TILT – Therapeutic Innovations in Light of Technology
Research Revie
Psychoa Environm R
eaders of this magazine will be familiar with the idea that a range of online environments have significant psychoactive components. This article summarises a few examples of recent studies that exemplify the power and reach that the online world can have, both positive and otherwise. A multi-centre study of the relationship between exposure to violent computer games and cyber-bullying (Tam et al, 2013) found that those who played computer games with significant violent elements were twice as likely to be victims of bullying online and four times more likely to mete out bullying themselves. As the authors note, ‘exposure to violent online games was associated with being a perpetrator as well as
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a perpetrator-and-victim of cyber-bullying’. A reverse correlation is possible, in this instance, and those already more prone to involvement in bullying (whether as victim or perpetrator) may have been more likely to choose violent games, both possibly being related from preexisting personality or cultural traits, so this study alone does not confirm whether playing violent computer games actually causes increased bullying behaviour although it is supportive of a clear connection between the two. It is part of the accumulating evidence that exposure to violence online may have a toxic psychoactive component and, especially when seen in conjunction with other studies, is worthy of note particularly by parents, policy makers and gamers themselves. Becker et al (2013) found that multi-tasking with media – using several forms of media simultaneously or in rapid sequence – is significantly associated with depression and social anxiety. Again, reverse correlation is a possibility leaving the direction of causality unconfirmed, but the authors suggest that multi-tasking with media may in itself represent a specific risk factor for mood and anxiety