Page 24 - ARUBA TODAY

A24 TECHNOLOGY
Monday 12 august 2019
No, there's still no link between video games and violence

By MAE ANDERSON the brain associated with
AP Technology Writer the ability to plan, control
NEW YORK (AP) — Do video and direct thoughts and
games trigger violent be- behavior.
havior? Scientific studies Patrick Markey, a psychol-
have found no link. But the ogy professor at Villanova
persistent theory is back in University who focuses on
the headlines following Sat- video games, found in his
urday's mass shooting in El research that men who
Paso, Texas . commit severe acts of vio-
An online manifesto lence actually play violent
thought to be authored by video games less than the
the gunman briefly men- average male. About 20%
tioned the combat game were interested in violent
Call of Duty. Then President video games, compared
Donald Trump weighed with 70% of the general
in, charging Monday that population, he explained in
"gruesome and grisly vid- his 2017 book "Moral Com-
eo games" contribute to a bat: Why the War on Violent
"glorification of violence." Video Games Is Wrong."
Trump's statements were Another study by Markey
more reserved compared In this Sunday, Aug. 4, 2019, file photo, flowers and a Virgin Mary painting adorn a makeshift me- and his colleagues showed
with his last brush with the morial for the victims of Saturday mass shooting at a shopping complex in El Paso, Texas. that violence tends to dip
subject in 2018, when he Associated Press when a new violent movie
called video games "vi- or video game comes out,
cious" and summoned people play video games "There are no longitudinal but nothing that rises to the possibility because people
game-industry executives worldwide," the group said studies that show a link be- level of violence. are at home playing the
to meet at the White House in a statement. "Yet oth- tween violence and video "Plenty of gamers and get game or in theaters watch-
, to little lasting effect. er societies, where video games," said Benjamin upset when they lose or ing the movie.
The Entertainment Software games are played as av- Burroughs, a professor of feel the game was 'cheat- "The general story is peo-
Association, the biggest idly, do not contend with emerging media at the Uni- ing,' but it doesn't lead to ple who play video games
video game trade group, the tragic levels of violence versity of Nevada, Las Ve- violent outputs," he said. right after might be a little
reiterated its position that that occur in the U.S." gas. "Certainly, there is no In 2006, a small study by In- hopped up and jerky but it
there is no causal connec- Activision Blizzard did not linkage to gun violence." diana University research- doesn't fundamentally al-
tion between video games immediately respond to Burroughs said that some ers found that teenagers ter who they are," he said.
and violence. a request for comment studies show a short-term who played violent video "It is like going to see a sad
"More than 165 million about Call of Duty. increase in aggressive games showed higher lev- movie. It might make you
Americans enjoy video WHAT DOES THE RESEARCH thoughts and feelings af- els of emotional arousal but cry but it doesn't make you
games, and billions of SHOW? ter playing video games, less activity in the parts of clinically depressed."q

Russian media agency complains YouTube facilitates protests

the demand after weeks fied "structures" with You- The determined opposition
of rallies over Moscow's city Tube channels using their to some candidates being
council election. accounts with the video kept out of the Moscow
Tens of thousands partici- sharing site to send push- election appears to have
pated in a fourth consecu- notifications about unsanc- unsettled Russian authori-
tive weekend protest of the tioned gatherings, "includ- ties.
exclusion of some indepen- ing those aimed at dam- The sanctioned demonstra-
dent and opposition candi- aging federal and regional tion on Saturday attracted
dates from the local elec- elections." an estimated crowd of
tion ballot, according to YouTube is a Google sub- more than 50,000 people,
police and an organization sidiary. If the internet com- the largest turnout at a
that counts attendance at pany based in California Moscow protest in several
public meetings. doesn't address the issue, years. Smaller rallies were
Unlike for demonstrations Russia would have the right held in several other cities.
held the previous two to retaliate, the agency Russia has adopted a se-
weeks, when police made said in a statement. ries of measures to increase
more than 1,000 arrests at "In the event of Google not control over the internet in
each, organizers had a taking reactive measures, recent years.
Police detain a man during a protest in Moscow, Russia, Satur-
day, Aug. 10, 2019. permit for Saturday's event. the Russian Federation will A law enacted this year re-
Associated Press More than 200 people consider this as interfer- quires the routing of inter-
were reported arrested ence in the sovereign af- net traffic through Russian
MOSCOW (AP) — Russia's free to retaliate against the Saturday after some rally fairs of state and also as servers, a move that critics
media oversight agency American company. participants moved the hostile and hindering to the claim could lead to a fire-
said Sunday that it wanted The Federal Service for Su- protest from its sanctioned conduction of democratic wall similar to a system in
Google to stop YouTube pervision in the Sphere of spot into the heart of the elections in Russia and will China that blocks political
users from posting informa- Telecom, Information Tech- Russian capital. reserve for itself the right to content and prevents Chi-
tion about unsanctioned nologies and Mass Com- Roskomnadzor said Sunday adequate response," Ros- nese users from using sites
political protests or the Rus- munication, or Roskom- it complained to Google komnadzor said its letter such as Facebook, Twitter
sian government would feel nadzor, communicated in a letter about unspeci- stressed. and Google.q