Video Games Could Be Making Kids Smarter

The study—called "Internet Usage and Educational Outcomes Among 15-Year-Old Australian Students"—also found that another popular and seemingly fine time-consuming Internet behavior does correlate with shitty academic performance: social media, which 78% of the students in the sample used "almost every day or every day." The study found that basic Facebook-loving fools had "lower performance" in those same core educational pillars. Though their study cannot determine a causal relationship between these behaviors and students' scholastic achievements, the correlation is evident.

In an interview with Broadly, Alberto Posso, the researcher behind the study, explained that while video games tend to present problems for participants to solve, the same many not be true for social networks. (Unless generating the most shallow approvals of doctored photos of yourself counts as a problem.) "[Social networks] do not push students to do complex tasks and can therefore not have a similar effect," Posso explained.

However, whether using social services like Facebook actually causes the dip in academic performance requires more research to determine. "It remains plausible that those students that are less apt at school like social networks more," Posso said.

This was discussed further in his study. "It is possible that children who are already gifted in the areas of math, science, and reading are also more likely to play online games, and children with lower academic abilities spend more time socializing," the research notes. Video games "foster a range of skills that promote higher order thinking," the study reads. According to Posso, this is especially true of massive multiplayer online games, like World of Warcraft. (I must say, since I began writing Reporting from Azeroth, my column on WoW for Broadly, my thinking has escalated to an objectively higher order.)

Posso's findings make a compelling contribution to a growing body of research on the impact of gaming on academic achievement. "This research highlights that games are not necessarily bad, and future research should try to further disentangle what aspects of gaming results in better outcomes," Posso said. "Psychologists and educational experts have a few theories that may be worth testing—we just need to get the data."

The potential educational benefits of gaming aren't insignificant. "The results show that students who play online games almost every day score 15 points above the average in math and reading and 17 points above the average in science," the study reads. This grading bonus was found when teens play online games "almost every day," as opposed to "once a week or every day," suggesting that while too little gaming doesn't warrant academic reward, it is also possible for gaming to become excessive and subsequently counterproductive to educational success.

A 2012 review of gaming addiction studies found that gaming addiction is correlated with academic failures. Gaming addiction has been a hot topic for years now, with stories of lives interrupted by a compulsion to game at all costs, and extreme examples of obsessed gamers dropping dead after days or weeks of uninterrupted play.

It is becoming increasingly clear that time spent in virtual worlds can be a productive and healthy portion of our modern lives, if it's managed responsibly. "If people think gaming is a waste of time, perhaps they should look at some existing games and assess them carefully," Posso says. "Many could be surprised as to their challenges and, as such, see some value in them."