The controversy over the effect that violence depicted on television and in video games has on impressionable young minds resurfaced this week after two tragic incidents involving copycat behaviour. The first concerned a young schoolgirl who hanged herself from a tree after repeatedly viewing a depiction of this act on TV. She is alive but comatose. The other involved a 14-year-old boy with a history of autism who allegedly stabbed his mother to death after she reproached him over his severe addiction to video games. He also stabbed his sister when she intervened.
The eight-year-old girl is not the first to severely injure herself while acting out a TV-induced fantasy. Nor is the action of the teenager, who was apparently obsessed by Point Blank, a violent online first-person shooter, in any way unique. Four years ago, gamer Polwat Chino, then 19, stabbed a taxi driver to death in Bang Phlad district of Bangkok while supposedly re-enacting a scene from Grand Theft Auto. The video game was pulled from the shelves as a result.
Without wishing to detract from the horror of these cases, we must remember that there are tens of thousands of well-adjusted youngsters out there who have no difficulty in differentiating between fantasy and reality on TV, in social media or while at the cinema. Most pre-teenagers and adolescents have very acute senses of right and wrong and see policemen carrying guns daily and understand why. With proper parental guidance only an unstable personality should be at risk and in need of having his or her behaviour tightly controlled.
One of the problems they face and perhaps the one most likely to drive them into an internet cafe is the reputation of terrestrial TV as an educational wasteland offering a continual procession of mindless game shows and featherbrained soap operas across the screen. The content ratings system introduced in 2006 and modified in 2010 keeps the more violent programmes off-air until 10pm but knowledge-based shows are rare on commercial stations because of the lack of advertising support. Cable and satellite TV usually provide parental controls, just as internet browsers do, to ensure safe surfing but many parents just don't bother with them. These same parents should also be watching programmes with their children, keeping up with what they view and providing guidance on violence, inappropriate language and conduct.
They should pay particular attention to music channels, game shows and soap operas and decide how beneficial or destructive they are. This even includes news programmes which sensationalise car accidents and domestic bloodshed. We cannot ignore reality and pretend that ours is not a culture prone to violence, but we can argue that it is a great deal worse elsewhere. Above all, children need role models and they are not to be found among the superstars of K-pop or other celebrities. Apart from parents, their teachers and those who dispense spiritual guidance should also be providing direction, understanding and explanation.
Those who are calling for a clampdown on TV are concerning themselves with a medium that some critics predict has already had its day. Of course, such a view is premature and an enthusiastic over-reaction to the rise of social media. It is a reminder, though, that social networking has brought issues of its own. Because it is interactive it has a greater potential to inflict harm on the unwary through cyber-bullying, hoaxes and people who pretend to be who they are not - the so-called "stranger danger." One other downside is that it has become such a time-consuming part of everyday life that, for some, it has replaced normal face-to-face interaction. And there is nothing "social" about that.