“Video games don't make kids fat: Study” plus 1 more

Posted: 20 Jan 2011 09:38 AM PST

Video games don't make kids fat: Study

By QMI Agency

Last Updated: January 20, 2011 12:40pm

Video games and Internet use might not be making kids fat, but it could be affecting their grades.

A new study out of Michigan State University has found that kids who play a lot of video games don't suffer from higher rates of obesity than their peers, but they do suffer lower test scores.

The study also concluded that kids who use the Internet more often than their peers are generally equipped with better reading skills.

"Contrary to one survey finding and popular beliefs, technology use was unrelated to BMI (body mass index) or body weight after controlling for the effects of socio-demographic characteristics on these measures," the study says.

That means that household income, parents' education level and race are actually better able to predict the prevalence of obesity than how much kids use technology.

"Yet there is substantial evidence that children who play video games more, particularly violent video games, have poorer performance in school, more aggressive cognition and behaviour, and receive more negative teacher ratings than do children who play video games less or not at all," the study also found.

But at the same time, Internet use was reflective of high standardized test scores and higher reading skills, as well as higher overall self-esteem, researchers said.

The researchers expressed concern regarding differences that occur from access to technology, that the digital divide between rich and poor is increasingly concerning.

"Technology will become increasingly less available to those who need it most – underprivileged groups, and increasingly more available to those who need it least – affluent groups," they said. "Efforts to reduce the digital divides by increasing public access are unlikely to result in digital equity. Rather, direct interventions from public and private organizations are needed to reduce and eliminate all dimensions of the digital divide."

The study was published in the latest issue of the Journal of Computers in Human Behaviour. It surveyed 482 children averaging 12 years old.

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Kids Learning Computer Skills Before Life Skills, Study Finds

Posted: 20 Jan 2011 01:08 PM PST

By: Chloe Albanesius AVG logo

Will exposure to technology help our children be more productive members of an increasingly tech-savvy society or rob them of the chance to have a normal childhood? A recent study from AVG examined this issue and found that many kids age 2 to 5 have developed more tech skills than life skills.

"True, many of us had television, Atari, and the ultimate destroyer of innocence, cable. But none of these distractions so drastically and quickly reshaped the childhood experience as the computer and what ultimately formed its heart and soul, the Internet," AVG's J.R. Smith wrote in a blog post.

Smith was most concerned, however, about Internet safety issues. It's great that kids can operate advanced tech devices, he argued, but are parents taking the necessary precautions to keep them safe on the Web?

AVG polled 2,200 mothers with Internet access and kids between the ages of 2 and 5 in the U.S., Canada, UK, France, Germany, Italy, Spain, Japan, Australia, and New Zealand. The group found that while most small children can't yet swim, tie their shoelaces, or make breakfast on their own, they do know how to turn on a computer, point and click with a mouse, and play a computer game.

About 58 percent of the kids know how to play a computer game, while 20 percent can swim and 52 percent can ride a bike. Kids in the UK and France - about 70 percent - are most likely to be able to play video games, AVG found.

About 28 percent of young children, meanwhile, know how to make a mobile phone call, but only 20 percent know how to dial 911. Kids in Italy (44 percent) are most likely to know how to use the phone. Kids in the U.S. have the upper hand when it comes to operating smartphones or tablets, at 30 percent.

AVG, however, said the most notable data to come from the study is really that 69 percent of children aged 2 to 5 are using a computer in the first place.

"It's exciting and commendable that so many parents are teaching their children such valuable computer skills so early on—they will need these skills to succeed later in life, and perhaps increasingly, not so later in life," Smith wrote. "But as more kids are given the power to log onto the Internet and let the entire world spill into their living rooms, are they also getting the skills and supervision they need to keep them and their families safe?"

As a result, Smith said AVG will release new product features, educational tools, and awareness campaigns over the next few months to educate parents about staying safe online.

Wednesday's study is a follow-up to an October study from AVG that found that a majority of kids have an online presence before the age of two.

AVG Kids Learning Computer Skills Before Life Skills

Kids Games

Friday, January 21, 2011