Worried that your kids have spent the holidays glued to the Play Station? Don’t be. A new study reveals playing video games can be good for them, as Katie Wright reports

A STUDY published last week in the journal Pediatrics has found that children who played video games for up to an hour a day were better adjusted than those who didn’t play at all.

A sample of 5,000 ten to 15-year-olds were asked how long they spend gaming, whether on a console or computer, on an average school day.

They were then asked a series of questions to determine how socially and psychologically adjusted their are, for example how satisfied they are with their life and how likely they are to help people in difficulty.

Oxford University’s Dr Andrew Przybylski found that kids who gamed for up to an hour a day (about half the sample) were the most sociable and satisfied, the least hyperactive and had fewer emotional problems. For the 30 per cent who played for one to three hours a day there was no significant effect, positive or negative. But the ten to 15 per cent who gamed for more than three hours daily were shown to be the least adjusted and displayed the most social and emotional problems.

Why the difference? Dr Przybylski believes that children hone their problem-solving abilities when faced with “cognitive challenges” in video games, and that playing alongside their friends allows them to relax and develop social skills. So in small doses, gaming is a good thing.

Provided your kids aren’t spending days and nights alone with their Xbox, they’re probably okay. As long as they get a balanced diet of oldfashioned outdoor fun and plenty of time with their mates, then a few laps round the Mario Kart track won’t rot their brains.

In fact, with the new Computing curriculum – which sees children as young as five learning coding – starting in September, tech know-how is going to be an extra advantage at school.

BANNER ADVICE

CITY of London police are trying a new tack in their ongoing attempts to staunch the flow of the 1.5bn files that are illegally downloaded in the UK each year, by replacing ads on suspected pirate websites with warning signs. Using software from Project Sunblock, the banner ads will explain that the site is under investigation and advise users to exit.

Sites that infringe music, TV and film copyrights and offer files for free are heavily reliant on advertising revenue and the police believe that ads from well-known brands ‘fool consumers into thinking the site is authentic’. They’re hoping Project Sunblock will protect consumers from inadvertent illegal activity, and stop entertainment companies profits from getting burned.

A RUNNING JOKE

RUNNING apps are a great way to track your fitness progress whether you’re training for a marathon or just starting jogging for fun, but one American runner has found another amusing use. Using the Nike+ app, which tracks your route via GPS, Claire, who’s training for a halfmarathon, draws pictures as she runs across the San Franciso Bay area and posts them on her Tumblr blog. She only started in June, but so far her pavement-pounding pictures include a Space Invaders alien, a corgi and Slimer from Ghostbusters. Check them out at runningdrawing.tumblr.com, but be warned, some are a bit rude...