Too many video games may sap attention span

"Parents who believe that playing video games is less harmful to their kids' attention spans than watching TV may want to reconsider -- and unplug the Xbox. Video games can sap a child's attention just as much as the tube, a new study suggests."

http://www.cnn.com/2010/HEALTH/07/05...ention/?hpt=C2

I was disappointed to not read more details in the article. What kind of/specific video games and are they playing the same idiot game repeatedly (trying to get a higher score) or a going from game to game and exactly how does one compare to TV watching, by time alone?

They did say it could be a two-way street with those who have short attention span being attracted to video games instead of video games causing short attention span. But they may have gone a bit too far for me, hypothesizing that you might have a child starting with short span and it would be exacerbated by the video game playing.

Isn't "TOO MUCH" of anything too much?

Video game players make good military pilots and other positions where quick eye hand coordination is needed.

Bolded For Truth.

Though, i am not a fan of the military games, I play alot of Katamari Damacy, a really ...strange, i guess..Japanese game and its GREAT for your reflexes. Also I cant see wii fit being bad for focus.

As an active member of the gaming community I often read commentary of those who do not play or have not played since the days of Pacman.

I find that most non-gamers image of games is about 20 years out of date. While there are still a few games which are simple exercises in button mashing and pattern recognition, many modern games, develop cognative and analytical skills. Some titles have a elaborate puzzles which require a lot of thought and logic to solve. Some games require resource management, others make you think outside the box for solutions to problems. Others still are exercises in creativity. For me gaming has actually made me more focused at work.

While I agree that too much of anything (games, TV, music etc) can throw life out of balance, I also believe that games can spark imagination and creativity,and that many of tomorrow's enterpreneurs are today's little gamers.

Of course it is easy to blame gaming and other distractions for kid's lack of performance at school, but I think a lot of this is smoke and mirrors to cover the fact that we have an out of date education model (one designed on the 19th century) that in many ways destroys a childs natural desire to learn and grow (but that is for another discussion entirely)

My advice to parents is to be involved in your child's gaming, watch and play along with them. Also parents should take the time to read the labels on the back of the package, be mindful of age appropriateness of the title and do research online before buying.

If any of you have questions, about gaming in general, or a specific title, feel free to PM me.

Hey there all,

Good discussion...Hey Tim how old are you? Kids & teens have different attention spans and motor-ability and they are these days more in deficit than credit.

I've read and seen the news reports of a teen killing his mother because she took his game console away and another killed his brother for using his game console without his permission. Both of these boys were playing military development games and this is unacceptable. If there are 2 reported murders then there are hundreds of thousands either not reported or are falsely reported and the killer protected by a family member. The games they were playing were also supposedly age appropriate but contained far too much violence which mesmerised the person playing the game with them being the ones to commit the violence.

These kids completely dissolved the boundary between reality and fantasy and what is worse that violence is now being taken to the streets and schoolyards with bullies pursuing victims so relentlessly that the victims are committing suicide; as per their computer game once that target is dead they move on to the next one.

I can understand you defending your sport but please understand that these kids are being brainwashed, trained to view killing and rape and other violent behaviour as normal behaviour and accpetable. Spend some time in conference with game addiction therapy groups you will then understand clearly what I'm saying here,

Rhian

Good point Rhia .... I was thinking only of the good games, not the ones that shouldn't be played at all (those of gory killing of people.)

The killing i think depends on the game and the style. To me fantasy games like world of warcraft or star trek online(star trek, by the way, uses a "stun" gun at first instead of killing enemies) are ok for OLDER children and adults. Much like movies. A 12 year old child should not be playing war games because they can't even begin to understand what the REALITY of war is. TO be frank, i find war games to make a mockery of a very serious topic anyways and I refrain from them. If it is managed to be done in such a way that it is an accurate representation, perhaps it has its place but its not for me.

I think it is important for children and their parents to maintain an open dialogue about these games. If your child is playing war games, discuss war with them. Show them photos of their ancestors who were in wars. Teach them information about how war truly is - the reality of it. I suspect if more people did this, the way people glorify these things (war, in this case) would change.

I think it's dangerous for kids to be spending so much time playing video games. It teaches them nothing about how to exist or co-exist in the real world - it's merely an escape from the real world. It provides no life experience or tools to cope with the stressors and challenges of adult life. It's a waste of precious time. When they are old, they will have no personal life stories to pass on to future generations. I doubt future generations will give a hoot about the levels and high scores their predecessors achieved in video gaming.

