Come on. This is getting silly. We've had some pretty flimsy 'games are bad' stories, but the one in today's Metro is embarrassing. Read this:
It's nothing we haven't heard a million times before and - fair enough - it makes some points that only the most fanatical gaming lunatics would try to argue against. If a 10-year old stays up late playing videogames, it's highly likely he or she will be cranky, knackered and less receptive in the classroom. It's common sense and definitely something parents need to keep in check.
But what bugs my chuff about this article is that it's based on 'research' carried out by a single primary school teacher and was conducted using 26 children. Call me nitpicky, but that doesn't sound like any kind of conclusive systematic investigation to me. It sounds like a school project. Like making a pinhole camera. Or measuring the playground with a stick.
Certainly this information would be useful to distribute at a local level to inform teachers and parents of a problem in this particular school. But to be covered by a national tabloid paper with a circulation of over 1 million? And to be presented as credible research? Seriously? Really? You're fackin' muggin' me off mate.
And another thing. Instead of joining the boring chorus of broken records, if the kids at the school love videogames so much, why not bring videogames into the classroom? Get the kids to dream up their own game on paper. Write a story for it. Draw the characters. Make a level out of Lego. Use a little imagination and spark their interest. It might even stop them falling asleep.
Contrary to what mainstream media would have us believe, recent research has proven that videogames can be a force of extreme good that can help a child's learning. And that's research that I conducted this morning by asking my two daughters. So it's totally valid.
March 9, 2011
