Diego Ordonez
Matenko
Killer Stories
19 October 2022

Topic: Does media cause violence or Do different forms of media cause violence?
When was the last time you were exposed to some sort of media whether it be the news,
social media, or even video games? How did it make you feel, did you feel encouraged to imitate
what you were exposed to? Almost everyone is exposed to the various forms of media on a daily
basis, it’s hard to disassociate us from media especially in wealthy countries. Different sorts of
media and their effects have been a topic of discussion for many years now. Media, whether it be
social media, the news, or even video games in the most recent years have typically held a bad
reputation. Major news topics seen on TV such as mass shootings, school shootings, serial
killers, and or violence related crimes initiate fear in civilians, they worry for their safety, parents
worry for the safety of their children, all wish to go outside and not have to fear being the next
headline on the news. Who or what is to blame for these acts of violence seen around the globe.
Well, the media in its various forms have been held accountable for many of these crimes. A vast
number of people credit media platforms for being the reason criminals do the things they do and
want something to be done about what is being distributed to the general public. But nobody
wants to take into account the fact that people of all ages around the world own some sort of
electronic device and or video game system. It’s due to popularity and our need for technology in
today’s society that we are pushed to purchase these items from which we are exposed to the
media.
Some key ideas to keep in mind are that desensitization has often made an appearance in
discussions regarding whether or not appearances of violence can be derived from video
games.When you watch a horror movie for the first time you become frightened from the
multiple jumpscares or bloody and gore filled scenes that occur during the movie but let’s say
you watch it again and again and again, by your 50th showing you won’t have the same sense of
feeling you did when you first viewed these scenes. Almost as if you have gotten used to the
violence or aggression. The idea of generalized imitation as well has also played a part in
arguments regarding media’s relevance to violence. If you’ve ever played a video game say nba
2k and you managed to pull off all these amazing skills and made many difficult throws, you’ve
probably kept that in mind and at some later time in the future you played basketball in real life
and tried to play as you did in game.
Many people do relate violent crimes back to the exposure of certain media platforms
Society argues that video games cause violence due to criminals having been exposed in
the past to some sort of game, typically ones that are rated M for audiences older than 17. In
some instances criminals have straight out made a reference to a video game once the deed was
done or even during the actual occurrence, insinuating that the video game influenced their
decision in committing the crime. There are multiple instances where situations like these have
occurred. In trial, Ander Breveiks, 32, depicted how he used the popular video game Modern
Warfare to prepare for the killing of over 70 people in Norwegian on the 22nd of july of the year
2011(Elle Crump). Not only does this show a connection between video games and the creation
of violent acts but it demonstrates how anybody can be influenced by the media, not just the
younger audience; but there definitely has been criminals of a younger age that have related their
killings to video games. Teens as young as 15 who were known to be fans of video games have
killed their teachers(Elle Crump). Teens are the most vulnerable as they are still young and still
have difficulty controlling their emotions and sometimes get carried away from what violent
games expose them to.
Anti game activists also argue that people can be desentized as a result of media exposure
containing violent and graphic images or information most commonly seen in video
games.(Bushman and Anderson,2001). Essentially, video games and all the graphic content
certain video games contain can numb our feelings towards issues pertaining to the content. This
in theory can lead to an increase of aggression or potential acts of violence in a person. Multiple
cases of experimental research have been conducted in order to prove that being exposed to
video games can increase aggression to an extent. In one experiment conducted the participants
were either given a violent or non violent video game to play and then had their levels of
aggression leveled using a reaction test. The reaction test consisted of a duel with an “opponent”
where you had to press a button the fastest and that the loser of each round would receive a noise
blast which its aggressiveness on each other was chosen by each other as well. In essence, each
“opponent” had a weapon for each other since they chose the level of aggressiveness for their
opponent. and as it turns out those who were exposed to violent video games ended up being
more aggressive than those who were given non violent video games(Department of
Psychological Sciences, University of Missouri,et al,). This illuminates the idea that video games
since those who played the violent video games were used to the violence and aggressiveness
and thus used more aggressive blasts of noises toward the opponent in the reaction test.
Another point is that media outlets that share information or news on some sort of killing
influences people with similar characteristics and background of the person described in the
information to imitate those actions. Every detail in the information spread by the media has to
be taken into account since even the smallest detail could potentially cause someone to imitate a
certain crime(James N. Meindl, PhD and Jonathon W. Ivy, PhD).Social media or wherever news
might pop up on might just be news for the average joe but for others reading about a mass
shooter life story might be relatable and a sort of model for what they could also do as a result of
what they have lived through. The thing that worries society is that imitation can be derived from
not only news outlets but movies, tv shows, video games. If a scene of a protagonist
demonstrating his weapon arises what sort of feelings can this bring up in certain people, “danger
and toughness”(James N. Meindl, PhD and Jonathon W. Ivy, PhD). Everyone has a role model to
look up and for some role models are just what they need to let out aggression and violence.
While this side argues that media does cause violence others argue that it does not and
media has been used as a scapegoat to try to make sense of certain crimes. Mass shootings or
killings have always been speculated to be the cause of the media with little to no evidence. Take
in account the shooter that was involved in the Virginia tech rampage and how it was asserted
that violent games were responsible for the misfortune even though there he was not shown to be
an “avid gamer”(Christopher J. Ferguson). This illuminates the sensibility of the topic of mass
shooters and how people don’t really wanna touch on the real and actual probable causes for the
killings that happen today, it’s easier for people to just blame the media. There’s a reason the
media has gotten to this point of being used as a scapegoat, people have given it a bad reputation
by uploading articles that feed into the idea that it is causing violence and society eats it all up.
Studies from Christopher J. Ferguson depict how there is a lot of “publication bias” as well as
“poor and unstandardized measures of aggression” which reflect the idea that media has been
given a bad name throughout the years.
Some make the point that press releases brainwash us into believing the media is causing
violence. Basically a lot of press releases don’t really get into all the details of works they use but
tend to just summarize them and release it like that which can give off the wrong idea(T.
Franklin Waddell). “Experiments evidence” as most of the works the press uses are called can
give the readers a “causal interpretation” that media really is the cause for the violence that is
happening in our society.
Some call out the idea of measuring aggression or violence in general as a response to the
viewpoint that video games cause violence. It is brought up that there are different levels to
aggression while violence is a set definition. Someone can show mild aggression which can be
derived from experiments such as the reaction test or aggression on a higher scale while violence
revolves around the idea of harm or abuse(T.Franklin Waddel). In essence this side is arguing
that there’s no real method of proving that media platforms can cause violence or aggression.
There is no correlation between how some might behave and the experimental results from
measures of aggression.(Christopher J. Ferguson). In all there are different viewpoints from
people who do believe that media causes violence and different viewpoints from those that don’t
believe it does.

Debating on whether or not video games cause violence is one of the most popular
subject matters in discussion. There are people who believe it does cause violence and that it
should really be looked into while others don’t and try to refute and find flaws in sources of
evidence the opposing side uses. People who believe In the idea that media causes violence focus
on the relation of media to people who have committed crimes, the idea of people being
desensitized and how media encourages imitation. Those who refute it believe that media is used
as a scapegoat, some blame the press releases for allowing people to believe media causes
violence, and some try to find flaws in experimental research which might help the opposing
side. It is important to consider both sides and how these discussions can be used to fuel other
debate topics.

Works cited
Journal of experimental social physiology: this is your brain on violent video games
Mass shootings: the role of the media in promoting generalized imitation
Turn that game back on: video games violence and the myth of the public good
Do press releases about digital game reasearch influence presumed effects
Video games the last scapegoat