Study "Strongly" Links Gaming With Kids' Poor Attention Spans

[Foxbat Flyer]

After well over 50 hours of gaming in the past 2 weeks, i feel my attention span has dropped, but i currently blame this on lack of sleep, but this is the worst ive ever felt... I have a reduced perception of consequence (Pulled out infront of a car who i never realised was there, when i would usually wait, even if the car is along way away. Also while flying, i never even noticed some things that were going on around me, when these are things i usually pick up on)... I am actually concerned something is going to happen to me soon...

Edit: i have had one day every week where i have not slept in over 30 hours, so that may contribute

 

[lizards]

honestly im bored and about to go to bed so i just skimmed it

but if they think that rapid subject changes on TV and stuff decrease focusing capabilities, well then, have they never been to anything higher than the 4th grade? they have 40 minutes (roughly) talking about one thing (sometimes with frequent intersubject changes) and then they go to something completely different

 

[lizards]

After well over 50 hours of gaming in the past 2 weeks, i feel my attention span has dropped, but i currently blame this on lack of sleep, but this is the worst ive ever felt... I have a reduced perception of consequence (Pulled out infront of a car who i never realised was there, when i would usually wait, even if the car is along way away. Also while flying, i never even noticed some things that were going on around me, when these are things i usually pick up on)... I am actually concerned something is going to happen to me soon...

Edit: i have had one day every week where i have not slept in over 30 hours, so that may contribute

while i dont think i put in 50 hours in like a month i am a frequent (kind of) gamer and im always alert to things around me and notice things that most people dont

the bottom line with these kind of studies is that it affects everyone differently, which is why some people just play as a cure for boredem and others play almost like its a job

 

[lizards]

[HEADING=1]THANK YOU SWEET MERCIFUL GOD AN UNBIASED STUDY FOR ONCE![/HEADING] This study actually seems to make sense and is not bullshit spouting from their mouth like the whole car-surfing GTA4 thing.

I don't know if you are agreeing but I'm going to say this there is more then a billion children in this world they have made a study from around 1,200 of them.

Okay I don't really agree with it and I'm going to keep gaming, I was just glad because it looked like they were actually trying to put effort into this study instead of pulling shit out of their arse.

this guy is right due to my previous comment of it affecting everyone differently you need either a major major study (i mean huge) or it seems to be invalid

 

[Kair]

Of course it drains their attention spans, it gives them a lot to think about. If parents worry about their kids thinking too much, they might as well join the local church community.

Thinking leads to increased intelligence. This is of course unless they play mindless video games.

 

[Why do I care]

I've been a gamer for years on end and i'm one of the top students in my school. I pay attention and all that stuff yet lots of other people in my class don't pay attention and they are not gamers at all. I'm not saying this is false or anything but as a kid, I was exposed to mario and star fox and stuff. Problem is probably that kids now play games like Gears of War and Halo and are exposed to extreme violence and harsh language which this most likely affects their studies in school.

 

[sluggyfreelancer]

Let me tell you something about attention spans of kids.

My brother is a decade older than me by now (36 years old) and has had a fair bit of experience teaching music in many different kinds of grade schools, where attention spans of kids are usually the worst.

In just 6 months he enjoyed more success with his teaching as well as more admiration from both other professors and his own students than anyone else has at that school for as long as they can remember.

Why? Because he grew up as a gamer. He understood, that to entice the younger generations of today you need to adapt your teaching methods so that they hook their shorter attentions spans properly. And sure enough, his students started to pester him more and more to tell things about music they'd never dreamed of. He didn't compare the classical music examples to the kids, he compared things like Queen's Bohemian Rhapsody or Metallica as examples, ones that he could support with musical theory as well to boot.

All of these kids that study under him suddenly have incredibly long attention spans in his classes while they remain bored within other classes run by more senior and old-school professors.

Gaming making kids have shorter attention spans? More like the older generation being unwilling to adapt to their needs as being such and instead clinging onto the past with studies like this one IMHO.

Your brother sounds like a teacher my school needs. And a teacher that I would actually enjoy to be taught by.

 

[mariofan1000]

I personally think this is just plain stup- Look! A car!

 

[EHKOS]

Due to my 12 picosecond boredom threshold......tl;dr

 

[Bullfrog1983]

Another in a long line of studies that says videogames are bad for attention spans... yawn.

How does this relate to ice cream? And what about the double chocolate donut? These are the questions of a generation unheard!

Also, why the hell is this still news? If you want children to pay attention, allowing them to play videogames for 8 hours/day is not the best method - at least the author got that right.

They should fund a study to see how many hours children spend interacting with their parents/family versus the amount of hours they spend with videogames and then see if that factors into ADHD at all. If not that, perhaps one about the amount of drugs pumped into people diagnosed with ADHD and how it changes their behaviour in the long run.

Nah, let's do the sure thing... something that doesn't require an attention span.

Videogames bad!

 

[Exile714]

What kind of parent doesn't let their kid play video games? The kind of parent who makes their kids read books about "science" for fun. Those kids are so bored with life that school is an interesting break from THEIR reality. Sure, these kids do well in school, get good grades etc., but for all of us who graduated from school long enough ago to see how well those kids have done in life know that success in school does not mean success in life.

I did well in school, but played video games, had a life outside of both school and games, and I can honestly say I am doing fairly well. Is my attention span shorter than my friends who don't play video games? Sure, maybe... but I can focus well enough to do my work and that's all that matters.