Can television (or videogames) influence your behavior? How? 3-2-11

This topic is up for so much debate lately that it is impossible to really understand what is going on in the world. So many people blame violent acts on video games or television but I really feel that the majority of the issues lay with the neglect of the parents. If the parents were around enough to teach their children the difference between what they see and television and what is acceptable in real life instead of complaining when their child does something bad then I feel the world would be a much happier place. My parents raised me well enough to teach me that the violence I see on television shows is all just acting and that it is meant for entertainment purposes. The same goes for the video games I played, my parents always sat in on a new game that I picked up to make sure that it was appropriate for me or that they knew that I understood that the game was meant to be played and not brought into real life. That to me is the real issue nowadays, too many parents ignore what their children are doing and pretend that they will grow up to be normal children, but when there is nobody to tell them what is right or wrong then they are left to their own devices and to decide for themselves what is really right or wrong. Now I am not saying that video games or violent movies make a child more violent, but when their minds are developing and all they see is violence then they are thinking violence is the right thing to do, but if their parents would just step in and teach them what is right and what is unacceptable behavior then I think nobody would have any complaints about what games we play or what shows we watch.