit more aggression as games become increasingly realistic. See K. J. Kim and S. S. Sundar, “Can Interface Features Affect Aggression Resulting from Violent Video Game Play? An Examination of Realistic Controller and Large Screen Size,” CyberPsychology, Behavior & Social Networking 16, no. 5 (May 2013): 329–34. Additionally, a research study published in 2015 reported: “When a simple controller is replaced by a more realistic motion-capturing gun controller for playing violent video games, the rate of cognitive aggression—a measure of the accessibility of aggressive thoughts—nearly doubles.” See Rory McGloin, Kirstie M. Farrar, and Joshua Fishlock, “Triple Whammy! Violent Games and Violent Controllers: Investigating the Use of Realistic Gun Controllers on Perceptions of Realism, Immersion, and Outcome Aggression,” Journal of Communication 65, no. 2 (2015): 280–99.

5. “Behind Closed Doors: The Impact of Domestic Violence on Children,” UNICEF, Stop Violence in the Home Campaign, 2006, www.unicef.org/media/files/BehindClosedDoors.pdf.

6. V. J. Rideout, M. A. Ulla, G. Foehr, and Donald F. Roberts, Generation M2: Media in the Lives of 8-to 18-Year-Olds (Menlo Park, CA: Kaiser Family Foundation, 2010).

7. The list below features just some of the studies and reports showing a link between suicide and sleep deprivation. I think we can safely predict an increase in suicide rates in the years to come, and also predict that the video game addiction/sleep deprivation pathology will be identified as a major factor.

• E. Pinder, Lt. Col. R. Pastel, and V. Nacev, “Sleep: The Risk of Suicidal Behaviors,” Defense Centers of Excellence for Psychological Health and Traumatic Brain Injury, National Intrepid Center of Excellence, June 21, 2012.

• X. Liu and D. Buysse, “Sleep and Youth Suicidal Behavior: A Neglected Field,” Current Opinion in Psychiatry 19 (2006): 288–93.

• Xianchen Liu, “Sleep and Adolescent Suicidal Behavior,” Sleep 27,no. 7 (2004): 1351–58, http://www.journalsleep.org/Articles/270711.pdf.

• R. Kotler, “5 Ways Sleep Deprivation Can Kill You,” Askmen.com, 2011, http://www.askmen.com/sports/health_400/427_5-ways-sleep-deprivation-can-kill-you.html.

• C. Bennett, “Is Sleep Deprivation Making You Suicidal?” Huffington Post, Dec. 24, 2010, http://www.huffingtonpost.com/connie-bennett/take-your-meds-not-prescr_b_799499.html.

8. The website http://www.smh.com.au/news/technology/dark-side-of-the-screen/2006/05/12/1146940739294.html?page=fullpage features one of the best articles on this research and the video game industry’s misinformation programs to discredit it. Additional information can be found in the article T. A. Hummer, “Media Violence Effects on Brain Development: What Neuroimaging Has Revealed and What Lies Ahead,” American Behavioral Scientist 2015, vol. 59 (14): 1790–1806.

9. C. Montag, B. Weber, P. Trautner, B. Newport, S. Markett, N. T. Walter, A. Felten, and M. Reuter, “Does Excessive Play of Violent First-Person-Shooter-Video-Games Dampen Brain Activity in Response to Emotional Stimuli?” Biological Psychology 89, no. 1 (2011): 107–11, doi: 10.1016/j.biopsycho.2011.09.014.

10. “Researchers: Video Games Hurt Brain Development,” CNET News, August 20, 2001, http://news.cnet.com/2100-1040-271849.html.

11. T. McVeigh, “Computer games stunt teen brains,” The Guardian, August 21, 2001, http://www.theguardian.com/world/2001/aug/19/games.schools.

12. This information was collected from the Center for Successful Parenting’s brochure addressing the outcome of the study and the implications of the brain-scan research.

13. Additional information can be found at http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mean_world_syndrome.

14. To learn more, visit http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Just-world_hypothesis.

15. Please see Stop Teaching Our Kids to Kill for more information on this topic.

16. Additional details can be found in http://www.deseretnews.com/article/700140348/Video-game-addiction-blamed-for-15-percent-of-divorces.html.

4. The Gangbanger’s Trainer: How Video Games Train Kids to Kill

1. D. Grossman, “The ‘Myth’ of Our Returning Veterans and Violent Crime,” Inside Homeland Security: Journal of the American Board for Certification in Homeland Security (Spring 2011): 35.

2. This is the most recent data available because INTERPOL stopped issuing its report in 2003 under pressure from individual countries that weren’t happy with their statistics being made public.

