small screen News Digest of Australian Council on Children and the Media (incorporating Young Media Australia) ISSN: 0817-8224 No. 261 Fedruary 2010 ACCM:”Media violence: it’s a trigger for researcher Dr David Bickham attended in youth violence”. Harvard comes to Australia person delivering a paper on “Media and Evidence supporting these claims was Flinders University Professor of Law, the development of the child: an ecological presented on March 1, to the House of Elizabeth Handsley, hosted the Harvard- perspective”. Academics from ACCM also Representatives Inquiry into the impact of Australia “Symposium on media use and contributed. children’s wellbeing” on March 18/9. A violence on young Australians) meeting in Symposium organisers say further meet- Sydney, by Dr Wayne Warburton, academ- cross disciplinary group of academics and researchers from the US and Australia met ings and seminars will be held to continue ic and psychologist , speaking on behalf of the dialogue. the Australian Council for Children and for 2 days of groundbreaking, lively and the Media (ACCM). profitable discussions which explored the insights and contributions that a range of New research: violent video game play The ACCM had argued in its written disciplines could offer to issues around does make more aggressive kids submission that healthy use of media by children. A new study published in the March 2010 “Repeated exposure to media vio- issue of the Psychological Bulletin, an lence raises the risks that viewers and American Psychological Association game players will be more likely to journal, reports that “exposure to vio- choose violence to solve conflicts, to lent video games is a causal risk fac- become desensitized to violence and the tor for increased aggressive thoughts suffering of others, and to become fear- and behavior, and decreased empa- ful about the world they live in. These thy and prosocial behavior in youths” conclusions are supported by reliable Lead author of the group of cross-nation- data from a range of research method- al researchers, Distinguished Prof Craig ologies Media violence is one contribu- Anderson of Iowa State University, said tor to real life violence, and one we can do and should do more about” “We can now say with utmost confidence that regardless of research method—that Dr Warburton told the Inquiry that “Given is experimental, correlational, or longi- the research evidence, it is reasonable to Dr David Bickham from the Center on Media & tudinal—and regardless of the cultures assume that with a high exposure to Child Health with Professor Elizabeth Handsley at tested in this study [East and West], you violent media, people will tend to incorpo- the symposium. get the same effects … and the effects are rate a growing number of aggression-related that exposure to violent video games in- concepts and aggressive scripts for creases the likelihood of aggressive be- behaviour in their brain’s neural network. Dr Michael Rich, Director of the Harvard havior in both short-term and long-term In addition, the number of triggers for University’s Center on Media and Child contexts. Such exposure also increases these concepts and scripts will increase and Health, and Dafna Lemish, visiting scholar aggressive thinking and aggressive become more generalised, so that in some at CMCH, participated by video link from affect, and decreases prosocial behavior.” cases something as simple and as general Boston (Dr Rich being prevented from ........Continued on P8 as a minor insult could trigger a media- travelling by recent spinal surgery). Center learned aggressive response.” He concluded that “Government policy decisions, as well as the decisions of media Growing Up Fast & Furious outlets, parents, and others responsible for 19 March 2010, Sydney NSW the development of our children, should be more based on what we know about Don’t miss this unique opportunity to hear three leading international media effects, rather than on common researchers. misconceptions, loud minority views, or pressure from the industries that produce Professor L. Rowell Huesmann, Professor Ed Donnerstein, and Distinguished media.” His evidence was well received Research Professor Craig Anderson will discuss their recent research on by the inquiry team. media violence. They will be joined by Australians Professor Louise Newman Previous public hearings of the House Dr Wayne Warburton, Dr Cordelia Fine and Professor Elizabeth Handsley. Committee on Family, Community, Housing and Youth in relation to this Last chance to register for this conference! inquiry, have been held in Melbourne and Registrations close on 12 March 2010 Canberra, and more are planned. http://www.youngmedia.org.au http://www.aph.gov.au/house/committee/ fchy/youthviolence/index.htm MEDIA VIOLENCE A TRIGGER FOR NEW VIDEO GAME