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For years, there’s been a bit of worry among parents about whether video games could be impacting their kids’ brainpower in a not-so-great way. But there’s some good news on the horizon! A recent Journal of Media Psychology study has reached a pretty reassuring conclusion. After looking into the gaming habits of 160 preteens from urban public schools—a group that hasn’t been in the spotlight much in this kind of research—the experts found that the time spent gaming doesn’t seem to affect children’s cognitive abilities one way or the other.
A recent study brings good news for parents and gamers alike. It shows no significant link between children’s video game play duration and their performance on standardized cognitive ability tests. The study also indicates that the type of video games children play doesn’t affect their performance on these tests.
Parents have expressed concerns in the past about the potential for certain video games to negatively impact their children’s cognitive development. While some games are promoted as educational tools that assist learning, recent studies have found no substantial evidence to support these claims.
Researchers have found that playing video games does not appear to harm cognitive abilities. However, it can divert attention from other important activities, such as homework. The study revealed that the most frequent gamers spent less time on homework than their peers. But even in such cases, the difference in cognitive abilities was not significant.
The study’s message to parents is straightforward – they need not worry too much about their child’s cognitive development up to fifth grade. The key to maintaining a balance is to help your child divide their time between different activities.
The study didn’t examine children below fifth grade or assess the content of video games, which could have different effects on younger children.