A recent study of video gaming had some sad statistics.
"We're starting to see a number of studies from different cultures -- in Europe, the US and Asia -- and they're all showing that somewhere around 7 to 11 per cent of gamers seem to be having real problems to the point that they're considered pathological gamers."
I thought it was funny that they define the "safe zone" of game playing as about 20 hours or less a week. That's an incredible amount of wasted time.
Pathological Video Game Use Among Youths: A Two-Year Longitudinal Study
A pdf of the full study is available here.
I'm not saying it's good that we have kids gaming all day, but for many of those pathological players, without video games, they would be sitting in front of a tv instead of a console.
ReplyDeleteOf the two, they are probably better off with the form of entertainment that involves active participation, puzzle solving skills and hand-eye coordination.
I agree that the brain activity with many games is probably higher than with televsion, after all we have more brain activity while sleeping than when watching television.
ReplyDeleteBut I think 20+ hours of games a week is a bit much.