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 "What is needed is stronger political will,” said Dr. Dimitri
Christakis, director of the University of Washington's Center for
Child Health, Behavior and Development in Seattle, in email to
Reuters Health.
“We can improve ratings to help parents better screen movies, apps,
video programs and games. And despite the U.S. Supreme Court ruling,
it strains credulity why prohibiting minors from purchasing games
designated as ‘for adults only’ by the industry itself is a
violation of free speech when the same standard is not applied to
pornography or even admission to R-rated movies,” he said.
Today's children experience unprecedented screen violence not just
on television, but also on computers, video games and touch-screen
devices, the Committee points out in a policy statement published in
Pediatrics.
The authors add that such exposure has been clearly linked to
aggressive behavior, aggressive thoughts, aggressive feelings and
physiological arousal.
“Most Americans do believe that there is a link between screen
violence and real world aggression,” Christakis said. “But they
don’t think it affects them or their children - only others. In
addition, the media itself often portrays the issue as being
contentious, whereas in fact hundreds of studies and several large
meta-analyses have shown that there is a definitive (albeit small to
moderate) link between virtual violence and real world aggression.
It is always possible to find a dissenting scientist (think climate
change), but the truth is for the vast majority of researchers, this
is settled science.”
The new policy statement says it's time to reduce this exposure as
part of the overall goal of optimizing the health and wellbeing of
our youth, and makes six recommendations:
- Pediatricians should make it a point during all well-child
examinations to emphasize the importance of guiding the content (not
just the quantity) of media viewed by children.
- Parents should be mindful of what shows their children watch and
which games they play (for example, children under the age of six
need to be protected from virtual violence, and first-person shooter
games are not appropriate for any children).
- Policy makers should promote legislation that provides better
information about the content of media of all forms and should enact
laws that prohibit easy access to violent media for minors.
- Pediatricians should advocate for more child-positive media.
- News and information media should acknowledge the reality of
proven connections between virtual violence and real-world
aggression and should avoid confusing unscientific opinions and
industry marketing material with peer-reviewed scientific research.
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- The federal government should oversee development of a robust,
valid, reliable and parent-centered rating system rather than
relying on industry to do so.
"Be mindful of the shows your children watch and the games that they
play," Christakis advises parents. "Pay as much attention to their
‘media diet’ as you do to their food diet. Recognize that there is a
link between virtual violence and real world aggression that is as
strong as the link between passive smoke exposure and lung cancer.
Some children are more affected than others. If your child shows any
aggressive tendencies, modify their media diet.”
In a related article, Dr. Rhea W. Boyd from Stanford University in
California and Dr. Wendy Sue Swanson from Seattle Children's
Hospital contend that exposure to real violence is every bit as
important as exposure to fictional violence.
"Perpetual exposure to images and videos that depict real violence,
through live streaming Facebook feeds, autoplayed Instagram posts,
Snapchat videos and the like, takes a toll on all of us," Boyd told
Reuters Health by email. "That toll can manifest as a shared trauma,
an experience of victimization, collective mourning, fear,
intimidation, and behavioral changes as a result of those
experiences."
And youth may be most vulnerable because they are still developing
the emotional and intellectual maturity to process troubling events
and must rely on trusted adult figures to provide safe spaces in
their life, she added.
“So the role for parents, pediatricians, and other professionals who
care for children is to understand that complex impact and
proactively reach out to youth to help them process these events,
teach and model empathy, and let them understand how to be safe in
the world,” Boyd said.
SOURCES: http://bit.ly/29XpVoM and http://bit.ly/29JKhTj Pediatrics,
online July 18, 2016.
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