Growing up, most children are told that video games rot your brain, destroy your eyesight, and turn you into a loser. However, with recent data, all these claims seem to be false. Video games, specifically first-person action games, have been proven to increase mental dexterity, sharpen eyesight, and benefit social life.
The rapid pace of games such as Call of Duty® cause some users to feel overwhelmed and frustrated. With opposing players sprinting around the map, bullets flying around, and explosions happening every few seconds, the brain has to keep track of an enormous amount of sensory input; however, this activity actually increases the brain’s ability to remember and track items using peripheral vision. When video game players were asked to attempt to track blue smiley faces in a more advanced version of the shell game, they were able to track an average of 6-7 faces at a time; whereas, non-gamers only could manage 2-3.
Even more interestingly, people only have to play around 10 hours of video games in order to reap the benefits. Due to all constant motion of objects, the brain becomes adept at recognizing the transformations of objects in space. In fact, a study showed that after playing games for 10 hours individuals were 2x better than before at recognizing 3-D objects rotated or transformed in some way, which was better than individuals who took a college class on the topic. Not only did these individuals score substantially better than prior to their game experience, but the effects remained after 5 months without playing games.
Against common belief, studies done on the eyesight of gamers proved gamers have better vision then non-gamers in two distinctive ways. First, gamers have sharper close-range vision allowing them to read extremely fine print without additional aid. Second, gamers are able to distinguish between more types of gray. This of course seems extremely arbitrary, but in adverse weather conditions, this ability may allow an individual to respond a fraction of second earlier, preventing an accident.
Usually, when people play action video games, they simultaneously talk with those others on their team. These interactions have shown to create strong bonds between individuals who routinely play games with each other. Research showed the cooperation and team work needed to succeed at more competitive levels of gaming increases communication skills and trust between individuals quite dramatically. In addition, completing difficult in-game challenges or winning games against others boosts self-confidence for the winner.
All this research has proven that video games do have health benefits and may not be a complete waste of time. In fact, the research has given compelling reasons for non-gamers to consider playing video games. Of course, too much of anything generally yields harmful side effects, but playing a few hours of video games per week may actually be healthy.
Links to more information about the research:
https://www.ted.com/talks/jane_mcgonigal_gaming_can_make_a_better_world?language=en
https://www.ted.com/talks/daphne_bavelier_your_brain_on_video_games