New Study Shows Videogames Benefit Youth During Lockdown

So, with lockdown these past few months, I'm certain that anybody with a younger sibling or child has understood that gaming is only a few clicks away from a Zoom meeting. Though then again, I acted similarly and I'm 19. Anyways, a recent study as covered by Sky News has discovered that during this pandemic, playing computer games has benefitted children in more ways than one. Let's dive right into it! 

"It's exciting to uncover the opportunities that video game playing can provide for young people to engage in reading, stimulate creativity through writing, enhance communication with friends and family, and support empathy and wellbeing."

Those are the words of Jonathan Douglas, a chief administrator at the 'National Literacy Trust' who reviewed the study involved. 

So, what did the study encompass? 

Accordingly, over 4,000, (to be exact, 4,626) young British children/teenagers were gathered for the study. Specifically, the ages ranged from 11 to 16. By offering an array of targetted multiple choice questions together with open-ended questions, the following results were yielded: 

• Games enable children to pursue reading and develop creativity 
• 73% - of children felt that videogames offered their own story for them to read through and interact with 
• 65% - of children embraced how videogames allowed them to unlock their imagination by 'being someone else' 
• 56% - of parents stated that videogames allowed their children to communicate with friends and family in lockdown 
• 60% - of parents found that this communication was beneficial for the child's mental state
• Most benefits were seen for boys and children who never got into reading 

Probably, being a parent in lockdown has been rather tough as kids are forced to stay inside - what are you gonna do? Tell them not to play? Of course, there are many approaches which work for many different families - that isn't the point of this short outlook. No, there is only a small insight into the fact that videogames have potentially been necessary to maintain the mental health of youth during these tough times.

Also, I say 'benefit' and not ' benefitted' as I'm not sure whether we're in the clear yet.  

Let us know your thoughts in the comments section below!