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February 18th, 2008, 13:12 GMT · By Calin Ciabai

Blame Video Games for Your Poor Grades!

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To say it short and begin as no news should, here is the conclusion: video games make you dumb. Loud and clear, that is what some German scientists from Kriminologischen Forschungsinstituts Niedersachsen (KFN)
have found out. And, yes, I will always be fascinated by the results of these studies. Then laugh for a whole week.

According to gamer.tm, who understood the German report (available here as a PDF document, if it makes any difference), violent media, including violent video games affect the school grades of the youngsters and, generally, the minds of everybody who likes to consume such mischievous products. The study was based on the school grades received by a group of schoolboys divided into gamers and game-haters (or at least, non-gamers). Yes, everything is bad!

The German KFN found out that the average grades for maths and other general studies for children aged 16 and under, were 0.1 to 0.5 below the national average. By contrast, boys who never play such games typically receive grades slightly above this. Even worse, according to the research, students aged 18 and above suffer bigger consequences. These guys had their grades 0.3 to 0.66 below the national average, while those who never played such titles were again marginally above.

The study continues with details that some could consider discrimination: not only the average intelligence of the parents matters, too, but also the ethnicity of the child. Hmm... that sounds a little bit harsh!

Now, back to the games, since that's our business - did any of those researchers, scientists, or whatever they are paid attention to the amounts of time kids spend in front of the computer or gaming console? Because we couldn't say that violent games make people dumb if they play them for 6 hours straight and ignore their homework, could we?

TELL US WHAT YOU THINK:

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READER COMMENTS:


Comment #1 by: anonymous on 18 Feb 2008, 21:28 UTC reply to this comment

yea well im 11, i played video games for 9 years, and im practically the smartest kid in my class, in a split grade 5/6 class and im in grade 5


Comment #2 by: Anonymous on 19 Sep 2009, 17:18 UTC reply to this comment

Same with the 11 year old, Im 12 and im in GT/Gifted and talented :3

THIS IS BULL.


Comment #3 by: Annonamous on 12 Nov 2009, 04:55 UTC reply to this comment

To all of you 11 year olds disbelieving this study, note that this is a generalization. This is not saying that if you play video games you will automatically become stupid. If you do not realize this you must not be smart or "gifted."

Comment #3.1 by: ANONYMOUS on 21 Apr 2010, 18:15 GMT

Okay first off just to point out you can't even spell anonymous correctly dumbass so don't be trying to tell some 11 year olds they arn't gifted because both of them can spell and you can't.

Comment #3.2 by: anonymous on 31 Mar 2011, 22:19 GMT

children who are 11 and 12 are not fully devlepoed and are not very usefull in finding the effectsof video games on grades. 5th and 6th graders are under no presure to study or d homework and therefore video games would not impact their grades as severly. This study applies to high schoolers and college students, of which i am, and should not be compared to underdeveloped and so called "gifted" shitheads. I've seen "gifted" kids come and go particulary just because they spend to much time on video games. I my self have been identified with this group all my life and it is not special in any way to be part of a "gifted" class in 5th/6th grade.


Comment #4 by: anon on 21 Sep 2011, 11:04 UTC reply to this comment

Every boy in the school plays video games, but they get good grades all the time


Comment #5 by: Grad6isaJoke on 19 Oct 2011, 21:20 UTC reply to this comment

elementary school is fucken easy you dont need to be smart cause its an automatic pass


Comment #6 by: won't say on 05 Jan 2012, 01:30 UTC reply to this comment

Thank you! You helped me on my report!

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