When I was a child, I remember that I felt that an hour a week the video game “Space Invaders” played a sinful chase without a real advantage at an arcade. I knew intuitively that I was better off in a park that played baseball or basketball. Over time, I managed to fight a budding addiction. For comparison: the video game, internet and social media buffet of today feels like a greedy banquet – addictive and unhealthy for both body and soul.
We do not know the exact role that VideoGaming and immersion of social media played in the worsening mental health of 22-year-old Tyler Robinson, the alleged murderer of conservative activist Charlie Kirk. But we do know that he was penetrated into that world.
Last week’s horrible events are more than enough to warn us that we underestimate the impact of social media and violent video games such as “Helldivers 2 2.” The game won a prize last year, even though it was a satire of a fascist multi-galaxy empire. Unfortunately, a reference to this game seems to have appeared in an inscription about ammunition with Robinson’s rifle.
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As Alyssa Finley wrote The Wall Street Journal This week, in an insightful piece, appropriately entitled “Tyler Robinson and America’s Lost Boys”: “Marinating in an internet pass cannot be good for the young and malleable male mind. Killing villains in video games cannot become violent.”
But they are lost in CyberSpace. They come in and remain in a dissociative reality that discourages social interaction and moral development.
In March 2025, the FBI warned the public of a growing network of exploiting online social media threats for young people. The Internet Crime Complaints Center wrote: “These networks exist on publicly available online platforms, such as social media sites, gaming platforms and mobile applications that are usually used by young people … These violent actors focus on vulnerable populations to have children and those who struggle with a variety of mental health, and eating dies, and eating, and eating disorders, and eating disorders, and eating disorders, and eating disorders, and diet dedications, and diet dedications, and diet dedications, and diet dedications, and diet dedications, and diet dedications, and dietitis, and diet dedications, and diet dedications, and dietitis, and dietitis, and diet dedications, and dies, and diet dedications such as depression Forcing them to escalate harmful behavior that is designed to be ashamed and isolated. “
Indeed, those with a tendency to mental disorders are easiest to exploit exploitation. Recent research shows that adolescents who spend three hours or more a day on social media have double the risk of anxiety or depression.
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Several studies have shown that most children and adolescents who are heavy users of social media feel worse about themselves. And there is no strong distinction here between Videogaming and social media. It is all part of an online presence – a saturation of virtual reality that is distracting but also insulating, the last thing a growing child, adolescent or young adult needs.
Charlie Kirk speaks on 10 September 2025 at Utah Valley University in Orem, Utah, prior to his murder. (Trent Nelson/The Salt Lake Tribune/Getty images)
What to do
There is little that a parent can do by the time someone is 22 years old, such as Robinson, but there is enough time before that time.
We already had a wake-up call last year when Luigi Mangione, 27, who had a background in the development of video games, was sued for the murder of Brian Thompson, CEO of UnitedHealthcare.
Luigi Mangione appears in the Supreme Court of Manhattan for a hearing in the murder case that was submitted against him for killing the CEO of UnitedHealthCare, Brian Thompson on September 16, 2025. (Curtis means for DailyMail/Pool)
Limits must be placed on social media, mobile phones and internet use and on video time. Parents must give an example by limiting their own screen time and involvement of social media.
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Dinner should be a time for open discussion, including on topics such as the Kirh murder, which should not be forbidden. But the focus should be on more positive emotions – handsome, caring, compassion and courage – all of which are through the same emotional centers of the brain as fear and hatred.
The aftermath of a horrible event like this can be a time to express faith and come together to mourn. It is the worst possible time for further distribution and political attacks, which are also contagious.
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Social media, video games and avatars easily strengthen our worst instincts.
We can do better. We can teach our children to be their best themselves in a world without avatars.
Click here to Van Dr. Marc Siegel
