In the December issue of the Journal of Investigative Psychology and Offender Profiling, Christopher Ferguson takes a critical look at the media’s obsession with the potential impact of violent video games on our youth. In his article, The School Shooting/Violent Video Game Link: Causal Relationship or Moral Panic?, he attempts to identify if there is scientific evidence that school shootings are the result of exposure to violent video games.

The important argument here that many tend to overlook is the concept of true causality. One can easily identify commonalities and even correlations. However, causality means that without the presence of a particular element, the outcome would be different. And conversely, because of the presence of a particular element, an outcome is inevitable. Jack Thompson, the anti-gaming activist and (former) lawyer is cited in this article almost immediately because he stated through the national media outlets that the Virgina Tech massacre was a result of Seung-Hui Cho’s exposure to violent video games. As investigators eventually revealed, Seung-Hui Cho didn’t play video games. Jack Thompson was betting that he had, though, because the majority males in college do.

But even if the shooter had been an avid gamer, scientific method would dictate that we verify causality by looking at others who play violent games. If the games cause shootings, then all people playing these games are attempting to commit similar acts. This is obviously not the case. Instead, gaming is a pervasive part of the culture and  everyone playing these games is not committing violence on this level. This attempt at causality is much like identifying that a shooter breathes oxygen, therefore oxygen causes the urge to kill.

Still, with such violence in our society we must continue to reflect upon the true source(s). I believe that children should not be exposed to any form of violent media before they are old enough to distinguish between reality and fantasy. Modeling such acts without grasping the consequences is tragic. As parents it is our responsibility to maintain an active dialog with our families to identify what our children see, hear, and believe.