RESEARCH WHAT GOES ON IN THE BRAIN YOUTH VIOLENCE DURING A 3D MOVIE? EDITORIAL: 55.000 SUBMISSIONS HARVARD COMES TO AUSTRALIA TO R18+ INQUIRY NEW INTERNET SAFETY PROGRAM small screen February 2010 p2 EDITORIAL R18+ inquiry gets 55,000 submissions: Have Gaming sites everywhere en- gamers shot themselves in the foot? couraged their members to vote no. 261 February 2010 Yes. We understand that many The Minister for Home Affairs Brendan O’Connor submitters have not strictly small screen has announced that the inquiry into the legali- complied with the template, sation of R18+ level games has received 55,000 but that all comments re- Editor: Barbara Biggins OAM Barbara Biggins Compiler: Caroline Donald submissions. ceived in response to the OAM Editorial Board: Barbara Biggins, Discussion Paper will be consid- Hon CEO Jane Roberts, Judy Bundy, We can safely suggest that 54,900 of these might ered except those submitted anony- Elizabeth Handsley. be from gamers, hellbent on getting access to mously. On the other hand, there was no encour- R18+ games. agement at the site to send full submissions. small screen is published at the beginning of each month and Let’s think about how long it should take to proc- We told the Dept back in December that the reports on the events of the ess all of these. Just say it takes 10 mins to check release of this paper in mid December, was be- previous month 11 issues per the names (are they real or avatars?), and to enter year (Dec/Jan double issue) ing done at an inconvenient time of the year for each answer to the Inquiry template questions, Published by parents who would be busy with family related then the total time for processing is around 5 Australian Council on activities and pressures, holidays, and then get- person years! Depending on how many work- Children and the Media ting children settled back into school in February. ers the Govt is prepared to devote to the task, (ACCM) The deadline was Feb 28, but in our view these PO Box 447 it could be many months before the total out- were the worst 10 weeks of the year in which to Glenelg 5045 come is known. We thought gamers wanted a call for public discussion on an issue that can South Australia decision in a hurry! significantly affect children’s health and wellbe- [email protected] ing. www.youngmedia.org.au ACCM told the Classification Policy Branch of Tel: +61 8 8376 2111 the Attorney General’s Department back in De- And what will the government do with the Fax: +61 8 8376 2122 cember last year, that the Inquiry’s process lent results? We ask why the government thought it Helpline: 1800 700 357 itself to skewed results. The Inquiry website a good idea to turn an inquiry like this (which, if ACCM is a national, non-profit supplied a template for “voting” yes or no to the properly dealt with, has some issues of real con- community organisation. question “Should Australia have an R18+ classifi- cern) into a popularity contest? Its mission is to promote a cation for computer games?”. This was followed quality media environment for by a brief questionnaire designed to show why Australian children. respondents answered the way they did. No part of this publication may be reproduced without What goes on in the brain during a 3D movie? in a theatre, looking at a giant screen, wearing permission of the Editor. 3D glasses, swimming in surround sound, and Contributions are welcome. The following question and answer come from the processing the 24 images that flip by per second? “Ask the Mediatrician” section of the Center on Media Your brain dutifully processes those stimuli— and Child Health website where Dr. Michael Rich, the and does little else. In fact, your pre-frontal ACCM’s services are Director of the Center at Children’s Hospital Boston, cortex, which is involved in impulse control, supported by grants Harvard Medical School and Harvard School of Public future thinking, and moral choices, is basically Health answers questions from parents. from the inactivated in this process. That’s part of why you “get lost” in the movie. South Australian Question: I took my sons to see Avatar over Government vacation, and while I sat there with giant 3D These facts can make for an immersive movie glasses on, I wondered if scientists know anything experience, which can be quite enjoyable—and about whether 3D affects how children process also quite overwhelming. For children, the extra the experience of a movie? processing that their brains have to do may make them more vulnerable to the content. In other Answer: This question gets at the heart of what’s ACCM’s Web Page and words, if something in the movie would have interesting and exciting about three-dimensional Broadband access scared them in 2D, it will likely be even scarier in (3D) movies. They absolutely affect your are supported by its 3D.