The concept of altering the human perception of reality is nothing new. For ages, mankind has delighted in spinning fantastic tales of inhuman figures and the depiction of creatures beyond legend. From heroes, to gods, to myths, people have crafted elaborate stories and overwhelmingly powerful insights to a world that surpasses our own in every imaginable way, giving many something to emulate beyond ourselves. This nature of history wasn't reality; it was merely story telling... a fictional activity to alter the sense of human reality.
In the great span of time since the first toasting of mead to the heroic glory to now, very little has changed save for our means to convey the retelling of the imagination. What with the aid of technology and computer effects, the fantastical stories are no longer carvings in stone, symbols on papyrus, or even colorful pages in a storybook... they are something that mimics reality itself, and with frightening clarity and likeness. With this new face merged with an old concept, the altering of human sense and reality has reached its highest level of integration. It is a possibly dangerous advance.
Currently there are very few people within the technology touched societies that know nothing of television, the first tool of sense and reality alteration. Since the advent of television, more eyes and minds alike have been ensnared in the visions it portrays. Before, when in a story there was the depiction of a person stabbed or shot it meant nothing but how the reader interpreted it with the knowledge at their disposal, creating a wide gap of understanding between the ages. However, with the emotions, effects, and visualization passed before people's eyes, it put them all on the same page in an instant. Also, depending on how the action was carried out - especially during the old western movies for the first television generations - the event portrayal could plant a sense of wonder or desire to see a similar scene outside the box.
Since those early television days technology has given the world within the box a new precision. In the high definition world of modern television the events portrayed within surpass the clarity of the outside world. Aided with computer effects and special arts, the realities once thought impossible off the page are now visible in real time. Whether this visualization is in animation or live action, its exposure is well distributed in impressionable minds of today's generations... even going as far as to warp the viewer's sense of judgment and consequence if the impression left is too strong. Also, no longer is this world solely represented on the television screen, as it can now exist well through most forms of communications technology and computers, at direct access from the interconnected web of information: The Internet.
Although it is difficult to say exactly how much any particular member of society's sense of reality has changed, it is fair to say that it has and will continue to. Aside from television and computer movie viewing, console and computer games have also had a hand in the warped world portrayal of events and circumstance, often training one with a disillusioned heart to the truths behind violence and suffering. It is thought that this technology has already numbed the minds of those who continue to accept the more realistic notions of gaming reality as "just another game" and therefore "not real". Yet at the same time are slowly breaking down the barriers that separate the "not real" game world from the "very real" reality. Already there are many headline stories around the world in the news of horrific scenes of death and destruction from schools to malls that are thought to have similarities with the imaginary worlds of our creation. Many fear these trends to be merely the beginning of a much longer time to come.
Whether technology is truly to blame for the recent trends across the world or merely the vast network of creative interconnectivity, it is certain there is a change. Though what started from mere spoken word has now evolved into a creation that portrays a world beyond the reality of our own, it is still just a created world. It will be left to the minds of the individual on what they decide is real. Just as in the beginning, it all comes down to two positions... story listener or story teller.