Scientists have not proven the negative impact of computer games on teenagers

To play or not to play?
Reports about the dangers of computer games turned out to be erroneousAlexey Timoshenko, "The Attic"

Computer games appeared back in the 1980s, but since then scientists have not been able to unequivocally prove their (non-) harmfulness for children and adolescents. Photo: Adrian Pingstone, 1988

A number of news outlets wrote that scientists allegedly proved the harm of computer games. The message featured some British scientists who recommended limiting the game time to one hour a day. However, when the "Attic" looked into the original study, something else turned out to be there.

The primary source is an article by Andrew Przybylski from the Oxford Institute for Internet Research in the journal Pediatrics (Electronic Gaming and Psychosocial Adjustment, in the public domain). The psychologist has been specializing in video games (both console and computer) since 2006, and in his new study he decided to find out how the time spent playing games correlates with life satisfaction and with the socialization of players.

The scientist used data from the nationwide survey Understanding Society Household Longitudinal Study, during which 2,436 boys and 2,463 girls aged 10 to 15 years were interviewed. Respondents were selected across the country and from different social groups, so such a survey can be considered a fairly reliable source of information.

Screenshot of Yandex news. Not "scientists", but one psychologist, not "convinced", but assume, not a causal relationship, but a correlation pointing to it, not "negatively", but in different ways. Minus these inaccuracies, everything is correct

Analysis of the collected data showed that those who devote about an hour a day to games feel a little better than those who do not play at all. Such players have slightly higher life satisfaction, and the survey results allow us to conclude that altruism is slightly more developed. The effect is small, but reliable, from the point of view of statistics.

Those who allocate from one to three hours a day to games, could not find any differences from children deprived of games at all. The differences in the data were so small that they could have been an accident with equal probability, so Andrew Przybulski described them in his work as a "zero result".

Avid players who spend more than three hours a day at the console or computer keyboard demonstrated a lower level of satisfaction with their lives, turned out to be more antisocial, and the SDQ test included in the survey (note that it is also in Russian, this is a fairly common tool among psychologists) revealed a greater number of psychological problems.

At this point, it should be remembered that the author of the study was looking primarily for correlations, that is, a coordinated change in two factors. He managed to show that moderate players are usually more satisfied than those deprived of games, and avid ones, on the contrary, will be more unhappy. However, for what reason some are happy and others are unhappy, and whether there is a causal relationship with the time spent on video games, is a subject for additional analysis.

In Minecraft (publisher: Mojang), the whole world consists of cubes that can be used to create various objects: from a hut and a pickaxe to a castle and (when using add-ons to the game) a nuclear reactor. Screenshot: Kenming Wang / Flickr

The researcher conducts such an analysis in the "Discussion" section of his article. He writes that computer or console games have partly taken over the functions of traditional games of the pre-computer era, with all their pros and cons. A child who spends time in front of the screen playing Minecraft is like his parents who played with a metal constructor, and the game of Civilization can be an analogue of the soldiers with whom his great-grandfather played. Children who have access to an interesting game, on average, feel a little better than those who did not get this game – this conclusion is understandable to non-specialists.

The recently released Cities: Skyline urban planning simulator by Paradox Interactive gives you the opportunity to get acquainted with the basics of urban planning. The player is invited to develop his own city

Those who play almost all their free time are deprived of other forms of leisure. Avid players communicate less with their peers and are less physically active – probably, book lovers experienced a similar effect earlier (remember the stereotypical image of a "bespectacled man" with a book). However, as the researcher emphasizes, "in comparison with reliably identified and reliably confirmed factors of child well-being, such as the atmosphere in the family, social dynamics at school and material prosperity, the effect of video games, whether they are harmful or for the good, is of little practical importance in this work."

In other words, a scientist who has devoted about ten years to studying games and their impact on children and adolescents has not "proved their harm" at all. Moreover, his work rather leads to conclusions about the beneficial effect of moderate play (up to an hour a day), the absence of any effect when playing up to three hours a day and little harm from allocating all free time to play.

Portal "Eternal youth" http://vechnayamolodost.ru08.04.2015