Playing Video games is good for your brain

Question

I believe video games help your brain because I have experienced it first hand. From just playing with friends it works on your teamwork ability. A quote from National Institutes of Health states that "A study of nearly 2,000 children found that those who reported playing video games for three hours per day or more performed better on cognitive skills tests involving impulse control and working memory compared to children who had never played video games." The website I have linked has many studies and links to the studies that show it improves brain function. National Institute of Health does studies with thousands of kids so that its a wide number of reported children. Using more studiers makes the study more relatable and proven true. They have also reported "The ABCD Study, the largest of its kind in the United States, is tracking nearly 12,000 youth as they grow into young adults." 

Answer 1

Just saying that video games are "good" for your brain is too simple of a claim. There are studies on both sides, showing that video games can cause harm to the brain but also promote growth. A 2019 systematic review concluded that video gaming can be beneficial to the brain, though the impact varies by game type: https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC6826942/?utm.  Another study (2019, Kühn et al.) reported that cognitive improvements from gaming were accompanied by structural and functional brain changes: https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC6829166/?utm_source=chatgpt.com.  On the other hand, a study published in Pediatrics found that pathological gaming in adolescents predicted increased depression, anxiety, and social phobia over time: https://publications.aap.org/pediatrics/article-abstract/127/1/e47/30106/Use-of-Skeletal-Surveys-to-Evaluate-for-Physical?redirectedFrom=fulltext.  The Cleveland Clinic also notes that while video games have benefits, they carry risks such as eye strain, repetitive strain injuries, and potential addiction if not balanced: https://health.clevelandclinic.org/are-video-games-good-for-you.

What I would take away from all this is that with the right balance, video games can benefit people, but without proper control, they can get out of hand and cause unwanted harm.

Answer 2

Your claim is both true and false; both good and bad things have come out of video games, especially when it comes to how they tie in with the brain. On the benefits side, we have a 2022 study by the National Institutes of Health titled "Video gaming may be associated with better cognitive performance in children" which analyzed roughly 2,000 kids and found that those who played video games for 3+ hours a day ended up performing better on cognitive tasks and working memory compared to those who never played.

The majority of us who play video games, I’d imagine, aren’t doing it for any mental benefits, but I could be wrong. Most of us play them for the pure enjoyment we get out of them, which is derived from how they make us feel. That leads me to my next source, The Benefits of Playing Video Games by Isabela Granic, Adam Lobel, and Rutger C. M. E. Engels from Radboud University Nijmegen. In this article, they talk about research suggesting how video games can be used to regulate emotions in a positive way. An example of this was reported by the American Psychological Association, where reviewers found that playing puzzle games improved players’ moods, increased relaxation, and reduced anxiety levels overall.

With that being said, I also think there are some negative side effects of video games on the brain. According to the Harvard Health Blog article, The Health Effects of Too Much Gaming, there are concerns about the negative consequences of excessive play. It highlights a potential downside, such as disrupted sleep patterns, which can lead to mental health issues.

Truthfully, in my opinion, I think video games can be both a good thing and a bad thing. It all boils down to how you go about using them. I’ve found myself staying up too late playing games and then feeling bad the next day because of a lack of sleep. But that wasn’t the video games’ fault; it was my own. At the same time, I feel like my alertness has possibly increased from playing fast-paced games that require me to make split-second decisions and keep me on my feet.

https://scholarshipweekend.oglethorpe.edu/wp-content/uploads/sites/21/2024/02/Meier-JEOReadings-2024.pdf

Video gaming may be associated with better cognitive performance in children | National Institutes of Health (NIH)

The health effects of too much gaming - Harvard Health

Answer 3

This is a bit misleading. Video games are a double-edged sword, and while they can be beneficial, they can also have negative effects. It is largely dependent on the type of game being played and the person's relationship with it. This is most noticeable (and most affective) with children, according to this summative article from pediatric health specialist Michael Manos and child psychiatrist Joseph Austerman from Cleveland Clinic. This article describes a myriad of scenarios where video games could be helpful, noting benefits to teamwork ability, social skill building, hand-eye coordination, multitasking ability, puzzle solving, memory-building, the works. This article also goes on to describe how this hobby can turn into an addiction, and how a child can develop a very unhealthy relationship with the medium if introduced at too young of an age. Lack of regulation and supervision can have consequences such as increased anxiety in-person, social withdrawal, irritability, depression, and general interference in personal relationships. This article from Peter Grinspoon, MD at Harvard also dives into some of the more physical drawbacks, citing overuse of video games leading to certain injuries and even obesity.