3. Learn more at http://www.guinnessworldrecords.com/news/2013/10/confirmed-grand-theft-auto-breaks-six-sales-world-records-51900/.

4. Additional information can be found at http://www.fool.com/investing/general/2013/09/28/gta-5-sales-hit-1-billion.aspx.

5. In his research, Dr. Dimitri Christakis of Seattle’s Children’s Hospital found that each hour of TV a child watches between birth and the age of seven equated to a 10 percent increase in attention problems by age seven (C. Rowan, “The Impact of Technology on Child Sensory and Motor Development,” S.I. Focus, Summer 2009, http://www.sensomotorische-integratie.nl/CrisRowan.pdf).

6. To learn more about Dr. Bushman’s research, visit http://wamc.org/post/dr-brad-bushman-ohio-state-university-video-games-and-shooting-skill.

7. Mike Lupica, “Morbid Find Suggests Murder-Obsessed Gunman… Plotted Newtown, Conn.’s Sandy Hook Massacre for Years,” New York Daily News, March 17, 2013 (updated March 25, 2013), http://www.nydailynews.com/news/national/lupica-lanza-plotted-massacre-years-article-1.1291408.

8. M. Zimmerman, “Dramatic Spike in NYC Slashing Attacks Frightens Citizens, Puzzles Experts,” FoxNews.com, February 24, 2016.

9. Competitive shooting is a demanding sport that includes draconian punishments if you fire at the wrong time or in the wrong direction.

10. As an example of how strict hunting regulations are, a hunter who shoots at a deer from his car would lose the car, his gun, a big chunk of his money, and his hunting license. If golfers were regulated the same way, it would be the equivalent of the government punishing you for cheating by taking your clubs and your cart, fining you, and permanently banning you from the game. After a year or two, there wouldn’t be any golfers left! With regard to hunting, the strict discipline and severe punishment are necessary because the activity involves deadly weapons, and hunters wouldn’t have it any other way.

11. You may note that paintball does provide military-quality conditioned reflexes and combat inoculation, but no one is attacking this sport, nor should they. The entire medical community—the AMA, the APA, the American Academy of Pediatrics, and many others—has warned us about the health impact of violent video games, but not one scholarly study has indicated that paintball is harmful for kids. Again, as with many of the activities on this list, discipline seems to be the safeguard.

12. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, “Mental Health Surveillance Among Children—United States, 2005–2011,” May 2013, http://www.cdc.gov/mmwr/preview/mmwrhtml/su6202a1.htm.

13. B. Primack et al., “Association Between Media Use in Adolescence and Depression in Young Adulthood,” Archives of General Psychiatry 66, no. 2 (2009): 181–88.

14. Liu yi Lin, Jaime E. Sidani, Ariel Shensa, Ana Radovic, Elizabeth Miller, Jason B. Colditz, Beth L. Hoffman, Leila M. Giles, and Brian A. Primack, “Association Between Social Media Use and Depression Among U.S. Young Adults,” Depression and Anxiety 33, no. 4 (2016): 323–31.

15. J. F. Sargent, “Videogame Bigotry and the Illusion of Freedom: How Game Designers Turn Prejudice into Play,” Fairness & Accuracy in Reporting, Inc. (FAIR), November 2012.

16. Ohio State University, “Playing as Black: Avatar Race Affects White Video Game Players,” Science Daily, March 21, 2014, www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2014/03/140321094709.htm.

17. D. Exner-Cortens, J. Eckenrode, and E. Rothman, “Longitudinal Associations Between Teen Dating Violence Victimization and Adverse Health Outcomes,” Pediatrics 131, no. 1 (January 2013): 71–78.

18. M. Healy, “Teen Dating Violence Affects Well-Being in Adulthood,” USA Today, December 10, 2012, http://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation/2012/12/07/teen-dating-violence-pediatrics/1749105.

19. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, “Prevalence and Characteristics of Sexual Violence, Stalking, and Intimate Partner Violence Victimization—National Intimate Partner and Sexual Violence Survey, United States, 2011,” 2014, http://www.cdc.gov/mmwr/preview/mmwrhtml/ss6308a1.htm?s_cid=ss6308a1_e.

20. M. Ybarra, K. Mitchell, M. Hamburger, M. Diener-West, and P. Leaf, “X-Rated Material and Perpetration of Sexually Aggressive Behavior Among Children and Adolescents: Is There a Link?” Aggressive Behavior 37, no. 1 (2011): 1–18.

21. Lupica, “Morbid Find Suggests Murder-Obsessed Gunman… Plotted Newtown, Conn.’s Sandy Hook Massacre for Years.”

22. Kate Connolly, “School Killer’s Parents Break Silence,” The Guardian, May 5, 2002, http://www.theguardian.com/world/2002/may/05/schools.education.

