Study: Gamers read, study less but still socialize
by Kyle Orland 
{ Jul 3rd 2007 at 10:55AM }
The latest scientific study of gamers is kind of a wash for the image of our favorite hobby. On the plus side, adolescents who play games were shown to spend just as much time socializing with family and friends as non-gamers. On the downside, adolescent gamers were found to spend less time reading and doing homework than non-gamers.The University of Michigan study asked nearly 1,500 10- to 19-year-olds across the country to report how they spent their time during the 2002-03 school year. The roughly 36 percent of the sample that played games spent 30 percent less time reading and 34 percent less time doing homework than their non-gaming peers. Interestingly, the reading deficit came mostly from male gamers while the homework deficit was caused mostly by female gamers, according to a Reuters story on the study. It's not all bad news though; the study also concluded that "gamers and nongamers did not differ in the amount of time they spent interacting with family and friends."
Before you go off believing that gamers are more likely to be lazy ignoramuses, understand that reading and homework time are not direct measures of intelligence. The study author herself admitted to Reuters that "there have been some studies that show that high academic achievers spend less time doing homework." In other words, perhaps gamers have just been trained to work smarter, not harder.
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
Anam @ Jul 3rd 2007 11:03AM
First question: Did they check the grades between gamers and non-gamers? Because if gamers got the same grades while spending 34% less time doing homework, then it sounds like they were just more intelligent or efficient with their homework.
Second question: Why is reading books considered more important than other forms of reading? I spent years of my early life playing role-playing games that required a TON of reading, but people say I don't like to read because I don't read novels. Because obviously novels are more important than every other artform on earth.
x876543 @ Jul 3rd 2007 11:14AM
Novels aren't the only form of reading, you can read biographies, tech books, self-help books, etc. Obviously you don't read anything but game screens, which aren't that complex when compared to what's written in books.
And I really hate it when people spell lose as 'loose'. You can loose a knot, but you can't tie any knots if you lose the rope!
Matt B @ Jul 3rd 2007 11:21AM
According to my study of studies trying to generalize the gamers lifestyle, 100% of the studies are dumb and have too small sample size.
Interview a few hundred thousand people from various parts of the world and maybe you would see some trends.
Tukulito-Zakayama @ Jul 3rd 2007 11:24AM
@ 2 x876543
And I really hate it when people spell lose as 'loose'. You can loose a knot, but you can't tie any knots if you lose the rope!
Lose or loose you lose because you hate when you dont need to, so you are lost.......
Triforceowner @ Jul 3rd 2007 11:25AM
Anam, you might like this: When my sister was studying creative writing for her bachelors(?) degree her teacher was thrilled to hear that she played videogames, told her to never stop, and told her there was nothing you could get out of a good book that you couldn't get out of a good game.
The reason for this is that the criteria for the two in terms of story remains the same. Good character development, plot, themes, etc. all make a good book and a good game.
If anything, a good game is better for you than a good book, because it won't only challenge your mind with human conditions, but it will also challenge your mind with logic, just like a chess game.
These politics who go about shouting that games are the devil and all gamers are going to hell really have no idea what they are talking about. Games are such an important part of todays media we surround ourselves in that without them you are really lacking any logical challenge in your entertainment.
Think about it: a movie can be beautifully created with an amazing story and spot-on acting, but its mental workings on you stop after you figure out an message the director is trying to get onto you. Of coarse this sometimes is a huge message, and can't be taken lightly (documentaries are what I'm speaking of here).
Anyway, I think I've ranted enough for now...
Henry @ Jul 3rd 2007 11:25AM
Actually it's 'loosen' a knot.
Mike @ Jul 3rd 2007 11:49AM
as long as were talking proper english here, didn't anyone notice that the title should be written as...
Study: Gamers read and study less but still socialize.
otherwise its a little misleading.
oh and @#1 the reason why people consider books to be the main source of reading, is because thats the central idea in a book where as in videogames the main focus is mental interaction with an interface.
liqwid @ Jul 3rd 2007 11:47AM
I read... a lot... too much. I should lay off the reading for a while. My brain hurts from the massive intake of words.
Anam @ Jul 3rd 2007 11:54AM
@x876543
What makes books more complex? Are computer screens incapable of displaying the same words that are in books? There's just some underlying assumption that things written in books are important, while things written on computer screens aren't.
And by the way, I didn't just play video games. I also played Dungeons & Dragons, so "obviously" you were wrong.
@Triforceowner
Thanks for sharing. I hope we see more teachers like that as games become more integrated in society.
