Place focus of question on video games.
Intro: Discuss that this is huge topic and ongoing debate due to huge numbers of people involved. (Attain figures on video game usage) video games have become completely integrated in society "invisible technology". Analysis on effects is extremely hard to attain due to nature of game and other affecting societal factors affecting (quote from a.a.f.p.). Discussed by a wide range of people from parents in forums to academics to governmental officials.
Specific intro: To discuss topic we need to know exactly what is meant by desensitise. Who precisely are the people being discussed and what is the range of ages when discussing "young people". Look at how many different variable are being discussed. .
Para 1: How recently the subject has come about and how have video games developed over last 20 years? Games currently under analysis .e.g. "Duke Nukem" and "Doom" (used in US military training). What stage are we at with control over games such as age restrictions as with films. .
Para 2: What are the processes involved said to affect these young people. Is playing on these video games active or passive? Do the children learn anything from playing them? Operant and cognitive conditioning? "priming" .i.e. changing the threshold at which violence is seen as acceptable.
Young people are affected. .
Columbine killings and relative media surrounding story .
See research by Beckham J., Huffstutter, P.J. & Oldham, J.
Barrie Gunter-"The effects of video games on children.".
Interactive element of playing games makes them different to TV. Is a learning process taking place?.
Young People are not affected.
Independent- Steve Connor argues about desensitisation of video games on children.
American Academy of family physicians. www.aafp.org.
Sonia Livingstone (1996)"maybe its time to accept that violent images, for example, have in general little effect on viewer.
Focus more on other social factors that need to be addressed and variables in encoding and decoding.