Starting from childhood's magical thinking and impulsive behavior that parents must contain, one must develop abstract thought and social controls to deal with adult realities. If this developmental process occurs in a violent environment, it can become distorted. He said he is not surprised that teens who spend hundreds of hours perfecting skills on video games are able to kill so effectively the first time they use a real gun. And we should not be surprised by teens' stunned disbelief at the carnage. The media are not going away.
Censorship is unwanted, unconstitutional and ultimately unsuccessful in a free society.
Let us join together in finding ways to help parents raise their children to be good, productive citizens. We must approach the media and their effects as a reality of contemporary life. As clinicians, we need to recognize the potent effects of media on child health. We must ask about media use as part of the medical history. What will make the most significant and lasting difference is to help our young people become media literate.