Do videogames cause bad behavior in children ?

The large amount of time that young people spend playing video games and computers has caused some moral panic in some sectors, including fears that it could increase antisocial behavior and emotional problems among children in particular. Others see the benefits of electronic play in strengthening spatial reasoning, critical thinking and even morality.

An interesting new study by Andrew Przybylski and Allison Mishkin of the Oxford Internet Institute at Oxford University relies on school teachers instead of children or parents to evaluate behavior. Find a link between the amount of time spent playing games and social and academic performance. Those who play more than three hours a day are more likely to be hyperactive, aggressive and disinterested in their school work than children who are less involved in games. But some electronic games seem to be beneficial: teachers gave lower scores to non-players than to those who played for an hour or two a day.

The study, published in the journal Psychology of Popular Media Culture, involved 25 teachers and 217 students aged 12 or 13 at a school in the south-east of England. The teacher who had more personal contact with each student evaluated his academic performance, utility, aggressiveness and aggressiveness. These assessments were compared to the students' responses to questions about the type of games they played and for how long.

Although parents should pay attention to the amount of time their children play computer games - and try to avoid this three-hour surplus a day - the results are reassuring, according to Przybylski, and do not support the most alarming claims about the effect of games on adolescents