Smart Living: The good side of gaming

ORLANDO, FL. (Ivanhoe Newswire) - On average, teens speed an hour a day playing video games. And if you have a teen in your home, you probably worry that they are spending too much time shooting things up or living in a virtual world. But it’s not all bad.

According to a Saint Edward’s University study, playing video games two hours a day improves peer relationships and increases sociality.

“I like creative games like Roblox or Minecraft,” said 17-year-old David Correa.

He says he’s an avid gamer who spends three to four hours a day connected to his screen, “It helps with de-stressing.”

Now, new research shows video games can help young people with problem-solving. According to the American Psychological Association, people who play shooter games like Call of Duty improve their capacity to think about objects in three dimensions just as well as school classes that are designed to enhance the same skill.

The more teens reported playing strategic video games, such as role-playing games, the more they improved in problem-solving and school grades the following year. Some research even showed that children’s creativity was also enhanced.

“It triggers something in your head that makes you feel more reactive and more snappy,” said David.

Another stereotype the research challenges is the socially isolated gamer. In fact, more than 70% of gamers play with a friend.

“I meet a lot of friends usually,” David explained. “I met my girlfriend playing…We started talking and now we’ve been dating for over a year and a half now.”

The research also showed that video games are effective tools for learning resilience in the face of failure. By learning to cope with ongoing failures in games, the authors suggest that children build emotional resilience they can rely upon in their everyday lives.

Keep in mind, investigators also found that no more than nine hours of gaming a week for kids 7 to 11 is recommended and that exceeding that amount could be linked to social and behavioral problems.

Contributors to this news report include: Joe Rehmet and Marsha Lewis, Producers; Roque Correa, Videographer and Editor.

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