Children ages 2 to 5 are more likely to be able to play a video game than swim or tie their shoes, if you believe a recent poll of Internet-enabled mothers. The poll questioned 2,200 women internationally. A whopping 58 percent of their offspring can play a video game, 59 percent if you look at girls alone. That’s compared to just 9 percent (of both genders) who can tie their shoes and 43 percent who can ride a bicycle.
In another new statistical analysis of video games, almost 10 percent of children are at risk for a gaming addiction, according to a study that looked at gaming habits of 3,000 Singaporean schoolchildren ages 8 and 9 and 12 and 13. Researchers defined study participants who spent an average of 31-plus hours per week playing as "obsessive" and more apt to become seriously mentally ill. Pediatrics journal published this study.
The combined information in these two completely separate study yields thought-provoking questions about video games and their potential long-term effects on today’s youth.
Are parents contributing to this potential addiction by exposing their kids to computers, smartphones and games before reading age? Or will such early computer gaming become a life skill in itself? Only time will tell the final results, but we want to hear your opinion.