Na, Naaaaaa, Na, Na, Na, Na, Na, Na, Na, Katamari Damacy...

Violent games have a rating of M for Mature for a reason. They should be played by mature people, and not by 11-15 yr olds. The mind is still very impressionable at this age.

Personally, I did not play video games growing up. I didn't start playing until a couple years after I met my husband.

Then there are those of us who grew up in the 50's-70's before there were computers, much less video games :-) But I played a mean game of "cowboy and indians" when I wasn't playing "Army" with my brother's soldiers or "Tactics II" http://www.boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/1574/tactics-ii

I think every generation has its "violent" games, it's just the thoughtless ease of violence, because of the speed of some modern video games that is a problem. We'll always have poor people (so it says in the Bible) and I assume we'll always have violence and societal "problems" and having role playing games is not, in itself bad, it's when the role one likes to play or gets use to playing is the "bad" guy and he doesn't "lose" necessarily.

Hi there,

I am sorry that you feel you must display such animosity toward myself and the gaming community. You are of course entitled to your opinion but I find some of the assertions to be very offensive.

The first being that there are hundreds of people being murdered over video games is very serious, you do not provide proof of this.

In the incident you do sight you do not mention any of other circumstances surrounding the events, like most importantly what pre exisiting conditions were in the lives of these children before they picked up a controller.

I agree that there are some emotional/mental disorders that are not compatible with gaming and such folk should be kept away from games, for thier safety.

The implication that videogames can "make" normally adjusted people commit acts of violence stands as a lot of unproven speculation.

Overall the ESRB does a solid job rating games according to content, are they going to make everyone happy? Frankly, No.

Also if you are getting any of this from former attorney Jack Thompson (disbarred) He has no cred left after his sexual shenanigans. His relentless attempt to destroy the gaming world was based on a very flawed and out dated study.

Lastly Rhian, this is not directed at you personally. I am sure you are a good person who is trying to stop violence, but attacking the game world is not the way to go.

I am sorry you have to display such animosity toward me and my chosen hobby

Perna - How many hours per day, per week, per month did you spend playing "Cowboys and Indians," or was it just on occasion? (that wasn't really a question, lol)

Tim - I apologize for stepping on your toes, but I wasn't referring to you or your hobby. I was referring to the developing minds of children and the amount of time they spend playing video games.

The boys in my neighborhood played Cowboys and Indians/Army too, but these games didn't consume their free time and they didn't take the roles so seriously. It had the added benefit of teaching the boys how to fight hard, play by the rules, and get along after the game was over. Non-organized sports (without parental involvement) did the same thing. It gave the kids a chance to fully control their own little worlds while working on their developmental social skills. A child learns no interactional personal skills by pretending to be someone else in a different world.

I DO believe video games serve a purpose, as long as it's used in moderation. There are times when a kid really needs a break from his/her community.

My son struggled with the local bullies during junior high, and he knew what the consequences would be if he took them on. He held it in, but he really needed an outlet to deal with that rage. We bought him a Sega Genesis(?) (yes, I know I'm showing my age) and the game "Golden Eye." I let him play the game when I saw his steam building up. I played the game with him, and we had soooo much fun "killing" each other. He grew out of the games because he wanted and needed to learn a little more about the real world before devoting it to fun and games.

Tim,

In the opinions presented by the others, I dont feel they meant you specifically or people like you. Id say you are a definite "different case" as you seem to handle your hobby just fine, in fact, Id go so far as to say most do. However, a few rotten apples.. and all that.

Kathy, i think your playing WITH your son is an incredibly important thing to do. Much like movies, music or anything else, doing it with them provides bonding and a chance to discuss anything that comes up in the game - and also a chance to state your own values about such violence in real life.

at the mention of this vitriol towards videogames, I want to say a story about... pokemon (Oh? How did you guess I was going to say that?)

would you believe me if I told you that videogames inspired creativity out of me? I can't tell you how much cardboard from velvet art posters went into making fake pokemon cards and fake game boys. I'd make up my own badges by coloring marker on a piece of tape and putting another piece of tape on top of that so it wouldn't smudge off. I had an entire binder filled with fake pokemon.

