No, violent media isn't making your children more violent

People have been trying to blame violent media for all the ills of society since rock & roll was first a thing; if it's not videogames, it's television, or maybe violent movies, or maybe music with explicit lyrics, or maybe... None of the claims have ever held up when scrutinized, but they keep popping up, like weeds, so it wasn't a surprise that the recent streak of violent events in the news prompted this announcement from the American Academy of Pediatrics:

Although there is broad scientific consensus that virtual violence increases aggressive thoughts, feelings, and behaviors, there has been little public action to help mitigate children’s exposure to it.4 In fact, the single broadest legislative action taken by the state of California, which made it illegal to sell video games labeled for mature audiences to minors, was struck down by the US Supreme Court. It is important to note, however, that the ruling was not based on the absence of data linking media violence to aggression. Rather than rule on scientific merit, the Court invoked first-amendment protection for the games insofar as the Court construed their primary purpose to be to confer ideas and social messages.5 Currently, there is no federal authority governing content and ratings, which are issued by the Entertainment Software Ratings Board, compliance with which is optional for industry.

[...]

It is true that an experimental, real-world study that links virtual violence with real-world violence has not been conducted. Such a study will never be undertaken for several reasons, including the fact that actual violence is, fortunately, so rare that an exceedingly large sample size would be needed, and inducing and observing actual violence by manipulating subjects would never pass ethical scrutiny. But experimental linkages between virtual violence and real-world aggression have been found. For example, a recent experimental study conducted in the real world motivated parents to change their children’s media diet by substituting prosocial programs in place of violent ones. This study found decreases in aggression and improvement in overall behavior.8

Emphasis added, naturally; and, yes, that's the American Academy of Pediatrics claiming "broad scientific consensus" on an issue that they then admit, in the same statement, hasn't actually been scientifically studied.

I call bullshit, but I'm far from being the only one.