One difference between my childhood and that of my siblings, who are two and a half years younger than me, was how we spent our free time. I spent my days immersed in a famous novel of five, deciphering the detective genius of Nancy Drew, or falling in love with the main character of the sweet sixteen boyfriend. he, on the other hand, was trying to figure out the best tackling move in KO, racing against time and animated cops in grand theft auto, and spending hours on end kicking a ball around, trying to score in fifa.
Now you might assume that this might make me prefer books over games, but interestingly enough, the opposite is true. as time went on i learned to enjoy the games. I wouldn’t say I’m a fan, far from it, but I did realize there were some benefits to be gained from gaming.
You are reading: Books vs video games
so let’s wait a minute before we lovers of literature go looking for our battle weapons against games. Parents also take a breather before they nearly die for fear that video games will destroy any sense of morality in their child.
Video Games can make you smarter. Historical research shows in some cases that interactive gaming can have positive effects for cognition by promoting memory, attention and reasoning. Lucy Prebble, an award winning script writer actually states that gaming can be similar to writing, in that both are private, creative activities very different to watching films or reading books, which involve less input. Video games also require the user to make decisions, giving them the chance to influence the story and even in part design the world in which the game is played out.
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video games can increase social interaction. The truth, as much as we don’t want to hear it, is that reading is a very isolated activity. we can have book clubs or discuss what we read with other people, but you can’t read with other people. Games can teach children how to play as a team, how to cover each other, and how to compete in a healthy way.
there is an argument that with a book, the reader must imagine everything for himself: the world, the characters, everything, while video games serve you all this on a platter. an article from 50ayear.com shared how this is not necessarily true. the reader must imagine, true, but so must the player. As a player, you have to figure out how to get out of this situation, think about what you know about the world, and consider what might happen if you take a certain course. in all cases, the words mean nothing until they are interpreted. characters and stories don’t come to life until a reader absorbs them and begins plotting, predicting, and questioning for themselves. as a player would. both mediums involve imagination and interaction; they may occur slightly differently, but none are completely missing.
so all these arguments in favor of games prove that we should throw the books out the window? I wouldn’t in a million years endorse that. For me, books are life! We’ve already mentioned the many benefits of books in previous articles, but let me emphasize the importance a bit more.
For one thing, the books, of course, have been around much longer than the video games, and thus have had more time to be accepted into the cultural canon around the world. they have also had more time to develop as an art form: writers have the comparatively greater weight of literary history behind them to learn, reference and improve. in fact, as a general point, there are more books than video games (humans have been writing much longer than programming), so from a purely statistical point of view, there are more good books than there are good video games.
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Secondly, the effect of literature on our brain goes far beyond a few extra vocabulary words or improved grammar. An article on lifebygeek.com shares how research has shown that our understanding of certain words is directly related to the structures in our brains that deal with the concept represented by them. when you read words like spicy, stink, stench, aromatic, smelly, floral, perfume, etc., your olfactory cortex lights up! [nyt] when you read the word run, your motor cortex lights up! in fact, our understanding of words depends so much on these relevant brain structures that Parkinson’s patients show poor processing of action and movement verbs.
simulation is so powerful that researchers have drawn a connection between empathy and reading fiction. fiction presents us with an eccentric display of circumstances that our brains can simulate with remarkable fidelity. the larger and more varied the sample, the better prepared we are to challenge our social norms. we learn to better adapt to our social environment.
In addition to that, books can broaden our view of the world and teach us to embrace other worlds, people, cultures and times. Critically, however, not all books are a mentally, culturally, or psychologically enhancing gift from God, and not all video games are a curse from the devil sent to promote violence, sex, high-speed racing, and alcohol.
It’s a matter of being wise. allow children to have fun with games that motivate them and keep idleness away. encourage dance training games on the wii, discover their love of music with the ultimate guitar, or even promote games where they have to use their brains to get out of situations. At the same time, limit screen time and buy books that are just as funny, intellectual, and interesting. show them the beauty of being drawn into the world of the book and creating a world in their minds that can be just as entertaining as the one on screen.
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