I've always been ambivalent about video games.
Here's why:
My son discovered video games at around age five from a boy down the street. From the very first second, he seemed drawn in like an addict, just like all the other boys playing the games. The lure of the games was powerful, and he pined incessantly for that little boy's house. I finally decided to buy him his own games for his fifth birthday, but set limits.
Call me controlling, but I truly believe that without strict limits, he could be one of those gamer kids who dies (link is external) from too much World of Warcraft (ok, I'm overstating.....but not by much).
Which brings me to the fact that he's now 15 years old -- and not far off from college, and I often wonder, what happens then? Is he really going to miraculously set his own limits in two years?
Then I read this comment from a mom named Elise (link is external) who just dropped her son off at college for the first time:
We just got back from my son's college orientation. 1.5 days of meetings and discussions ... There was a discussion on why some students fail. They said that a study was done that showed that students who played 10 hours of video games per week on average had a GPA one full point below kids who played zero hours... They gave examples of kids who flunked out because of this addiction..."
Oh no! That's my big fear!
I know, I know.....there are studies that say video games are "good for you. In fact, I just finished the book Choke (link is external), by Sian Beilock, and she says studies show that an hour a day of video games actually improves your brainpower:
That's right, spending several hours a week playing games like Grand Theft Auto, Half-Life, or Halo improves core cognitive abilities that extend well beyond the computer screen.
("An hour a day" being the operative phrase for me.)
My son could have walked right off the pages of this book (e.g. loves legos and video games, sharp spacial reasoning skills, etc.).......
.......but I'm still ambivalent:
Are there really kids who can play World of Warcraft for "just an hour?"
If not, what happens when they go off to college? (see Elise's comment above for what I envision)
Hey, what about Kumon (link is external)? Why can't we sharpen the skills with a little Kumon? (I can just imagine my son's reaction to this