The impact of digital violence

I consider myself a digital evangelist, but in the last weekend I began to question myself on how far this evangelism can go. 

My reflection started when I decided to play with my nine-year-old nephew. He’d been playing his Sony PlayStation. What I saw sent chills down my spine. 

“See this, uncle, I have killed all the bad guys, killing is cool,” he said. 

The crystal-clear pictures showed blood oozing from the “dead”. What concerned me most is the repercussions of harmful influence from media violence.

In my deep thoughts, I started to ask myself many questions. Could this be why young people can isolate Christians and shoot them in the head as bad guys? 

Could media have contributed to the acts of a highly learned person who wakes up one morning and destroys his family? Could this explain why thugs today can steal your belongings and then shoot you? 

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Could this explain why maids can viciously mete out violence on toddlers? Published studies on children and media issues are non-existent in Kenya and for most of Africa.

In his submission to Congress, Prof Dale Kunkel of the University of Arizona and a communications expert grouped these harmful effects into three primary categories: (1) children’s learning of aggressive attitudes and behaviours; (2) desensitisation, or an increased callousness towards victims of violence; and (3) increased or exaggerated fear of being victimised by violence.

While all of these effects reflect adverse outcomes, it is the first — an increased propensity for violent behaviour — that is at the core of public health concerns about televised violence.

From his many years of media studies, Kunkel said:

The statistical relationship between children’s exposure to violent portrayals and their subsequent aggressive behavior has been shown to be stronger than the relationship between asbestos exposure and the risk of laryngeal cancer; the relationship between condom use and the risk of contracting HIV; and exposure to second-hand smoke in the workplace and the risk of lung cancer. There is no controversy in the medical, public health, and social science communities about the risk of harmful effects from children’s exposure to media violence. Rather, there is strong consensus that exposure to media violence is a significant public health concern.

Not more than a decade ago, you could count how many people had access to any form of media that could be considered harmful. The ubiquity of the mobile phone has changed all that and with more than 85 per cent penetration, the potential to breed thousands of criminals lurks. 

It is not easy to just say that the benefits of these technologies outweigh the costs. Violence has been escalating, but our problem is lack of studies to determine what has changed over the past few years and why crime today is more brutal than previously. 

Several studies from different countries show that more than 90 per cent of violence and other crimes are committed by young males between age 15 and 39. Unmarried young people are more likely to commit crime than their married counterparts. 

VIDEO GAMES AND AGGRESSION

It also happens that the same age group has an affinity for television and violent computer games. It is not clear whether lack of employment opportunities precipitates violence and other crimes, given the fact that the statistics are similar both in countries with low unemployment as well as those with high unemployment.

A 2004 research paper by Craig Anderson, "An Update on the Effects of Playing Violent Video Games", reveals that exposure to violent video games is significantly linked to increases in aggressive behaviour, aggressive cognition, aggressive affect, and cardiovascular arousal, and to decreases in helping behaviour. 

Experimental studies reveal this linkage to be causal. Correlational studies reveal a linkage to serious, real-world types of aggression. 

We are not just talking about video games but potential tools of aggression. And they are available in plenty, especially among the youth who discreetly exchange compact discs or access games over the Internet.

VIDEO GAMES OR TELEVISION?

As usual in academia, other researchers dismiss Anderson’s finding.  In his study, "The Effects of Violent Video Games on Aggression", John Sherry of Purdue University suggests that the effect of violent video games on aggression is less than that found with television violence. 

This effect is positively associated with the type of game violence and negatively related to the time spent playing the games. Sherry admits that observations of aggression after playing video games is due to arousal and priming of the associative networks that he thinks is temporal and can be controlled by parents.

In the absence of credible research in Africa, I can only present a case that I am familiar with. In the early 1990s, I lived in the then middle-class neighbourhood of Kilimani in Nairobi. My neighbour, now a prominent politician, loved to watch Bruce Lee videos. But he also loved to practice what he watched on his wife virtually every night. He called the exercise disciplining his wife. 

We shared a wall, and in most cases my family heard the happenings in our neighbour’s house. Strangely, every morning he could ask me if I had heard anything. In consonant with other neighbours, my response was always, "No I didn’t hear anything".

'YOU HAVE BEEN LYING'

One day he went overboard again by not just beating his wife, but also breaking some of his furniture. As usual he asked me if I had heard anything. This time around, I told him that I thought that his bookshelf fell, causing some noise. 

He concurred with me, telling me that I was right. On second thought, I turned round and asked him if he enjoyed violence. To my surprise, he was perplexed. 

In a surprise low tone, he said to me, "You have been lying to me that you have not been hearing anything happening in my house". "Yup, and so has every neighbour here,"  I responded. 

That evening the neighbourhood was quiet and his wife might have slept comfortably, but later I got to learn that the marriage did not survive.

African cultural practices towards women are primeval to a large extent, but when we expose youths to modern tools of aggression, we make it worse.

From my extensive reading, I have not encountered any study finding that does agree with the thesis that there is some relationship between playing violent videos games and the potential to cause aggression. We simply must find ways of dealing with the issue.

NET NEUTRALITY

After a series of violent gun attacks in the United States, President Obama asked Congress to fund research into the impact of violent video games. 

With or without research, it is not an easy decision to make, because as much as it may sound rational to control the Internet, the decision would likely infringe on individual rights enshrined in many constitutions. 

The options for any state to act are limited. Many democratic nations subscribe to the principles of "Net Neutrality". The Internet Society describes Net Neutrality as network neutrality (or open inter-working) thus:

...that you are in control of where you go and what you do online. Companies that provide Internet services should treat all lawful Internet content in a neutral manner. It is the founding principle of the Internet and what allows the Internet to be the largest and most diverse platform for expression in recent history.

German Chancellor Angela Merkel and her conservative party, the Christian Democratic Union, have proposed a two-tier Internet; on the "fast" Internet, carriers will be allowed to slow down access to services that haven't paid bribes for "premium" carriage; on the "regular" Internet, Internet service providers (ISPs) will just give you the data you ask for. 

This proposal has infuriated many people, who have argued that the policy would allow ISPs to control the Internet.

CONTROL ACCESS

It is for this reason that in as much as I was angry and horrified with what I saw, I would propose more parental guidance on these video games. 

We also need education from the early part of child development to reinforce inclusive values. We must build strong moral foundations for supporting a new culture for Africa. There are new technologies that can allow parents to manage children's access to content. 

Above all, parents must always be on the alert as well as befriending their children in order to understand what they are up to all the time.

Samuel Collins said, "Technology is neither good nor bad, nor even neutral. Technology is one part of the complex of relationships that people form with each other and the world around them; it simply cannot be understood outside of that concept."