23. “College Killer Crazy for Violent Vid Game,” New York Post, February 16, 2008, http://nypost.com/2008/02/16/college-killer-crazy-for-violent-vid-game/.

24. “Cops Search Duck Pond for V-Tech Killer’s Hard Drive,” GamePolitics.com, July 2, 2007, http://gamepolitics.com/2007/07/02/report-cops-search-duck-pond-for-v-tech-killers-hard-drive/.

25. “Knifeman Voices Regret over Baby Killing,” Brisbane Times, January 27, 2009, http://www.brisbanetimes.com.au/news/world/knifeman-voices-regret-over-baby-killing/2009/01/27/1232818398360.html.

26. “Ann Maguire Stabbing: Leeds Teacher Died from Neck Wound,” BBC Online, May 13, 2014, http://www.bbc.com/news/uk-england-27390908.

27. Read more about the game at http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dark_Souls.

28. M. Robinson, “Schoolboy, 15, Accused of Stabbing Teacher Was ‘Loner’ Who Played Online Video Games Dark Souls and Grand Theft Auto,” Daily Mail, April 29, 2014, http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2615694/Loner-schoolboy-murder-suspect-enjoyed-video-games.html.

29. C. Gane-McCalla, “Boy Kills Mom with Hammer for Taking Away PlayStation,” News One, February 17, 2011, http://newsone.com/1039635/kendall-anderson-kills-mom-hammer-rashida-anderson-playstation/.

30. M. Sheridan, “[Name deleted by author], 16, Killed Mom with Claw Hammer for Taking away His PlayStation,” New York Daily News, February 17, 2011.

31. L. Russell, “Police: 8-Year-Old Shoots, Kills Elderly Caregiver after Playing Video Game,” CNN, August 26, 2013, http://www.cnn.com/2013/08/25/us/louisiana-boy-kills-grandmother/?c=&page=1.

32. “Norway Killer’s Court Testimony Reveals How He Used Call of Duty to Train,” Kotaku, April 19, 2012, http://kotaku.com/5903366/norway-killers-court-testimony-reveals-how-he-used-call-of-duty-to-train; “Oslo Terrorist Used Modern Warfare 2 as ‘Training Simulation,’ World of Warcraft as Cover,” Kotaku, July 11, 2011, http://kotaku.com/5824147/oslo-terrorist-anders-behring-breivik-used-modern-warfare-2-as-training-simulation-world-of-warcraft-as-cover.

33. “Mass Killer… Threatens Hunger Strike for Better Video Games, End of ‘Torture,’” Euronews, February 14, 2014, http://www.euronews.com/2014/02/14/far-right-terrorist-breivik-threatens-hunger-strike-for-better-video-games-end-/.

34. Joel Achenbach, “Anguished Search for an Explanation,” Washington Post, December 16, 2012, https://www.washingtonpost.com/national/anguished-search-for-an-explanation/2012/12/16/183fee14-47a7-11e2-ad54-580638ede391_story.html.

35. J. Gordon, “Did Violent Video Games Cultivate the Environment Behind the Newtown Massacre?” New English Review, December 17, 2012, http://www.newenglishreview.org/blog_direct_link.cfm/blog_id/45289/.

5. Fiction or Reality? True Crimes and the Games That May Be Linked to Them

1. “Diablo 3 Death: Teen Dies after Playing Game for 40 Hours Straight,” Huffington Post, July 18, 2012, http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/07/18/diablo-3-death-chuang-taiwan-_n_1683036.html.

2. You can watch the video this excerpt was based on at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bTOPxcIncP0&list=TLjO1csdJF_y-E5HrcxSJfL78NYCMO6s5Z.

3. This story was written as reported by KTLA/Los Angeles Times on February 21, 2013, and the OC Register on August 21, 2013.

4. L. E. Wuller, “Losing the Game: An Analysis of the Brown v. Entertainment Merchants Association Decision and Its Ramifications in the Area of Interactive Video Games,” Saint Louis University Law Journal 57, no. 2 (Winter 2013): 458–59.

5. B. Liston, “Florida Man Charged with Murdering Son So He Could Play Video Games,” Reuters, April 18, 2014.

6. “Dad Killed Three-Week-Old Son Because He CRIED Too Much During Xbox Marathon,” Daily Mail, April 7, 2012, http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2126585/Jacob-David-Hartley-killed-3-week-old-son-Colton-CRIED-Xbox-marathon.html#ixzz34SwMECWo.

