VIDEO GAME & TV ADDICTS

by Robin Yapp, Daily Mail-London

January 2005

Children who spend hours playing computer games or watching television are failing to develop the skills to succeed at school.

The warning comes from leading scientist P. Winston, who said youngsters are not acquiring the long-term powers of study and application they need in class.

This is because the games they play and programs they watch require only short-term bursts of concentration.

“Many children who love computer games find it hard to concentrate on the sort of tasks that require slow application and are necessary for school success,” he said.

Lord Winston, Britain’s preeminent fertility doctor has studied the impact of computer games on children’s ability to tackle various tasks.

Those who spend long periods playing quick-fire, adrenaline-pumping games often lack a long-term attention span, he found.

The problem is exacerbated by children who have computers and TV’s in their bedrooms and sit in front of the screens until the early hours instead of getting enough sleep.

Studies show a lack of sleep can lead to increased irritability and emotional or behavioral problems including, at the low end of the scale, lack of concentration.

“Children are sleeping between two and five hours less than their parents did at the same age,” said Lord Winston. “This affects their performance at school and their behavior at home and some of that is due to computer games,” he added.

Modern children are spending three to four hours a day in front of a computer or television screen of some kind, often unsupervised.

Lord Winton echoes further concern that growing numbers of children are playing violent computer games intended for adults, which may make them more aggressive.

The program surveyed a group of primary school pupils and found one in five had played Grand Theft Auto, a notorious 18-certificate game where players steal cars, kill people and pick up prostitutes.