Concept of personal relationships and violence

Well, maybe the two articles are not related, but I am struck by their common theme: the nature of personal relationships and how they can be affected by the internet.
The first article relates a survey where 80% German 20yrs old people interviewed said they would prefer to keep their internet connection rather than their partner or car. If true (and again, questions of methodology of the survey), that says a lot about the value attached to bodied relationships: body people are not deemed important. Thus, is it that silly to argue that the next step is an effect of video games on bodied violence if the person is considered as an object rather than a subject? Whatever are the flaws of the surveys done in that respect, I would disagree with the conclusion: there is no strong evidence so far, but it does not mean the phenomenon does not exist. Should we not start good studies?


"I Love You, Honey, But Not As Much As The Internet (or Twitter)" (TechDirt, 24 March 2009)

"Evidence Lacking On Any Connection Between Video Game Violence And Real Violence" (TechDirt, 19 March 2009)



It is also a matter of education, and parents should be a bit more careful when letting their children access the web. It's not so much access to porn and violence that troubles me, but the lack of understanding about reliability of sources and the distinction between fantasy and reality because of images blurring the line.
"Shocker: Parents Don't Have A Good Idea Of What Their Kids Do Online" (TechDirt, 19 March 2009)

"School Shooting In Germany Immediately Leads To Calls To Ban Violent Video Games" (TechDirt, 12 March 2009)