Before it was banned from school all the kids would bring their pokemon things to school and show off during recess. we would trade and battle our pokemon until our games glitched (probably because link cables are crap) we'd trade cards as well. There was a supervisor who was partially disabled but she enjoyed drawing for us if we brought her a picture. I'd usually bring over my pokemon cards or a book about all the species of birds. I treasured those pictures.

Needless to say I do have a lot of fond memories to look back on and I think they were a positive influence on my life.

The other option of course was playing with other more old fashioned toys. Out of the two I definitely think that the videogames were better for developing social skills. We learned about treating each other fairly, that you can't always be the victor, (sharing was a bit more tricky because sharing took no time at all to become stealing, so everyone put their name on everything. This would have been the exact same way with the other toys had they actually belonged to us and weren't just laying around the after school program)

Those who feel videogames kill the imagination clearly underestimate the power of a child's imagination. Even with very simple videogames adults see as the same pointless thing over and over again to a child can be a rich and vivid world filled with wonder. If a character had no personality you gave it one yourself, that little sprite of food on a table used as a decoration? Well my guy has got to be hungry so let's pretend he's eating it. Those flowers used for decoration on the screen? Well, it is a nice day so lets stand in the middle of them for a little while.

Of course having your character enjoy the great outdoors is no substitute of actually enjoying them, all things need to be in moderation. I do not support children shut in the house all day playing videogames however I do think that they are actually good for kids if used in moderation.

If we want to say that they do nothing for life skills and do not prepare them for the real world then all playing aside from playing house can be classified as such. It is called play for a reason- not every second of a child's life has to be dedicated into turning them into adults. Children have enough pressure on them as it is.

A huge issue is that parents do not seem to be reading the labels on videogames. Games that involve killing such as grand theft auto and war games are usually rated mature. ONLY adults are supposed to play mature rated games. Not children, not even teens. Fantasy violence usually is more lenient because they are usually not horribly graphic about death and the bottom line is that it is clearly fantasy and as long as you have the ability to distinguish fantasy from reality you do not have to worry about becoming a murderous person. The only games children are supposed to be playing are rated E. (and if they are over 10: E+10 which is everyone over 10) these games I have found to be nonviolent or at least have no-visible-injuries or cartoon esque violence, they usually have puzzles involved in one form or another that stimulate your brain, and everything a parent may find objectionable is printed on the back for the parent to read next to the label. Even one of the least violent and most kid friendly E games I own "Harvest Moon" has a warning about the use of alcohol in the game by the label because there is a "bar" (all of the drinks have silly names and you can't get drunk though so I don't even know if they have alcohol in them ). With few exceptions I usually only play E rated games and maybe a few T rated ones because I'm not a big fan of violent games.

... did I mention a friend of mine who has played games like an addict all her life (and just loves her violent videogames) and is going to college to be a video game designer? She is an incredibly talented writer and artist.

You do have a level of control of what your child plays and for how long. Each child is an individual and will react differently.

As for the topic: I think the attention span thing is that videogames are so stimulating that while being in this state they just aren't patient enough to preform whatever task they were required to do. Give them some time away from videogames and for their brains to settle down and they'll be right back to normal.

Yes Rainbowzz I know what you mean. What I mean is that games these days are too graphic and some of the nature of them is extreme violence for their age groups. I didn't have the problem because my boys are outdoor boys, football, abseiling, skydiving, off roading, surfing..that was their every weekend it probably would have been safer if they did play computer games.

I agree completely that parents should be involved in their kids pass times so that they know what is making their kids tick. Explain things to them and explain war. The therapy groups here are run on the basis that it stands to reason if you have a kid who all of a sudden changes habits and starts staying in their room more, only wanting to play games on the computer their atittude sliding school work sliding and getting angry over nothing, then you have a problem. A gaming addiction is no less personality changing than illicit drugs thats why there are very real therapy groups for people with gaming addiction

http://www.psycharts.com/index.htm This one is in Austin Texas

One kid I know has been addicted to gaming since he was 7 his mother just let him go because it made her life peaceful. He was addicted to war/military games. That boy is now 18 years old, and is so chronically depressed from all the death and destruction from his gaming years he is on disability. He is in the program for addicted gamers and there is hope that he will eventually come out of it and go to work. But the fact that he is 18 and unemployable because of his addiction and the depression caused by it, is proof positive that Gaming Therapy is helping him and is not "crap" as is accused of being by some