7. S. Schmadeke, “Prosecutors: After Fatally Beating Infant, Dad, 17, Played Video Games,” Chicago Tribune, October 1, 2013.

8. Y. Hasan, L. Bègue, M. Scharkow, and B. Bushman, “The More You Play, the More Aggressive You Become: A Long-Term Experimental Study of Cumulative Violent Video Game Effects on Hostile Expectations and Aggressive Behavior,” Journal of Experimental Social Psychology 49, no. 2 (March 2013): 224–27.

9. C. Wildeman, N. Emanuel, J. Leventhal, E. Putnam-Hornstein, J. Waldfogel, and H. Lee, “The Prevalence of Confirmed Maltreatment Among US Children, 2004 to 2011,” Pediatrics 168, no. 8 (2014): 706–13, doi:10.1001/jamapediatrics.2014.410.

10. J. M. Leventhal and J. R. Gaither, “Incidence of Serious Injuries Due to Physical Abuse in the United States: 1997 to 2009,” Pediatrics 130, no. 5 (November 2012): e847–e852, http://pediatrics.aappublications.org/content/early/2012/09/26/peds.2012-0922.

11. The video described in this passage is available at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bI9TtzJv3vc&oref=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.youtube.com%2Fwatch%3Fv%3DbI9TtzJv3vc&has_verified=1.

12. O. Darcy, “Six Absolutely Shocking Details from Suspected Santa Barbara Shooter’s 141-Page Manifesto,” The Blaze, May 24, 2014, http://www.theblaze.com/stories/2014/05/24/six-absolutely-stunning-details-from-suspected-santa-barbara-shooters-141-page-manifesto/.

13. “Life Lessons: Children Learn Aggressive Ways of Thinking and Behaving from Violent Video Games, Study Finds,” Iowa State University News Service, published by University Relations, online@iastate.edu, posted March 24, 2014, http://www.news.iastate.edu/news/2014/03/24/violentgamesbehavior.

14. Gentile et al., “Pathological Video Game Use Among Youths”; for complete reference, please see chapter 2, note 10.

15. “The Ethics of Video Games: Mayhem, Death, and the Training of the Next Generation,” Information Systems Frontiers 12, no. 4 (September 2010): 369–77.

16. E. Messias et al., “Sadness, Suicide, and Their Association with Video Game and Internet Overuse Among Teens: Results from the Youth Risk Behavior Survey,” Suicide and Life-Threatening Behavior 41, no. 3 (April 2011): 307–15.

17. Sean M. Mitchell, Danielle R. Jahn, Evan T. Guidry, and Kelly C. Cukrowicz, “The Relationship Between Video Game Play and the Acquired Capability for Suicide: An Examination of Differences by Category of Video Game and Gender,” Cyberpsychology, Behavior, and Social Networking 18, no. 12 (2015): 757–62.

18. Messias et al., “Sadness, Suicide, and Their Association with Video Game and Internet Overuse Among Teens: Results from the Youth Risk Behavior Survey.”

19. V. C. Strasburger, E. Donnerstein, and B. Bushman, “Why Is It So Hard to Believe That Media Influence Children and Adolescents?” Pediatrics 133, no. 4 (2014): 571–73.

20. S. Lee, M. Kang, and H. Kang, “Mechanisms Underlying Aggravation and Relaxation of Virtual Aggression: A Second Life Survey Study,” Behaviour & Information Technology 32, no. 7 (September 2013): 735–46.

21. A. Klein, “Santa Barbara Slayer Mimicking Warcraft Character,” WorldNetDaily, May 25, 2014, http://www.wnd.com/2014/05/santa-barbara-slayer-mimicking-warcraft-character/.

22. You can learn more about the game at http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/V-Tech_Rampage.

23. S. Hutcheon, “Outrage over Virginia Tech Game,” Sydney Morning Herald, May 16, 2007, http://www.smh.com.au/news/games/outrage-over-virginia-tech-game/2007/05/16/1178995212668.html.

24. A. Chandler, K. Calamur, and M. Ford, “The Paris Attacks: The Latest,” The Atlantic, November 22, 2015.

25. M. K. Linge, “Fugitive Paris Jihadist Loved Gay Bars, Drugs, and PlayStation,” New York Post, November 22, 2015.

26. S. Robson, “Paris Attacks Suspect [Name deleted by author] Is ‘From Grand Theft Auto Generation Who Think They’re Living in Computer Games,’” Mirror, April 2016.

27. M. Hossam, “Istanbul Attack Very Similar to MW2’s No Russian; Are Video Games to Blame?” Gameranx, June 29, 2016.

28. M. Schulzke, “Simulating Terrorism and Insurgency: Video Games in the War of Ideas,” Cambridge Review of International Affairs, no. 4 (2014): 627–43.

