1. Do people learn to become violent or aggressive just by watching/observing violence on TV, video games, and/or internet? (Also look up and read Brown vs. Entertainment Merchants Association, 564 U.S. 786 (2011). What are your personal thoughts on this?

An increased prevalence of violent and aggressive behavior has become a significant concern, especially among children and teenagers. Various factors have been suggested as the cause of violent and aggressive behavior, with watching/observing violence on TV, video games, and the internet being raised as factors. While many have raised the concern that watching violence on TV, video games, and the internet could result in aggressive behavior among children and teenagers, other studies on the issue have found no relation. The argument has been behind calls to limit or ban access to violent video games and films on children. The war against violent video games and content was best demonstrated when California State Legislature enacted a law that prohibited the sale or rental of violent video games to minors. This resulted in a legal suit that the U.S Supreme Court decided on. In its decision, the Supreme Court ruled that the law violated the First and Fourteenth Amendments protections (Brown v. Entertainment Merchants Association, n.d.). The court further found no connection between exposure to violent video games and harmful impact on children (Brown v. Entertainment Merchants Association, n.d.).

As in the court ruling, I strongly feel that watching violence on TV, video games, or the internet does not result in aggressive/violent behavior on an individual. In a study to determine the effect of aggressive video games on behavior, Kühn et al. (2018) found that the impact of violent video gaming on aggressiveness, if present at all - seems to be relatively short-lived, potentially lasting less than 15 minutes. The study further found that the short-term effects of video gaming on aggressiveness were far from consistent and could not be replicated in other studies. While violent and aggressive behavior remains a significant concern, especially among children and teenagers, there lacks evidence associating such behavior to watching/observing violence on TV, video games, and the internet.