Author: Amal Bilal, Class of 2028

Figure 1: A couple of young kids playing video games.

Video games have become an increasingly popular source of entertainment among children, with over 90% of children between 2 and 17 years old actively playing video games. Although video games allow children to socialize and have leisure time, they can also lead to addiction. Excessive gaming can negatively impact children’s cognitive and academic skills, memory capabilities, and attention span, potentially contributing to conditions like anxiety, depression, or attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD). To study these claims, Jazan University researcher Amani Kappi and her team explored how video game addiction affects the cognitive abilities of children by analyzing their attention and memory skills.

The team’s study, which was conducted in Emam Mohamed Abdo and Omar Ibn Elkhatab Preparatory Schools, consisted of randomly selected students aged 9-13 with no physical, mental, or cognitive disorders. The researchers used the Game Addiction Scale for Children (GASC) which evaluates the level of the child’s gaming addiction based on their dependence, mood changes, withdrawal (suddenly stopping the addictive habit), and relapse (returning to addictive habits) symptoms to gaming; the Children’s Memory Questionnaire (CMQ) which evaluates working memory and attention, visual memory, and episodic memory; the Clinical Attention Problems Scale which measures children’s attention problems; and the Learning, Executive, and Attention Functioning (LEAF) scale which assesses core cognitive, academic, and learning abilities such as attention, processing speed, working memory, planning, and problem-solving. The children and their parents rated the children’s various skills through a series of questionnaires shared on WhatsApp.

Over the course of four months, the researchers found that the students had a moderate level of gaming addiction with mild attention problems and memory issues. The results indicated that the children had borderline difficulties with factual memory, processing speed, visual-spatial organization, sustained sequential processing, working memory, problem-solving, mathematics skills, and written expression skills. No significant issues were identified with the children’s comprehension, conceptual learning, attention, or basic reading skills. The research showed that video game addiction has a significant impact on attention, which then impacts the child’s cognitive and learning abilities. The researchers recommend that healthcare professionals raise awareness of the potential harm caused by excessive video gaming and discuss these risks with both children and their parents. Overall, these findings reveal that video game addiction can have an impact on children’s cognitive and learning abilities, and therefore children should be encouraged to play in moderation.

Works Cited:

[1] Kappi, A.A., El-Etreby, R.R., Badawy, G.G. et al. Effects of memory and attention on the association between video game addiction and cognitive/learning skills in children: mediational analysis. BMC Psychol 12, 364 (2024). https://doi.org/10.1186/s40359-024-01849-9.%5B2%5D Image retrieved from: https://www.pexels.com/photo/two-young-boys-sitting-on-striped-rug-8185865/