29. L. Vidino and S. Hughes, “ISIS in America: From Retweets to Raqqa,” Program on Extremism, The George Washington University, December 2015.

30. O. Good, “He Made the ‘School Shooting’ Game the Sandy Hook Killer Played,” Kotaku, Jan. 8, 2014, http://kotaku.com/he-made-the-school-shooting-game-the-sandy-hook-kille-1496988894.

31. The statement cited M. Ghaziuddin et al., “Brief Report: Violence in Asperger Syndrome, A Critique,” Journal of Autism and Developmental Disorders 21, no. 3 (1991): 349–54; S. E. Mouridsen et al., “Pervasive Developmental Disorders and Criminal Behavior: A Case Control Study,” International Journal of Offender Therapy and Comparative Criminology 52, no. 2 (2008): 196–205; and S. E. Mouridsen, “Current Status of Research on Autism Spectrum Disorders and Offending,” Research in Autism Spectrum Disorders 6, no. 1 (2012): 79–86.

32. Institute of Medicine, Committee on Crossing the Quality Chasm: Adaptation to Mental Health and Addictive Disorders, Improving the Quality of Health Care for Mental and Substance-Use Conditions (Washington, DC: National Academies Press, 2006), 103.

33. N. Bilton, “Love and Hate for Guns and Video Games,” New York Times, June 15, 2014, http://bits.blogs.nytimes.com/2014/06/15/looking-at-link-between-violent-video-games-and-lack-of-empathy.

34. N. Bilton, “Readers Respond: Love and Hate for Guns and Video Games,” New York Times, June 20, 2014, http://bits.blogs.nytimes.com/2014/06/20/readers-respond-love-and-hate-for-guns-and-video-games/.

6. Failed Attempts at Change

1. Learn more at http://www.escapistmagazine.com/articles/view/columns/the-needles/1300-Inappropriate-Content-A-Brief-History-of-Videogame-Ratings-and-the-ESRB.

2. See the ratings at http://www.esrb.org/ratings/ratings_guide.jsp.

3. To read more about the case, visit http://www.law.cornell.edu/supct/html/08-1448.ZS.html.

4. “Media Violence,” American Academy of Pediatrics Council on Communications and Media, November 2009, http://pediatrics.aappublications.org/content/pediatrics/124/5/1495.full.pdf. Incidentally, there has always been a powerful sexual connotation to the word “joystick” (first used to refer to the steering mechanism in an aircraft). For more information, visit http://www.worldwidewords.org/qa/qa-joy1.htm.

5. This line was edited out by Variety magazine, but I stand by it today.

6. J. E. Collier, P. Liddell, Jr. and G. J. Liddell, “Exposure of Violent Video Games to Children and Public Policy Implications,” Journal of Public Policy & Marketing 27, no. 1 (Spring 2008): 107–12.

7. K. W. Saunders, “Shielding Children from Violent Video Games Through Ratings Offender Lists,” Indiana Law Review 41, no. 1 (2008): 55–103.

8. J. Levitz, “Videogame Makers Fight Efforts to Study Link to Violence: Bills in Several States, Spurred by Mass Shootings, Stall,” Wall Street Journal, December 10, 2013.

9. M. Sangiacomo, “[Boy] Killed Mother, Shot Father Because They Took Halo 3 Video Game, Prosecutors Say,” Cleveland.com, December 15, 2008, http://www.cleveland.com/news/index.ssf/2008/12/boy_killed_mom_and_shot_dad_ov.html.

10. Judge James Burge, January 12, 2009, http://www.bing.com/videos/search?q=judge+burge+video+games&&view=detail&mid=4B135623E3C5546775FF4B135623E3C5546775FF&FORM=VRDGAR.

11. T. Bramwell, “German Ministers Attack ‘Killerspiele,’” EuroGamer.net, June 8, 2009, http://www.eurogamer.net/articles/german-ministers-attack-killerspiele.

7. Calling On Community

1. Learn more at www.takethechallengenow.net.

2. See T. Robinson, “Reducing Children’s Television Viewing to Prevent Obesity: A Randomized Controlled Trial,” Contemporary Pediatrics 17 (2000): 194–98; American Academy of Pediatrics Council on Communications and Media, “Policy Statement: Children, Adolescents, Obesity, and the Media,” Pediatrics 128, no. 1 (June 2011; errata September 2011 and May 2013).

