Daphna Bavelier is a scientist, who is doing studies
on how certain things affect human brain. In this episode of TED talks she is
presenting surprising results of an experiment about video games and their
impact on a player’s brain, cognitive functions and vision. What is your
opinion about video games? Do you play them often or not at all?
1. Is
it true that games affect vision? Does the model of the display of your
computer matter?
2. What
practical skills can a person obtain during the playtime?
3. How
much time playing games you find ok? Is twenty hours per week totally fine, or no more than fifteen minutes per day?
Comments
Definitely, it is a truth. I think, it is not a secret what she said in the video. Playing video games 1 hour per day it is ok, but playing 24/7 - it can't be good for you health, especially for our eyes.
What about practical skills, i would say without any hesitation that it is focus. Focus on what you do. It is very important to stay focus not only playing games, but also when you want to reach some goals.
Playing video games more than 5 hours a week it is waste of time, for sure. We are living in a high-tech world, where are all technologies are developing so fast and our life is ticking away even faster. You are in the age of 24 today, life expectancy in Poland is 77 years old (i took the average number between male and female). Just imagine, that you only have 53 birthdays left - and it is not a 100% chance. So it's up to you, to earn money, live the best life you can only imagine or to waste your time by playing video games.
For me, I use the computer only if I have to, let alone play games, that's why I think it's hard to get practical skills.
I do not play games and I think this is unnecessary, so every time is a waste of time.
People are spending their life in multitude of ways. We spend a lot of time working. We also like to relax a bit, we want to be social and spend some time with our family and friends. Apart from work, people also need some entertainment. Some of us choose a good book, some meditate, some go for a trip to a fareway lands. We watch movies, we binge-watch tv series. And we play games. Board games, roleplaying games and computer games.
I've had a period in my life when I had been playing games (or rather one game) 20-30 hours a week. It was an MMO, I was playing it with my friends from all over the europe. I was playing it together with my wife as well. And I don't consider this time to be wasted. Of course you can say: you could be inventing! you could be looking for a cure for cancer. You could be even writing a PhD thesis and you wasted 1000s hours of your life on a GAME!
In the end your real life acomplishments are not the only things that matter in life. Also your memories. And I have great memories of spending time with my friends, achieving together goals which are irrelevant from the perspective of human race, but were very importent to our group. We've got sense of accomplishment after reaching them, we had good social ties - I've met some of those people later in real life and we stay in touch even today, many years after we played the game.
Of course maybe you imagine someone playing a game for 10+ hours a week as a lowly, sad no-lifer stuck in their parent's cellar. And maybe there are such people around. But you can be sad and lowly and stuck without video games as well. But that's not how it works. That's why I disagree with you. Games are not a waste of your life, as long as they are not your whole life. At least from my 43y old perspective.
I am not telling that my hours spent in games, or their time watching all of the TV-series they could (Only Game of Thrones by itself takes approximately seventy three hours of non stop watching), were wasted. It is not my job to judge. But what I am trying to tell is that average person's schedule takes one third of the time for sleep, and second third -- for work. You got only one third of the day to do what you want. With an average lifespan in Poland being seventy seven years, you have twenty six years for developing a cure for cancer. Of course, nobody is going to spend their free time doing that. You are going to use this time for your family, for relaxing, restoring your vitality and stamina after work. And that is why we have books, TV-series, games, music, arts... For me personally, games are more than just a way to relax. It is my profession. As well as TV-series are profession and way to feed themselves for a numerous actors, writers, cameramen... And both those activities have advantages. Some of the game's advantages are stated in the video. TV-series probably can broaden your knowledge and horizons. I am certain, that googling a bit will show some TED talks about them as well. Lets not judge others, especially without proper knowledge on the topic.
2. Various. It can be concentration and control, multitasking, memory, intelligence and even sight. Often games help in social skills, for example, communication, finding new friends etc.
3. I do not know what 'ok' means to others, but for me no more than 3 hours a week is enough.
Watching at a bad display for a long time everyday harms your eyes…
Other than that, the monitor is an important part of our life. So yes, it matters to have good quality and big size monitor that your eyes do not strain too much.
2. Focus
Games like to spend almost all day playing one game. Imagine having the same determination while doing work… Devastating.
Multitask
The presentation has a good example of this point.
Management
Most games have some type of management while playing it. If players think about life as a game, it easy for them to apply the same skill here.
Competition
From an early age, gamers can grasp the taste of competition. Being it best of the group or having crushing defeat from a friend, it is important for them to understand work that needs to be done in order to defend the title of the best or to have revenge of your friend.
3. It depends what kind of games I play at the moment. If it is a story driven game, I can spend all day playing it (saying hello to people that marathoning TV series but think that playing games are a waste of time). On another hand, having one hour of a good competitive game can be enough to satisfy me.
I think that games as such do not affect our vision in a bad way, it all depends on display type. If someone is using CRT screen, he may damage his vision, and it doesn't matter what is displaying on it..
There are certain benefits from playing games. I agree with the presentation that concentration or object tracking may improve thanks to games. Sometimes social skills can be improved or even language skills, especially when someone have to communicate with other people inside the game.
