I stumbled upon this interesting Freakonomics podcast that discusses the effects of video games and the internet. Dubner and Levitt would like to argue that playing video games may reduce the level of outward violence seen in adolescent males. This may happen because they are “getting it out of their system” by playing a violent game. If an adolescent boy (as the example goes in the podcast) is playing video games, then he cannot be out doing anything else, including violent crimes. The extreme case is that the child does not have time to commit any violent crime. The podcast then discusses the question of who owns the internet. The massive size and scope of the internet has caused fear over who has authority over the internet and the processes around it.This public good has drastically changed the ways in which we collect and share information. The role of the internet has rapidly expanded the uses of technology and the interconnectedness of the world. The lack of regulation and enforcement opens the door to the creation of systems like the silk road which opens a illicit market for anything from drugs, to child trafficking. The internet has pushed ethical and moral social norms and to what extent it will continue to expand these boundaries is unknown.
