We hear conflicting reports about how video games affect our brains. One study will suggest that video games help us learn, and another might imply that they make young people more aggressive.
Positive effects
While researchers have demonstrated that action video games can speed up decision making real-time strategy games can promote our ability to think on the fly and learn from past mistakes.
It’s been suggested that playing video games improves your reflexes as well as the creative and problem-solving parts of your brain. However, it depends on the game you are playing and for how long.
A further benefit includes the ability faster assess situations, increased reflex and response time, increased ability to focus and track moving objects even when other stationary objects block the point of focus and the slowing and reversing of neuronal decay that is associated with ageing to name a few.
Negative effects
While some reports have linked video games to negative consequences such as obesity, attention problems, poor school performance and video game addiction; most research has focused on the effect of violent video games. Dozens of psychological studies indicate that playing violent games increases aggressive thoughts, feelings and behaviours, in both the short-term and the long-term behavioural patterns. This makes sense from psychological and cognitive perspectives: Humans learn what they practice.
Conclusion
Playing video games can be bad for your health, but only in extreme events. Therefore, the frequency and quality of video game use are directly related to detrimental health effects.