Video violence hooks children
Children who play violent video games are strongly influenced by the images on their screens, psychologists in Greece said yesterday as the European Commission heralded a plan to harmonize penalties on retailers caught selling such games to minors. «The power of the screen is tremendous. It is not surprising that we are witnessing the first serious cases of addiction in Greece,» clinical psychologist Eleni Kouloutzou told Kathimerini. Children who have little communication with their parents are most at risk of addiction, Kouloutzou said. «In such families, the computer is a kind of babysitter,» she said. According to Kouloutzou, children have a tendency to copy what they see on the screen. A survey by pollsters VPRC reveals that six out of 10 children claim to have witnessed violence in their schools.
