Whether a Bullet is Fired in a Video Game or on a Television Show, it Leaves Media Users With An Equally Large Wound

The violence involved in video games and TV shows can have a major impact on people that use these types of media. Video games such as “Halo” and “Call of Duty” require gamers to shoot people and try to kill as many people as possible. Children and teens that take part in these games may experience more aggressive thoughts, feelings, and behavior. For instance, a study was done where a group of children and teens played a video game that involved shooting cartoon characters, and another group of children and teens played a non-violent video game. These two groups later completed an activity that measured their aggression, and the group that played the violent video game had a 40% higher aggression rate than the other group. Clearly, participating in a violent video game has somewhat of an impact on gamers. On the other hand, television affects people just as strongly, and no participation is needed. According to George Gerbner, watching thousands of murders take place on TV has caused people to see the world as a more dangerous place than it actually is. This problem, known as mean-world syndrome, is only getting worse as the number of reality shows involving violence increases. For example, the television show Breakout displays real life attempts that prisoners have made to escape from jail. The prisoners are extremely aggressive in their breakouts, and some even kill the guards. This is just one of the many violence- filled reality shows that are currently on TV. If media users become more aggressive from playing a pretend video game, just imagine how aggressive they will be after watching a prison guard get brutally attacked by a criminal. 

http://futureofchildren.org/publications/journals/article/index.xml?journalid=32&articleid=60&sectionid=291

http://www.commonsensemedia.org/tv-reviews/breakout