This Is Your Brain on Violence

We’ve been doing this for about six years now. We initially started because there were some people in the community in Indianapolis who were concerned about the effects of violent media exposure on adolescents and their behavior. I’m a father. I have 15- and 19-year-old sons. They don’t play the extremely violent games. We do limit the time. The 19-year-old is a college student, but while they were both living at home, the expectation was that they wouldn’t play for more than an hour a day. They didn’t play any mature-rated games.

The American Academy of Pediatrics recommends that parents limit their kids’ “screen time”— TV, videos, computers— to no more than two hours a day. After your studies, do you agree?

Our study is showing there is an effect on brain functioning after as little as 30 minutes of violent video play. It depends on what type of media they’re exposed to.

Back in 2000, a Federal Trade Commission report said that 83 of 118 electronic games with a “Mature” rating for violence targeted kids under 17. As far as I know, there hasn’t been a more recent report. Do you think the situation has improved?

I don’t think it’s improved. This is a big industry, and I think it’s continued to expand.

Last year manufacturers sold nearly $10 billion worth of videogames in the United States. How many of these would you characterize as “violent”?