Rhian

I really appreciate your point of view Kaika, and to a degree you are right when you say give them some time away they will settle...but addicts don't do "time away" and their normal is the video game; they live through their game; they are the ones who get sapped...but as a mother would ask you "have you ever tried to get a kid away from a video game? OY!" lollll

It is the same for people who live with drug addicts or alcoholics who never stop using or drinking, there is no let up, no relief unless they are asleep. And though I had it made abundantly clear to me today that someone does'nt believe in gaming addiction or therapy for gaming addiction, they are real and they aren't going anywere...and often these gaming addicts become addicted gamblers...

It starts often with a child wanting to escape everyday life and be a superhero or topgun or topscorer, to be the best at something to beat the machine...it goes from there...

Rhian

I wasn't refering to addicts then I made my post. I do know that people can be addicted to videogames and I know what the effects of those are.

I have to wonder though when it comes to depression and videogame addiction the old "chicken and the egg" argument: which came first? The depression or the addiction? Children of any age can be depressed and videogames are good for escaping things like that. The story of the 18 year old... I have to wonder, how much attention did he get at home? At school? Was he bullied? Did he feel a lot of pressure? All of these are big factors. I know from friends and family (and depending on how much time a day you consider enough to be an addiction, myself) that children who play videogames all day that grows into an addiction later in life generally are bullied, don't have a lot of friends, have parents with one level of apathy or another, and had crappy things happen to them. That's more then enough to get them addicted to videogames considering they are such an attractive distraction from life. I have a hard time believing that the addiction itself caused the depression unless it was more along the lines of feeling like they wasted their time and they know they can't get it back.

I would like to apologize for some harsh statements I made earlier. As someone who suffers from AvPD, I have found acceptance in the videogame community, and no where else. There I am judged by my skill and the fair way I treat others. So when the community comes under attack I tend to get triggered to its vigorous defense.

Videogames can be addictive to some folks, as can many things (alcohol, sex, gambling, food etc) If one has a personality prone to addiction, it is best they stay away from gaming.

My industy is a young one, I have watched it grow from the days of Pong (which I had as a pre-teen) through to PS3. It is still young compared to film and TV, and has much to learn still. There is still unexplored potentional in games to become the next great venue for story telling. Consider though how far we have come in terms of artistic direction, production values depth and ability to deliver a narrative.

Some of the best talents work in the world of gaming. Consider the sound tracks that acompany Uncharted 2 and God of War 3, arguably both are the equal to the best in cinema scores if not in some cases surpassing them.

The same goes for visuals, how can anyone look at an Ico, Gran Turismo 5, God of War 3, Uncharted 2, or Alan Wake, and not admire the skill and creativity involved in bringing a world to life from a bunch of numbers?

There is so much depth and variety to gaming these days that the industry has something to offer for everyone. The fact that grannys in rest homes are playing Wii Sports, puts a smile on my face or when an 11 year creates from scratch his or her first level on something like Little Big Planet.

As I said Tim I apologise if this triggered you that was never my intention. I certainly have no animosity toward you or gaming, I am more concerned with teens as I said because addiction at a young age often leads to addictive gambling and further problems.

Rhian

I agree that it's parents who need to monitor and control this for children ... unfortunately, we all know parents who think everything is just fine for a child of any age, just because they want to/it.

I don't want government control ... just parents to become wiser?

I really, really hope that parents become wiser instead of more control on gaming. If parents can read the labels on what their kids eat to make sure it's healthy for their body then they should make sure to read the labels on what they play to make sure it is healthy for their minds

Not that I'm exactly the type to believe that videogames corrupt and destroy kids but for the love of all that's holy an 8 year old should not be playing games meant for 18 year olds just because they wanted to!

That requires that the parents know what is healthy for their minds!

I think the key is -- everything in moderation. Also every man, woman, and child are very different and will behave differently in different situations. Too much for one may not be too much for another. A handful of people/children won't be able to handle gaming as well as the rest of the population will be able to handle it. That doesn't mean that gaming is bad. I think it compares to alcohol use. Some can handle it, some can't. But I don't believe that alcohol is bad or that you should take away a person's right to have a drink just because some people will become addicted. These are life challenges that we simply have to face. Some people handle those challenges better than others.

So.... everything in moderation.