Official News page 6

REAL LIFE NEWS: GAMING HINDERS READING AND WRITING PROGRESS

by Hazed

This is one of those studies where the results are pretty obvious, but I guess it's important to know it officially... young boys who are given games consoles may fail to advance academically as far as similar boys who don't have consoles.

In the study, conducted by Denison University in Ohio, a group of boys aged between six and nine were given PlayStation 2s. None of them had a console already. Half of these children got a console at the start of the study, the others at the end.

The test ran for four months and during that time, parents kept a record of their kids' activities, from when they got home from school until they went to bed. Meanwhile, their reading and writing abilities were assessed at the start and end of the test.

It will be no surprise that those who spent time playing on their consoles spent less time doing other things, including homework and reading. They also spent less time discussing their school day with parents. As a result, their reading and writing developed more slowly than the console-less boys.

The conclusion is that it's not the console as such that impedes their progress, it's the fact that they are using the console instead of reading or doing homework. It could as well be any activity they become obsessed with. But it does seem that gaming in particular is something they have a great enthusiasm for.

Read more here.

Fed2 Star index Previous issues Fed 2 home page