There are many examples which illustrate two opinions : "the influence exist or doesn't exist".
First, we can talk about killings in a secondary school in Finland. Matti Juhani Saari, the culprit, created a blog. He used it to broadcast violent images, purposes. He said he was captivated by violence. Psychologists explained that he was influenced by néo-nazis websites. Moreover, he said on his blog he wanted to imitate some movies he watched on thie Internet.
This can illustrate the idea of influence.
In fact, researches revealed that violent images on the media increased fear, aggressive behavior, and it reduces our sensitiveness when we see other violent images as if violence was "normal".
We can take a look at some incredible websites. One permited choosing TV animators. In this case, internet users had to explain how they would like to kill them. Now it is closed. www.whowouldyoukill.com/
We also know that 60% of the 11/12 years old boys like websites such as http://www.gorezone.net/ or http://www.rotten.com/ which show us real images about tortures and mutilations.
In my opinion, the influence exists. In fact, there is the phenomenon of "imitation" but the influence depends on three things :
- age.
- personnality.
- if you stay a lot on the Internet, or not.