Read More
Most kids would choose to play video games for hours and hours every day. And most parents have a hard time saying yes to that. I know, because we have unlimited video game time in our house, so I spend a lot of time reading about the long-term effects of video games.
And the first thing I'll tell you is that research based on "screen time" which includes television, concludes that it's detrimental to kids in large doses. But research specific to video gamesshows largely positive effects from high engagement.
The big difference is active vs. passive engagement. When a kid is zoned out at the TV, there is no tactical problem solving or big-picture strategizing. That's not true for video games. A kid who is totally absorbed in a video game and can't hear a word his dad says is actually exhibiting the behavior psychologist Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi calls flow —which is the highest form of learning because it's such engaged attention toward mastery of a skill that you don't notice anything around you.
The American Medical Association tells parents to limit screentime because of the passive nature of watching TV, but ironically school is passive, like TV, and harmful to kids for all the same reasons that screen time is passive and harmful.
Video games are not passive. Unlimited video game time makes for healthy kids in the same way that unlimited soccer practice does for a kid who loves soccer. A kid stops naturally when he is exhausted from making a big effort.
I remind myself of this every day when I hear my sons screaming about their video games from their bedroom.
And, recently, I've found a bunch of data showing that gamers are happier and more successful as adults. This is what gets me through my doubts every time I see my kids playing video games:
Gamers do better in jobs that are active.
For the types of jobs that require hand-eye coordination, gamers are not only better at doing the job, but adults who continue to play the games a little bit each week into their adult lifeactually stay sharper at work. We have known about this research for a while from the military, but a study from Iowa State University shows that even surgeons perform better when they regularly play video games.
For the types of jobs that require hand-eye coordination, gamers are not only better at doing the job, but adults who continue to play the games a little bit each week into their adult lifeactually stay sharper at work. We have known about this research for a while from the military, but a study from Iowa State University shows that even surgeons perform better when they regularly play video games.
Gamers are better at jobs that are intellectual.
The trend in the job market is toward thinking type jobs that are largely about data gathering, analysis and collaboration. So kids need to learn data gathering early. If you tell a kid to do research online for a paper they are writing for school, the kid is not doing self-directed research. They are finding something because they were told to. Gamers constantly gather information online about the game to be better players. The data collection and synthesis skills are much stronger for someone obsessed with a topic, because they are driven to find more and more specialized information.
The trend in the job market is toward thinking type jobs that are largely about data gathering, analysis and collaboration. So kids need to learn data gathering early. If you tell a kid to do research online for a paper they are writing for school, the kid is not doing self-directed research. They are finding something because they were told to. Gamers constantly gather information online about the game to be better players. The data collection and synthesis skills are much stronger for someone obsessed with a topic, because they are driven to find more and more specialized information.
In the workplace right now, the gap between the value of a younger person and an older person often rests in their differing abilities to search and process information online. In ten years the search and synthesis skills one will need in order to be a high performer at work will be much higher than they are today. This is okay, because kids brains change when they're online searching and consuming information all day in odd bits and chunks. If you don't allow your kids' brain to develop this way, they'll eventually have an outdated style of problem solving.
Gamers are happier over the long run.
A study published on Science Direct says gamers report a higher sense of wellbeing than non-gamers as they age. A lot of this probably has to do with the fact that gaming is social and gives people a sense of belonging to a community. Which means, actually, that the long-term benefits of spending a lot of time on video games are similar to the long-term benefits of spending a lot of time at church.
Like Comment Share Tweet
A study published on Science Direct says gamers report a higher sense of wellbeing than non-gamers as they age. A lot of this probably has to do with the fact that gaming is social and gives people a sense of belonging to a community. Which means, actually, that the long-term benefits of spending a lot of time on video games are similar to the long-term benefits of spending a lot of time at church.
Like Comment Share Tweet
No comments:
Post a Comment