The Positive Effects of Video Games on Children
New Studies Reveal Surprising Results
The days of Super Mario Brothers and Pac Man are long gone. When it comes to video gaming, children now play in a world where heads are regularly lopped off by shotguns in Gears of War and beating other players to death with pipes, baseball bats, and even old toilet seats gives players rewards in Condemned 2: Bloodshot.
Good News for Parents
Parents are rightly concerned about the effect that all this violence may have on their children, and it has been shown that there is indeed a link between violence in games and real-life acts of hostility, says Iowa State University’s Douglas Gentile, PhD. However, the good news is that a number of recent studies have revealed that video games may also provide children with indispensable planning and problem-solving skills.
Fran C.Blumberg and Sabrina S. Ismailer of Fordham University have released the results of a novel new study aimed at discovering the benefits, if any, of playing video games. One hundred and twenty-two children from grades five through seven were involved in the project, and the findings reveal that video games can improve cognitive and perceptual skills.
Video Games Can Improve Your Child's Motor Skills
In real-world terms, this means that your child’s ability to solve problems and plan may actually be improved by trying to figure out how to slay the next beastie in his favorite game. According to Connect With Kids, an online parenting resource, planning, the ability to react quickly, and solving problems are the same skills that might make teenagers safer drivers.
The First Step to Becoming a Surgeon?
If the connection between video gaming and teen drivers seems to be a stretch, you may consider the positive results of Gentile’s research: one study found that laparoscopic surgeons who play video games are 27 percent faster at performing advanced surgery and 37 percent less likely to make errors than surgeons who don’t play video games.
Video Games Can Also Improve Scientific Reasoning
Yet another study by the University of Wisconsin examined World of Warcraft discussion boards and found that those who play the online multiplayer game are “openly discussing their strategies and thinking, creating an environment in which informal scientific reasoning practices are being learned by playing these online video games,” says Sean Duncan, MA.
Parental Involvement is Key
The American Psychological Association has found that parental involvement can help reduce the negative effects of violence in video games, and the studies mentioned above suggest that, provided you’re giving your kids a firm moral grounding, all the blood and gore might actually be helping them develop important life skills.
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