3. J. A. Mitchell, D. Rodriguez, K. H. Schmitz, and J. Audrain-McGovern, “Greater Screen Time Is Associated with Adolescent Obesity: A Longitudinal Study of the BMI Distribution from Ages 14 to 18,” Obesity 21, no. 3 (2013): 572–75.

4. The following articles offer just some of the research on the link between sleep deprivation and obesity:

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10000872396390443854204578058442814679304.html

http://www.sleepfoundation.org/article/sleep-topics/obesity-and-sleep

http://www.hsph.harvard.edu/obesity-prevention-source/obesity-causes/television-and-sedentary-behavior-and-obesity/

http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2012/12/121211083208.htm

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/11494635

5. R. Weis and B. Cerankosky, “Effects of Video-Game Ownership on Young Boys’ Academic and Behavioral Functioning: A Randomized, Controlled Study,” Psychological Science 21, no. 4 (2010): 463–70.

6. E. Swing, D. Gentile, C. Anderson, and D. Walsh, “Television and Video Game Exposure and the Development of Attention Problems,” Pediatrics 126, no. 2 (2010): 215–21.

7. D. A. Gentile, E. L. Swing, C. G. Lim, and A. Khoo, “Video Game Playing, Attention Problems, and Impulsiveness: Evidence of bidirectional causality,” Psychology of Popular Media Culture 1, no. 1 (2012): 62–70.

8. T. Hummer et al., “Exposure to TV Violence Related to Irregular Attention and Brain Structure,” Science Daily, June 18, 2014, www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2014/06/140618100507.htm.

9. Richard Louv, Last Child in the Woods: Saving Our Children from Nature-Deficit Disorder (Chapel Hill, NC: Algonquin Books, 2008).

10. M. Berman, J. Jonides, and S. Kaplan, “The Cognitive Benefits of Interacting with Nature,” Psychological Science 19, no. 12 (2008): 1207–12.

11. M. Berman et al., “Interacting with Nature Improves Cognition and Affect for Individuals with Depression,” Journal of Affective Disorders 140, no. 3 (November 2012): 300–305.

8. The Solution

1. T. N. Robinson and D. L. Borzekowski, “Effects of the S.M.A.R.T. Classroom Curriculum to Reduce Child and Family Screen Time,” Journal of Communication 56, no. 1 (March 2006): 1–26.

2. Ibid.

3. Thomas N. Robinson, Marta L. Wilde, Lisa C. Navracruz, K. Farish Haydel, and Ann Varady, “Effects of Reducing Children’s Television and Video Game Use on Aggressive Behavior: A Randomized Controlled Trial,” Archives of Pediatrics & Adolescent Medicine 155, no. 1 (2001): 17–23.

4. T. N. Robinson, “Reducing Children’s Television Viewing to Prevent Obesity, A Randomized Controlled Trial,” Journal of the American Medical Association 282, no. 16 (1999): 1561–67.

5. T. N. Robinson, M. N. Saphir, H. C. Kraemer, A. Varady, and K. F. Haydel, “Effects of Reducing Television Viewing on Children’s Requests for Toys: A Randomized Controlled Trial,” Journal of Developmental & Behavioral Pediatrics 22, no. 3 (2001): 179–84.

6. You can learn much more about this amazing program at www.takethechallengenow.net.

7. See R. Van Acker and E. Talbott, “The School Context and Risk for Aggression: Implications for School-Based Prevention and Intervention Efforts,” Preventing School Failure: Alternative Education for Children and Youth 44, no. 1 (1999): 12–20. As the authors state, “The school is the one social institution that touches most children for a considerable period of time during their developmental years.”

8. Albert Bandura, “The Primacy of Self-Regulation in Health Promotion,” Applied Psychology: An International Review, 2005, 54 (2), 245–54.

9. M. Warner and R. Baran-Rees, “The Economic Importance of Families with Children,” Planning Across Generations project, Cornell University, March 2012, http://s3.amazonaws.com/mildredwarner.org/attachments/000/000/175/original/7520b55f4bdb242b75aff5a8f40016f2.

10. I was one of those kids! My dad convinced me that it wasn’t a very good idea.

9. What You Can Do Today

1. D. Gentile, P. Lynch. J. Linder, D. Walsh, “The effects of violent video game habits on adolescent hostility, aggressive behaviors, and school performance,” Journal of Adolescence, 2004, 5–22, http://dh101.humanities.ucla.edu/DH101Fall12Lab4/archive/files/c1f5d81cba85404ac2a2919f5cb8d58b.pdf.

