Want to raise successful children? Science says this controversial habit makes them smarter

Suppose I tell you that it is a habit that most parents discourage - in fact, because of which they could quarrel with their children -; can it actually lead to greater intelligence?

Our topic today is about video games. A new study from Europe used a “huge” amount of data to determine what happens to children who spend above-average time playing with them.

The results are astonishing and represent the latest and largest study that has achieved a similar, positive result. They are also a reason to do the opposite of what many parents have preached for decades or more.

Writing in an online peer-reviewed journal Scientific reportsthe researchers said they found that children who spent more time playing video games than their peers over a two-year period had higher IQs as a result.

As the authors summarized:

“While children who played more video games at the age of ten [old] on average, they were no more intelligent than children who did not play, they increased the most in intelligence after two years, both in boys and girls.

For example, a child who was in the top 17% in terms of hours spent in play increased his or her IC by about 2.5 points more than the average child over two years.

This is proof of the beneficial, causal consequence a video game about intelligence. ”

I emphasized those two words, “causal effect”, because so often in studies like this we are left wondering if it is simply a question of correlation, which means that maybe children who become smarter for unrelated reasons also play video games.

But here, the authors explicitly say that they believe that a video game that plays itself leads to higher intelligence.

Researchers from universities in the Netherlands, Germany and Sweden interviewed thousands of American children and used data from the Adolescent Brain and Cognitive Development Program (ABCD), which is considered “the largest long-term study on brain development and child health in the United States.”

They connected with 5,000 children at least twice: first, when they were between 9 and 10, and then again two years later, at 11 and 12.

Each time, they tracked how many children were told to spend their time doing three screen-related activities:

• Watch online videos or TV shows (2.5 hours per day on average)
• Socializing online (probably via social media) (30 minutes a day, on average)
• Playing video games (on average one hour a day)

As researchers have observed, this averages about four hours of screen time per day; a number that climbed to six hours a day for the first 25 percent. In any case, it is a huge part of their free time.

They also tested children for an intelligence index that included five tasks:

• “two [tasks] on reading comprehension and vocabulary “,
• “one about attention and executive function (which includes working memory, flexible thinking and self-control)”
• “One who evaluates visual-spatial processing (such as rotating objects in your mind)” and
• “one on the ability to learn during multiple tests.”

In the end, they found that while those who spent the most time playing video games saw their IQ increase the most, those who spent more time in front of the screen watching videos or hanging out saw little or no difference.

This is not the first study to point out the significant cognitive benefits of playing video games.

However, the study’s authors, including Torkel Klingberg of the Department of Neuroscience at the Karolinska Institute in Sweden and Bruno Sausa of the Department of Biological Psychology at the Vrie University in Amsterdam, said it was different because they took into account children’s genes and socioeconomic status.

“Many parents feel guilty when their children play video games for hours. Some even worry that it could make their children less smart,” the authors wrote.

But if there really is a “causal” connection between video games and intelligence, and if, “[i]Intelligence is an important trait in our lives and very much predicts the future income, happiness and longevity of the child, “does that mean that parents should encourage their children to play video games as much as possible?

Well, that’s controversial, of course. And, I would like to consider two things:

First, there are other health challenges associated with spending too much time in front of the screen at all.

And second, if kids didn’t play video games so often, would they just watch videos instead?

Or would they read books and study math or study languages, which could have an even greater effect on increased intellect?

As I write in my free ebook, How to raise successful children (7th edition)in the lives of many successful people, the moment comes when they begin to measure success not only by what they achieve, but also by what they pass on to the next generation, including their children.

Maybe studies like this are part of that goal.