Video Games Addiction and Academic Result

Recent studies in children show that playing video games can hinder their academic progress. Worse, many children are now increasingly easy access to video games.

The study, published in Psychological Science in March 2010 focused on the young-age population, i.e., boys between the ages of 6-9 years. The result, they are given video games, significantly have worse value in reading and writing at the end of a four-month evaluation period (quarter) compared to boys who were given no video games. However, the value of mathematics is not affected.

The researchers did not claim that playing video games would lead to decreased academic performance. The real reason, there is the possibility the boys who play video games or PlayStations would rather spend time playing rather than learning to read and write. Even finally they are obsessed to raise the score of the game.

Unfortunately, most children have easy access to playing video games. In fact, approximately 71 percent of children aged 2-11 years have had access to video games, as quoted kidsparenting from Health 24, Tuesday (25/05/2010).

One study which opposes such research, unveiled by Steven Johnson in his book “Everything Bad Is Good for You” in 2006. He said that video games can be a boon to young minds, which makes them more creative and imaginative. The reason, several studies have shown that the games can be useful as a learning tool in fields such as mathematics, and even improve scientific thinking and fine motor skills.

In fact, research that attempted to show the correlation between video games and lack of academic results are not new. A study by Michigan State University in 2009 has shown that children aged 12 years old who loves playing video games, the average of academic values are at the low point. Playing video games have the opposite effect on the academic result and the spatial ability of children aged 12 years who have been increasing.