I think that time limits for playing games depends on person. It is important to do not forget about real life, so that games doesn't affect it in negative way.
I think that everything should have it limits and playing video games for 1h or 2h per day is fine but spending 24h staring at the screen is definitely harmful for your health.
I found out that I failed test with yellow and blue faces which was mentioned in above video. I realized that maybe I miss some benefits which video games offer like better object tracking and attention to details.
Immediately what comes to mind, multitasking, memory and maybe communication skills. Of course, all manifest differently.
I rarely play video games, but I think , approximately 2-3 hours per day - it's fine. But everyone must define a limit for himself, so that the “real life” would not suffer.
When it comes to practical skills not many of them but some of them are crucial in our life, learning how to make fast decisions in critical situations can be one of them, it can save yo9ur ass many times in game and even more in real life. Since when it comes to multiplayer games we are in theory "equal" ppl can learn how to become leaders by taking initiative in the groups they play, you can learn how to prepare detailed strategies and how to properly research and prepare for the enemy.
When it comes to time spent, well whatever floats your boat mate, i can play 24h straight but i can also do a quick 30 minutes session depending of what i want to do, or what i need to do.
I think that the model of display you use on a daily bases is really important. When you use a cheap one your eyes will be tired after two hours of using it. I think that every web developer should invest in a good display.
2. For example you will be better at multitasking, solving puzzles and concertation. Also some video games will help you with your language skills and will teach you how to think in more abstract way.
3. The answer for me is simple you can play video games as long as you want until it does not affect your family and your health. If you can spend 10 hours playing video games and it does not affect your family and your health I am fine with that.
As for how much time spent playing videogames is okay, I honestly don't know - I'm an avid gamer and I spend a lot of my free time playing videogames, but I don't truly know how much is okay. If I had to take a guess, it propably depends on what kind of life you live and how much free time you have.
During the play time, I think one of the skills that is developed is team play. Getting a good team is pretty hard thing to do. But players tend to group themselves, help each other, share resources. It’s very valuable in many jobs.
Well it definitely depends how much free time you have. In my opinion it shouldn’t be more than 30% of your free time.
Also, I am happy that in this TED talk there was explanation how the research is done it was very interesting.
However, I believe that spending 20 hours per week for a video game is too much. It more than a whole day, excluding sleep. Maybe for a person which is professional gamer it even too little, but for others as myself, for which video games are just an entertainment it a lot. Because if even we compare this time with other entertainments which we are doing every week you will be able to see that it a lot. For example, if you are playing some sports games or going to the gym is from 2 to 10 hours a week. If you are watching every evening a film it will take you around 10 hours a week.
About the practical skills I found fast reactions as best skill which I learned from playing games like Osu, FPS games. This is truth what this lady said that WE gamers can react faster on roads and it saved my car or even health/life many times. Other thing is multitasking which I find very useful :) I can for example work, listen to music and where something is refreshing or loading even play turn based RPG game on console.
How much time I think is OK for gaming... like you said, 20 hours a week is just okay. Personally I don't have time for it beside travelling and playing nintendo switch, but 1-2 hours daily is better in my opinion than watching TV for the same amount of time. I remember times when I was younger and was playing like 6 hours daily. I don't recommend it to you guys and it should be punished!
2) I would say it's depends of the game - FPS type of games gives us focus and reflex along with fast, strategic thinking, quick calls ect. Long term, strategic games can teach us how to think ahead and plann our task well. Games like sims, simcity or spore stimulates our creativity. So in my opinon there is a lot of cons of being a gamer ;)
3) It all depends of a person, their lifestyle and effect of game on their life. I can't give You a number. There is a lot of situations where playing for hours can affect us in a positive way and also a negative. Playing games for couple of hours coudl kill our stress, let us loose and help get ride of negative thoughts. On the other side it can also create a lot of damage to our body and mind. So finding a sweet spot in particular moment of our day/week/life is a key to get the best of it.
Video games improves reaction, develops our creativity and logical thinking, and even can help us to find friends, if we play online :) I learned English from video games. 10 years ago a lot of cool games didn’t have translations, so sometimes the only option to enjoy the game was playing it in English with the dictionary in my hands.
For me an hour or two a day for video games is ok. My answer would be completely different 5 years ago, because I was something like a gamer myself and played a looot. But the adulthood means responsibilities, so 3+ hours a days just too much. Now I prefer sleeping more when I have free time.
People who spend more than 15 hours per week playing video games can see better small letters then those who don’t spend so much time.
Model of the display on the computer is really important, because more bigger screen, we can have better position that can avoid spine problems.
Person during the playtime can obtain better sight and also better reaction during driving a car, when is cloudy or the sky is completely grey, which can be helpful in order to avoid an accident.
1 hour of playing games per day i find it ok. In general i think that we shouldn’t play more than 10 hours per week.
Games increase skills as perceptiveness, agility. What can be exemplified by the famous game "Counter-Strike" where sight has to track several objects.
We can also develop our tactical skills by playing in the type of strategy eg Starcraft, Warcraft etc. Thanks to games we learn how to be more coopearative with other people/gamers.
