Video games good for you?

By Matthew Stuart

Happynews Citizen Journalist

Since video games became a popular recreation activity, parents, kids, and scientists have worried about the impact of the medium. But video games are indeed good for us.

The obvious benefit is that video games are enjoyable; whether you're challenging your friend to a tense virtual car race, or just relaxing after work with a quiet puzzle game.

The world is full of responsibility, commitments and certainties, and video games provide a temporary escape from reality into fantasy - when you put down the controller, you feel refreshed.

In one recent study at Rochester University, two US researchers found that video gamers were able to take in more information about an environment than someone who didn't play video games. Presumably this is because in video games we are trained to take as much in as possible to succeed at the game.

Website Life Style Extra reported on a study published in the British Journal of Medicine made by a professor at Nottingham Trent University. He found that because of the degree of attention required to play some games could distract the player from pain, which could be useful as a mental distraction for children during chemotherapy.

Some people will always ridicule video games, but the key to video games can be summed simply - balance. Fit game play into your busy scheduled life without neglecting daily necessities, you can incorporate all the healthy things that these studies have pointed out.

Now I'm off to play "Burnout."

This story was produced by a Happynews Citizen Journalist.

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