Tabloid says video games make kids dumb
Thursday, November 29th, 2007 at 3:15pm by Jack
There’s something inherently ironic about a tabloid reporting on mediums that make people dumber, but for the sake of this post I’ll continue.
Basically, U.K. tabloid The Sun is blaming videogames for England’s drop in literacy rates. The article cites a study that claimed 37% of English ten-year-olds play videogames for more than three hours a day, for more than other European children. Side note: That’s nothing; my old roommate played World of Warcraft for 16 hours straight once. The Sun also reported in the past that videogames hurt British football, so I think we know where their loyalties lie on this issue,no?
If kids game too much, they don’t read, the study says. Apparently, the researchers didn’t get a crack at Super Paper Mario.
November 29th, 2007 at 3:16 pm
wow…how do people draw these parallels?…
November 29th, 2007 at 3:59 pm
If the tabloid article wanted to be believable, they should at least narrow the focus to genres or something, instead of some lazy blanket statement . You can’t say that about RPG’s or certain adventure games that require reading.
And anyway, there’s real research done about action games improving reflexes, logic, and hand-eye co-ordination. There’s more, that’s just off the top of my head.
November 29th, 2007 at 4:43 pm
“Correlation does not imply causation.” OK, so there’s a correlation between playing video games and a drop in literacy rates, but that does not mean that playing video games causes the drop in literacy rates. It’s entirely possible that A causes B, B causes A, or C causes A and B, but to insinuate that A causes B is the only possible explanation is something that a proper psychologist (or any kind of scientist or statistician) would never do. The only people who would do that are people who want to sell magazines.
November 29th, 2007 at 5:11 pm
Well the same could be said about people who buy/read “The Sun”.
I mean just look at it (even if your parents said you should never look at the sun directly):
http://www.thesun.co.uk/sol/homepage/
Literacy isn’t something that is needed for “The Sun” if you ask me.
November 29th, 2007 at 5:27 pm
Video games don’t make kids dumb. On the other hand, parents who let their FOURTH GRADERS play GTA: San Andreas (which I saw happen when I was working at an elementary school last year) aren’t helping things any.
November 29th, 2007 at 7:03 pm
The day i take anything the Sun print serious is probably going to be the same day gaming fries my brain and makes me so illiterate it’s the only thing i can read.
I’ve been playing computer games for over 15 years of my life and i’ve recently graduated from university with a first class degree so clearly they didn’t do me that much damage.
I heard about that gaming is ruining football argument earlier today, apparently if there were no consoles to play every single male in England would grow up with a single track mind to play football and therefore we would be the best team in the world……. personally i couldn’t careless and it’s a poor argument as the simple fact is we can’t play football anymore.
November 29th, 2007 at 7:08 pm
Since when have tabloid fodder been reputable news?
November 29th, 2007 at 7:17 pm
You know what else does?
This crap.
November 30th, 2007 at 1:28 am
They don’t read?
Then what are RPGs for?
November 30th, 2007 at 9:44 am
How the hell the Sun has the highest readership in the country I’ll never know (though it’s probably something to do with all the boobs).
It’s just a comic, it really is.
November 30th, 2007 at 10:06 am
Funny thing is tabloids are papers for the… lets say less literate. Yet another funny thing is (though it is a stereotype) that a large number of gamers are geeks (read nerds) that are quite fond of litterateur, i know I am.
November 30th, 2007 at 11:29 am
I live in the U.K and honestly if you read that article in that paper then you have an i.q of about 50 anyway. So who cares what people like that think, if they do infact think. The advert for that paper is a load of big breasted women in helicopters who fill the world with so many footballs that it itself becomes one giant football, nuff said.
November 30th, 2007 at 2:06 pm
This idea that “video games make kids dumb” is a completely narrow-minded opinion. I’m 12, I play quite a lot of video games from MMOs to casual, and because of this I also read gaming articles and reviews online, posted by competent journalists (mostly). If anything, my literacy has benefited from my playing of games.
November 30th, 2007 at 7:20 pm
To put it plain and Simple, Anyone who lives in the UK knows that anything “The Sun” says should not so much taken with a pinch of salt as a ocean of it. There are, quite frankly, notorious for BS. But at any rate, as a Teacher once said to me; Theres Lies, Damn Lies, and Statistics.
December 1st, 2007 at 8:03 am
But what they dont say is that there average reading age on there articals is of 8years old
December 4th, 2007 at 12:42 am
Article in GamePolitics in 3, 2, 1….
It’s quite sad how a lot of people, even researchers with PhD’s in who knows what, can be fooled by the fear that video games will be the downfall of our culture.
July 8th, 2008 at 11:05 pm
im dumber because of halo3, no joke