Susi @ Jul 3rd 2007 1:09PM
Yep. I did less homework and spent less time reading. I'd be a perfect example of that study.
But I still graduated from high school and college with high honors. Some of us possibly spend less time doing homework because we do it *faster* and remember things from class *better*.
kingofwale @ Jul 3rd 2007 1:25PM
I bet this is done before Paper Mario game, man, that game sound be counted as a book. ;)
Gregory @ Jul 3rd 2007 3:31PM
nobody go believing this applies to everybody
i play video games all the time and i graduted 1st in my class
i mean most of the people in my class are idiots
but yeah
same the other way, i know a lot of non-gamers who do horrible in school
Derek @ Jul 3rd 2007 2:48PM
The positive thing about this study is that it shows video games are not an anti-social activity. They concluded that most games were played with friends. As for the fact that gamers read less than non-gamers - so what? I'm sure that people who play a lot of sports, for example, spend less time reading, too.
However, the people leaving comments that gaming is more advanced than reading a book because of logic puzzles, etc, simply prove that the study is true. You clearly spend all your time gaming and have no idea what you're talking about.
Rare Hare @ Jul 3rd 2007 2:48PM
x876543 (#2) said:
"And I really hate it when people spell lose as 'loose'. You can loose a knot, but you can't tie any knots if you lose the rope!"
---------
I don't know about you, but I "LOOSEN" a knot.
Perhaps you're one of those gamers who should have spent more time on homework.
Anam @ Jul 3rd 2007 3:06PM
@Derek
What exactly is so "advanced" about reading a book? Are games less capable of telling an interesting story? Or do you mean that reading a book requires more skill or knowledge? Or do you mean that reading a book will result in more skill or knowledge?
And games aside, what is in a book that can't be told on a webpage? Do webpages prevent the learning process? Do words have less meaning if they're not printed in ink?
How is it that a child is praised for reading something on paper but ridiculed for reading something on a computer screen?
serotoninzero @ Jul 3rd 2007 3:09PM
I do end up gaming more than I read, but I still read. I've got a decent book collection, but I am like five books behind that I have to read up on. Actually, a bit more.. but I'm reading the Halo books too haha.
Chuck @ Jul 3rd 2007 4:29PM
Now they may say we spend less time doing those things, but they never said that we get lower grades and are in lower classes as result.
I don't know about you guys, but the group of hardcore gamers I always hang out with, when I was in high school, we're all the kids in all the AP and honors classes. We all passed with A's doing homework the last 5 minutes before it was due.
Splinter @ Jul 3rd 2007 4:40PM
Alright, my second tip excepted, +2 Star Rating!!
Derek @ Jul 3rd 2007 6:29PM
@ Anam:
Yes, games are less capable of telling a story. The story in a game is used as a framing device for the action or gameplay elements. Even a great game like Shadow of the Colossus is still great because of its puzzle-solving and action elements, not its "story".
And yes, reading a book may result in more skill or knowledge. I guess there are educational games, but who plays them?
As for books on the web - that's not what we're talking about. We're talking about time spent on gaming versus time spent on reading books. Nobody conducting the study said that one was better than the other. They simply stated the statistical truth.
My point in the previous post was that anybody who thinks that the value of a book is determined by the mental challenge of figuring out puzzle elements is clearly spending too much time gaming, and needs to open themselves up to other types of entertainment experiences.
Brad Lee @ Jul 3rd 2007 6:34PM
I think Kyle Orland is very right to say that homework/reading is not necessarily an example of intelligence.
It's true, homework and reading _can_ make one more intelligent, but the key is that homework and that piece of reading must be intelligent to begin with. Most high school homework is either trivial knowledge or bs, and I reaaally don't think reading a corning romantic/gothic novel is going to further your intelligence anymore than a video game is.
Personally, I played a lot of video games in high school because they were actually challenging, while school, well, wasn't.
But video games also provide that "out-of-self" feeling a good book, movie, song, etc. also gives you.
Video games are targeted just cuz they're the new thing. Before it was TV, before that Radio, before that, if you can imagine, novels!
Jules @ Jul 4th 2007 7:21AM
I'd like to see a breakdown of the game system the person plays the most against the amount of reading and homework done.
I say this because i think those that play Nintendo are more like to read and do homework. Afterall Nintendo tends to have more text in games than rely on CGI and voice acting like many PS and XBox games do.
My nephew turned 6 at the weekend and was given the Sims2 for the DS. I sat with him to help him as he had to read all the instructions due to no voice overs, so i think that's great for his education! Definitely should be more reading required in games, particularly for the younger audience.