2. There are television programs and movies “developed” for infants, such as Baby Einstein DVDs, but research has shown that these videos had either no educational impact or were related to lower vocabulary knowledge in children. See, for example, R. A. Richert, M. Robb, J. Fender, and E. Wartella, “Word Learning from Baby Videos,” Archives of Pediatric and Adolescent Medicine 164, no. 5 (2010): 432–37, doi: 10.1001/archpediatrics.2010.24. The Walt Disney Company agreed to refund the full purchase price of these DVDs after public health attorneys threatened a class-action lawsuit against the company for unfair and deceptive practices.

3. The expert Supreme Court brief from California’s video game case stated, “Extended (video game) play has been observed to depress activity in the frontal cortex of the brain, which controls executive thought and function, produces intentionality and the ability to plan sequences of action, and is the seat of self-reflection, discipline and self-control.”

4. North Shore–Long Island Jewish (LIJ) Health System, “Lower Verbal Test Score for Toddlers Who Play Non-Educational Games on Touch Screens,” Science Daily, May 3, 2014, www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2014/05/140503082728.htm.

5. We’ve heard that AT&T has partnered with BabyFirst to introduce the first-ever “second screen” experience for infants and toddlers. The BabyFirst U-verse app for TV encourages babies to use an iPad while watching TV. This is a clear marketing ploy, and it is unconscionable. The very last thing your infant needs is more divided attention at this crucial stage of development. Do not buy into the hype around the second-screen experience. It will be detrimental to your child’s development.

6. C. Jackson, J. D. Brown, and C. J. Pardun, “A TV in the Bedroom: Implications for Viewing Habits and Risk Behaviors During Early Adolescence,” Journal of Broadcasting & Electronic Media 52, no. 3 (2008): 349–67.

7. There are a number of websites that provide reviews of media entertainment, including http://www.commonsensemedia.org. If you run an internet search for a specific video game, there are often short videos online that show the most violent portions so you can see what exactly is featured in the game.

8. S. L. Smith and E. Donnerstein, “Harmful Effects of Exposure to Media Violence: Learning of Aggression, Emotional Desensitization, and Fear,” in Human Aggression: Theories, Research, and Implications for Social Policy, eds. R. G. Green and E. Donnerstein (New York: Academic Press, 1998), 167–202.

9. One study exposed elementary children to a single episode of The Mighty Morphin Power Rangers and found that the children who had watched the violent TV program committed seven times as many intentional acts of aggression (including hitting, kicking, shoving, and insulting another student) as the control group of students (C. J. Boyatzis, G. M. Matillo, and K. M. Nesbitt, “Effects of ‘The Mighty Morphin Power Rangers’ on Children’s Aggression with Peers,” Child Study Journal 25, no. 1 [1995]: 45–55).

10. Cyberbullying involves social bullying. One study analyzed 228 hours of television programs watched by adolescents and found that indirect (social) aggression was portrayed in 92 percent of all the episodes analyzed (S. M. Coyne and J. Archer, “Indirect Aggression in the Media: A Content Analysis of British Television Programs,” Aggressive Behavior 30, no. 3 [2004]: 254–71).

11. A longitudinal study conducted by an international team followed 3,034 children in the third, fourth, seventh, and eighth grades for two years. The researchers used the APA’s Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders to determine addictive behavior and found that between 7.6 and 9.9 percent were pathological gamers (Gentile et al., “Pathological Video Game Use Among Youth”; for complete reference, please see chapter 2, note 9).

12. N. Yee, “The Psychology of Massively Multi-User Online Role-Playing Games,” in Avatars at Work and Play: Collaboration and Interaction in Shared Virtual Environments, eds. R. Schroeder and A. Axelsson (London: Springer-Verlag, 2006), 187–207.

13. B. Stetka and C. Correll, “A Guide to DSM-5,” Medscape News and Perspective, May 21, 2013, http://www.medscape.com/viewarticle/803884_15.

14. V. Strasburger, “Children, Adolescents, and Media in the U.S.: What Are the Next Steps to Take?” Journal of Child & Adolescent Behavior 2, no. 3 (June 2014): 143–44.

15. J. D. Shaub, “Children’s Freedom of Speech and Expressive Maturity,” Law and Psychology Review 36 (2012): 191–242.

16. S. Prot et al., “Long-Term Relations Among Prosocial-Media Use, Empathy, and Prosocial Behavior,” Psychological Science 25, no. 2 (2014): 358–68.

17. B. Seels, L. Berry, K. Fullerton, and L. C. Horn, “Research on Learning from Television,” in Handbook of Research of Educational Communications and Technology, ed. D. Jonassen for the Association for Educational Communications and Technology (Mahwah, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum, 2004), 313.

