Your Parents Were Wrong: Video Games Are Good For You!

That’s Right! Your Parents Don’t Know Everything!

Believe it or not, there is staggering evidence that shows video games help to hone some cognitive skills, unlike any other activities commonly available to the general populace. This information is not necessarily new, however it is often overlooked by many of video game bashers.

Let’s be honest, it is far easier and more exciting for the media to publish information about how video games are destroying our youth, because such reports cause a frenzy. This in turn causes people to seek out more information, but with loaded search terms such as “negative impacts of gaming” or “violent tendencies in gaming” rather than searching for neutral information. It is amazing how many people will buy into the media hype about anything, particularly about video games because much of the information shoved down our throats is completely unfounded.

It’s very similar to the excitement surrounding cold fusion in 1989, where the media, with considerably less power at the time, blew up the story of cold fusion which was based on false and unfounded information. However, because people saw it on the news, it had to be true. That is the same phenomenon we see today, but this time the attention has turned to video games. 

I Refuse To Perpetuate False Beliefs

I really hate it when I overhear a parent complaining about their child playing video games too much. Don’t get me wrong, a healthy balance of outdoor activities, socializing, and video games is important. For example, I once heard a mother state that her child’s mind and creativity were being sucked away by video games. It made me realize how many people really believe information that is false.

My purpose for writing this article is not to present the research myself, but rather to present a woman named Daphne Bavelier who does an amazing job explaining, in simple terms, how and why video games actually improve cognition in people. If you think about it, video games simply boil down to a series of simulations. Our minds work through these simulations in many different ways. As we experience these different simulations, our minds slowly adapt to trends between simulations.

Let’s be honest, it’s pretty clear that videos games, like life, force us to adapt and notice trends through the experiences we’ve had. The only difference is that we face far more relaxed consequences in our simulations which allow us to simulate far more exciting and challenging situations.