Is it okay to play games for 20 hours per week? I think it is, until we neglect our duties and physical activity.
By playing game we can learn a lot, for example playing games like Counter Strike or League of Legend we can learn how talk with others and how work as group to get your goal or learn a lot of strategy.
How much play time is too much depend of what we doing. If I was kid I played a lot of MMO games because I don’t have very powerful computer to play (for example Follout :/ ) and I was spending something 10h per day sometimes more. Now if I going back I thing it was a little waste of time because it was too much. Now as a game dev I’m playing computer games to get some idea how make new better game.
I think that games affect vision. Games have a lot of colors, and beautiful graphics. You can train your agility. Of course, you should organize your time and be careful because computer is very addictive.
What about last question? It depends on your time. If you have free time you can spend it on whatever you want: playing football or computer games - it's your choose. Anyway, in my opinion fourteen hours per week is okay for me. It's about one hour everyday - not too much and not enough.
A practical skill during the game is thinking. For example, strategic games are very helpful in the future for building a strategy for daily life. But it is also worth remembering that there are games that waste our time. It is worth considering a game before playing.
Sometimes we do not have time to play. And a person begins to realize that the quests can be completed in real life. Many games simulate real life. I once played games, but now I don’t. And I think that giving one day a week for a game is normal. It is like a vacation.
2. What practical skills can a person obtain during the playtime?
3. How much time playing games you find ok? Is twenty hours per week totally fine, or no more than fifteen minutes per day?
Does it affect vision? Hmmm every direct light will damage your eyes, especially blue one. But nowadays we can protect our eyes 1000 times better then 10 or 20 years ago. If you have good monitor and some kind of filter, plus you take breakes every hour you should be fine.
Practical skills? Maaaaany comes to my mind. Depends on what kind of game you play. You can learn how to drive, you can learn some facts or even languages. By playing games i have improved my communication like 10 times.
I think every ammount of time is ok if you dont have any other responsibilities. If you came back from work, your partner or familiy doesnt need anything, home is clean then why wouldn't you play for whole night if that wont affect your health and life.
Fortunately now we have much better displays than for example old CRT monitors.
If you don’t spend too much time in front of screen, it shouldn’t damage your eyes.
It’s good to have short frequent breaks and remember to blink (the same when you read books).
It was surprising for me that playing games can improve eyesight. It also trains our ability to track
objects around.
I think the comparison games to wine (in the case of health) is very accurate. We mainly focus on vision, but we should consider whole body including spine.
In my opinion playing games a few hours a week is ok, but to be honest I dont’t play games at all.
As for the social skill I kinda agree, however many popular games have more or less toxic community. Besides, meeting new friends online has always been something like a trial version of meeting new people in real life for me. Don't know, why. Meeting in person still feels more... Correct way to do so.
I think yes, when especially when you are working on a computer or just spend too much time in front of your screen. It's very important to monitor your vision - just to be sure that you wouldn't have any problems in the future.
2. What practical skills can a person obtain during the playtime?
Reflex, cause when you are playing game like Counter-Strike it is important to react fast on action that is happening on the screen. Also, when you are going deeper into the game you may acquire some leading skills.
3. How much time playing games you find ok? Is twenty hours per week totally fine, or no more than fifteen minutes per day?
It depends on how much free time do you have, or what kind of things you do except playing games. In my opinion you can play as much as you like, as long as your all responsibilities are covered and you do not fail anything important because of it.
I think that a lot. Physical fitness, logical thinking. Games develop thinking, and they are quite simple to play. But we have to remember that you have to have rules that we play, for example, max 4 hours a day.
I don't play games at the moment, but I want to play the latest rockstar Red Dead Redemption 2, but I think I will play on Christmas. I think that then I will play a lot more than 20 hours during the week.
We can say that video games have a really positive impact on our brain, but as the speaker said, we can't exaggerate with anything, games too. There are a lot of things that matter, screen, light in your room, etc. Every detail is important, and we need to find a compromise.
As I said before, I play video games a lot, but I think 20 hours per week isn't too much. It's hard to choose one value because for everyone this number will be different. For me, it's really good.
Depending on the games we play we can gain different sort of skills. If we like playing strategy games, it will improve our mind and planning skills.
If only it is not twelve hour per week every month every year it's ok. I prefer to have 12 hours string marathons than playing 2 hours a day,
Did my vision change? I think that my vision still the same as before games.
Of course there is skill improvement from video games : the time of reaction became faster, communication in team upgraded too. Also the ability to analyze your mistakes and a few others.
But do I choose to play games over real sport? No! Even if your vision will improve a little bit, your body won’t become stronger. You can improve all skills that I mentioned in different kind of sport and after that spend time in games to make your skills even better.
I think, today, computer games became natural part of our lives. A lot of people of different generations enjoy spending their time sitting in front of computer screen for hours. Is it harmful? I don’t think so. If you don’t take it to extreme and waste days and nights trying to pass some level, losing your nerves and health along the way. Games just like any tools can be used to help and to harm people. Nowadays, I think a lot of games actually help to educate you in some areas and others to train you in something like reaction. So just keep balance and you’ll be fine.