Conclusion

1. Jen Yamato, “Gaming Industry Mourns Orlando Victims at E3—And Sees No Link Between Video Game Violence and Gun Violence,” Daily Beast, June 14, 2016.

2. Kyle Orland, “In Wake of Orlando Attacks, Some ‘Sensitivity’ Tweaks from E3 Publishers,” Arstechnica.com, June 13, 2016.

Appendix

1. L. R. Huesmann and L. Miller, “Long-Term Effects of Repeated Exposure to Media Violence in Childhood,” in Aggressive Behavior: Current Perspectives, ed. L. R. Huesmann (New York: Plenum Press, 2009), 153–86.

2. “Media Violence,” American Academy of Pediatrics Council on Communications and Media, November 2009.

3. “Media Use by Children Younger Than Two Years,” American Academy of Pediatrics, October 2011, http://pediatrics.aappublications.org/content/pediatrics/early/2011/10/12/peds.2011-1753.full.pdf.

4. C. Kochhar-Bryant and D. White, “Preschool Expulsion: National Trends and Implications for Early Child Care and Education,” 2009. National Criminal Justice Reference Service, Office of Justice Report, https://www.ncjrs.gov/App/Publications/abstract.aspx?ID=248226.

5. L. Daly and L. Perez, “Exposure to Media Violence and Other Correlates of Aggressive Behavior in Preschool Children,” Early Childhood Research & Practice 11, no. 2 (2009), http://ecrp.uiuc.edu/v11n2/daly.html.

6. A. Bandura, D. Ross, and S. Ross, “Imitation of Film-Mediated Aggressive Models,” Journal of Abnormal and Social Psychology 66, no. 1 (1963): 3–11. Films from the original experiment are available online if you search for “Bobo Experiment Video.” The children are particularly violent toward the doll, beating, kicking, and pummeling it with the mallet. The majority of the children exhibited the behaviors they saw modeled, and many of them used the same aggressive statements the adult model used. The first time I heard about this experiment, I was shocked. How could they do such things to little children? Then I realized that we all do it to our own children every day simply by turning on our TVs.

7. N. Signorielli, “Prime-Time Violence 1993–2001: Has the Picture Really Changed?” Journal of Broadcasting & Electronic Media 47, no. 1 (2003): 36–58.

8. L. R. Huesmann, J. Moise, C. Podolski, and L. Eron, “Longitudinal Relations Between Childhood Exposure to Media Violence and Adult Aggression and Violence: 1977–1992,” Developmental Psychology 39, no. 2 (2003): 201–21.

9. E. Dubow, L. R. Huesmann, P. Boxer, and C. Smith, “Childhood Predictors and Age 48 Outcomes of Self-reports and Official Records of Offending,” Criminal Behavior and Mental Health 24, no. 4 (October 2014): 291–304.

10. L. R. Huesmann, “Screen Violence and Real Violence: Understanding the Link!” University of Michigan, 2003, http://rcgd.isr.umich.edu/aggr/articles/public/2003.%20ScreenViol.pdf.

11. “Report Card on the Ethics of American Youth,” Josephson Institute of Ethics, October 2012, https://charactercounts.org/wp-content/uploads/2014/02/ReportCard-2012-DataTables.pdf.

12. W. Copeland, D. Wolke, A. Angold, and E. Costello, “Adult Psychiatric Outcomes of Bullying and Being Bullied by Peers in Childhood and Adolescence,” Journal of the American Medical Association–Psychiatry 70, no. 4 (2013): 419–26, http://archpsyc.jamanetwork.com/article.aspx?articleid=1654916&resultclick=3. https://www.researchgate.net/publication/235682380_Adult_Psychiatric_Outcomes_of_Bullying_and_Being_Bullied_by_Peers_in_Childhood_and_Adolescence.

13. L. D. Eron, L. R. Huesmann, E. Dubow, R. Romanoff, and P. Warnick Yarmel, “Aggression and Its Correlates over 22 Years,” in D. H. Crowell, I. M. Evans, and C. R. O’Donnell (eds.), Childhood Aggression and Violence: Sources of Influence, Prevention, and Control (New York: Plenum Publishing Corporation), 249–62.

14. G. Barboza et al., “Individual Characteristics and the Multiple Contexts of Adolescent Bullying: An Ecological Perspective,” Journal of Youth Adolescence 38, no. 1 (2009): 101–21.

15. N. Martins and B. J. Wilson, “Mean on the Screen: Social Aggression in Programs Popular with Children,” Journal of Communication 62, no. 6 (2012): 991–1009.

16. American Academy of Pediatrics, “Scores of Bullying Victims Bringing Weapons to School,” Science Daily, May 2, 2014, www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2014/05/140504095511.htm.