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The impact of digital media on children’s intelligence

nature.com

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Re: The impact of digital media on children’s intelligence

#81

Post by mrtksn »

bamboozled wrote: post #77
mrtksn wrote: post #33

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I recall, when I was a kid the games were extremely addictive for me and I couldn't just quit playing unless I absolutely have to. I had emotionally very similar experience when quitting smoking, the feeling that if I just can have this one more smoke I will be satisfied and live happily thereafter is very similar to the desire to have one more round. So I wouldn't call games "not addictive". If anything, watching so…

What about neither TV or computer games and doing things outside like fishing, hiking, scouts, riding bikes etc ?

Sure but not everyone has access to these all the time. When I was a kid, I used to live in a smaller town on the river Danube and I did my fair share of biking and fishing. Those are definitely great activities that everyone who can should do but watching TV and playing video games is also nice. The more options you have the luckier you are.

Re: The impact of digital media on children’s intelligence

#82

Post by fartcannon »

ho_schi wrote: post #51
f0e4c2f7 wrote: post #46

When I was a kid I spent too much time on computers but it was mostly reading Wikipedia and googling programming questions, that kind of stuff. Where I grew up there wasn't anyone around I could ask those kinds of questions of. I know that's not the Netflix / ipad world that the study is talking about or nessecarily exists today. But I suspect that bifurcation still exists.

My entry was scripting in Counter-Strike (Quake CFG Scripts). This cannot happen with consoles and Apps on Pads/Smartphones entirely prevent this. Some people try to bring this modification friendly things back, with BBC Microbit, RasPi and so on. But in the end you need to be motivated - and playing better was huge motivation for me!

Which is a good reason to encourage Apple to open up their tiny handheld computers. So kids can learn to tinker.

Re: The impact of digital media on children’s intelligence

#83

Post by galoisgirl »

bamboozled wrote: post #77
mrtksn wrote: post #33

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I recall, when I was a kid the games were extremely addictive for me and I couldn't just quit playing unless I absolutely have to. I had emotionally very similar experience when quitting smoking, the feeling that if I just can have this one more smoke I will be satisfied and live happily thereafter is very similar to the desire to have one more round. So I wouldn't call games "not addictive". If anything, watching so…

What about neither TV or computer games and doing things outside like fishing, hiking, scouts, riding bikes etc ?

Are you asking seriously? How about bad weather, or that part of the day when you've already done those things?

Re: The impact of digital media on children’s intelligence

#84

Post by npteljes »

mcv wrote: post #32
erfgh wrote: post #14

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The problem is that games are very addictive so in extreme cases they can destroy much more thoroughly than TV can.

Tell that to my son's anime addiction. It's worse than his gaming addiction ever was.

How old is he and what is he watching? (if you don't mind)

Re: The impact of digital media on children’s intelligence

#85

Post by npteljes »

thenerdhead wrote: post #65

If this study has you scratching your head about the impact of digital media, do have a read of "Four arguments for the elimination of television" by Jerry Mander. The arguments included in it are no different than many of these new studies coming out. If you grew up to be a latchkey kid and had your fair share of TV/video games/etc, it might give you perspective into things you never thought about. https://www.youtu…

I had to look this up on Wikipedia:

"A latchkey kid, or latchkey child, is a child who returns to an empty home after school or a child who is often left at home with no supervision because their parents are away at work."

Re: The impact of digital media on children’s intelligence

#86

Post by Peku »

throwoutway wrote: post #29
trelane wrote: post #6

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Games are designed to be addictive, so restraint is a good option. So is television, though, so limiting both is a good policy. I would guess that games' interactivity and personalization lead to much more opportunities for deeper addiction, though (see e.g loot boxes.)

Are old games designed to be addictive? The original NES and Sega games? Like Mario Bros, etc? I think more recent games added the addictive components

I don't think they were intentionally, but some people can get addicted.

One more level

Just after this boss

I think single player games now are just as addictive as they were then. Especially when you look at indie games (Shovel Knight, Death's Door etc).

The moment interaction with other players happens is when I feel a higher bump in addiction can happen. Loot boxes, seeing a cool skin etc.

Re: The impact of digital media on children’s intelligence

#88

Post by jgalt212 »

dash2 wrote: post #13

The fact that they "controlled" for genetics using polygenic scores already is a strong sign of low quality research. Polygenic scores are powerful, but they contain very large amounts of noise compared to the true genetic effects. Controlling for genetics using them is like controlling for income by asking whether the respondents own a Porsche. Also, be aware that Scientific Reports is, if not quite a predatory jour…

> In general, these guys have correlations, not causation

You can say that for almost every human study that's not drug based, or very short-term.

Re: The impact of digital media on children’s intelligence

#89

Post by guerrilla »

d3ckard wrote: post #75
lettergram wrote: post #59

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I think the point the prior commenter was making was that this research validates people who think gaming is good. They pointed out the issues and said “if you still want to believe this, I can’t stop you” The commenter may have a bias, but most prior research shows us the opposite of the study. I also saw the poor experimental design and had a similar thoughts. Basically, this research looks poorly done and like an…

In any case, using CoD as an example does not exactly show good will. I personally believe in huge gains from gaming, based on personal experience (so obviously n = 1, read further accordingly). Platformers train hand-eye coordination and pattern recognition, strategies teach resource management, RPGs about optimization and adopting growth mindset, racing games require long-time concentration, puzzlers and adventure…

> good will.

I think you meant good faith. They didn't use it as an example though, it was just rhetorical.

Re: The impact of digital media on children’s intelligence

#90

Post by hackernewds »

twofornone wrote: post #68
Aeolun wrote: post #63

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Only if you optimize for intelligence accoring to the standards in the article. Intelligence does not directly correlate with either success in life or happiness (I believe intelligence is negatively correlated with happiness).

Do you have a source for that? Happiness I can believe, especially because of the correlation between intelligence and neuroticism, but if IQ is a valid proxy for intelligence then I think the consensus is that intelligence strongly correlates with success.

High IQ people are also thought to be prone to ambition, questioning for purpose and stricter yearning at any achievement level which leaves them perennially unsatisfied
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