Mike Bantick
Monday, 09 July 2007 16:40
Opinion and Analysis
Page 1 of 2
Well maybe I lied, no such study has been conducted, but at the rate new studies on our gaming habits are being released, it won't be long before such a topic is analysed. So many studies with sometimes conflicting or misinterpreted results. The most recent of these to be leaped upon by the anti-gaming fraternity, shows teenage gamers and their predilection for giving up reading and homework time to play, but is this really an issue?
The writer given credit for returning kids to reading with her Harry Potter series J.K.Rowling, when asked about her possible legacy stated: "If I knew that I had steered a child towards reading a book rather than to a PlayStation, I would be well pleased".
Meanwhile, Harry Potter themed games continue to sell copiously on PlayStation, as well as other platforms.
This week the Archives of Pediatrics & Adolescent Medicine
published a study concerning the study habits of North American adolescents comparing gamers to non-gamers.
The stated objective was:
To examine the notion that playing video games is negatively related to the time adolescents spend in more developmentally appropriate activities.
The result, in a nutshell showed that gamers spent on average 30 percent less reading time during the week for boys (80% of the gaming group) and homework time was down 34 percent on the weekend for girls.
The percentages seem high, and also damningly negative towards the gaming public, until put into perspective.
Firstly, there was no correlation between gaming time and a drop in time spent playing sports or conversing with family and friends, a typical stereotype of the average gamer.
Secondly, the 30 percent reading time drop off was from an average reading time of only eight minutes during weekdays for boys in total, about 2.7 minutes less then.
Thirdly, the drop off of weekend homework for girls amounted to 13 minutes.
So there is no justification for gaming being to blame for any academic drop-off, in fact, in my opinion a case for the opposite can be made. Read page 2 to find out how.
