Busting Myths

Busting 9 common myths and misconceptions around video games, screen use, and technology

Image Source: Katrin Bolovtsova, Pexels.com

Last week, I asked my close mom friends what they want to know more about in terms of parenting in a digital age. A bunch of them mentioned a post about common myths and misconceptions surrounding screens, videogames, and child development. Constantly being bombarded by false information about screens and well-being, especially by reputable people, is completely overwhelming. Below, we refute a list of common screen-focused myths. Let's continue the conversation in the comments too!

Video game myths

1. Playing video games does not make you obese

We all know the stereotype of an overweight gamer sitting in a dark room playing for hours while chugging soda and cramming snacks into their mouth, but the research around video game play and obesity make it clear that there is no relationship between the two (Wake et al., 2003; Kracht et al., 2020). Efforts to reduce children’s screen time have had no effect on their weight (Robinson, 1999). There are many factors at play, including the question of what the children were doing when they weren’t having screen time (hint: they weren’t all being active outside). Another important factor is that playing video games does not merely involve sitting and staring at a screen; it is a form of active screen use (Wang & Perry, 2006). The video game player is hard at work using their brain and making precise movements with their controller (or screen, mouse or keyboard).

2. Playing video games does not make you anti-social

The vast majority of video game players do it as a social experience with friends or online (Lenhardt et al., 2015). We review some of the social benefits in our post on video games and the brain. Beyond the actual game playing, there are active subcultures around many of the most popular games, where gamers can share strategies, make plans for what to do next, and participate in video streams of others playing the game (Grooten & Kowert, 2015). Gamers also interact with their friends in-person just as often as nongamers and find gaming to be a good way to start new friendships (Domahidi et al., 2018; Kowert & Kaye, 2018).

3. Playing video games does not make you depressed

Many fear-mongers, like Jonathan Haidt, like to point to correlations between depression and screen use to argue for banning all screens, but gamers report using video games to manage their mood (Olson, 2010). In fact, game design uses strategies that have been shown to improve mood via their ability to directly promote goal achievement, which is an important aspect of any game (Aldao et al., 2010). This shouldn’t be surprising – games are specifically designed to be fun, engaging, and challenging, all of which are the opposite of depression.

4. Playing video games does not make you a violent person

The media loves to tie violent video games to acts of violence since at least the Columbine shooting in 1999, but the two have never been empirically linked. Research around desensitization has found that playing violent video games (or watching violent movies) makes a person less sensitive to other violent media, but when faced with real-life violence, they show as much empathy and have the same brain activation as people who avoid violent media (Ramos et al., 2013; Krause et al., 2020; Szycik et al., 2017). Violent crime is lower in countries that consume more video games and crime rates decrease when popular violent media is released (Markey & Ferguson, 2017; Beerthuizen, et al., 2017). Even the research finding a link between violent media and aggression has major flaws and the results only explain between 0.4 - 4.0% of the variance in minor forms of aggression (Ferguson, 2015; Hilgard et al., 2017).

Screen time myths

1. Screen time right before bed does not always cause you to sleep worse

As with all of these myths, the research is based entirely on correlations. People who sleep worse and for shorter amounts also tend to spend more time with their screens – is it as a sleep aid and otherwise their sleep would be even worse (Eggermont & Van den Bulck, 2006)? Is it a way to cope with their insomnia? Well, it turns out, in children, hours of screentime leads to minutes, not hours, of less sleep – the highest number we’ve seen being 20 minutes, but usually in the single digits (Magee, et al., 2014; Thompson & Christakis, 2005). Screen use also only accounted for 1.9% of this variation (Przybylski, 2019). In our experience, bedtimes can easily vary day-to-day by at least 20 minutes--we absolutely e wouldn’t notice a change in bedtime of 5 minutes. The existing research doesn’t show any cause and only a small relationship based on very limited research design (Janssen et al., 2020).

2. Watching TV does not lead to a decrease in language skills

We covered part of this topic in our Cocomelon post. Most of the research is based on parent report around screentime and parent report of language skills, but parent reports are often unreliable (Infante-Rivard & Jacques, 2000; Morsback & Prinz, 2006). Studies that use other methods of measuring screen use, such as recording background noise throughout the day (Sundqvist et al., 2021), or having trained professionals measure language ability (Martinot et al., 2021) show a more complex and less dire story. A pattern arises that how parents and other caregivers interact with young children makes the biggest difference. In some cases, more TV watching means less exposure to caregivers talking to the children, and thus a lack of opportunity to practice skills like turn-taking (Mendelsohn et al., 2008; Khan et al., 2018). Any negative effects are eliminated by “joint media attention” where they caregiver interacts with the child about what they watched (either while watching or afterward). Problems of TV time are really problems of losing out on opportunities to practice or be exposed to language skills in-person, and not to the TV (Mendelsohn et al., 2010; Dore et al., 2020; Ribner et al., 2017) .

3. Going on social media does not make you depressed or anxious

The research is all over the place on this one, with just as many studies showing no relationship as those showing a small relationship (Keles et al., 2020). The research does show that “social media use” is actually much more complex, including time spent, quality of use, and whether the use was passive (just scrolling) or active (commenting). There have even been efforts to use social media interaction as a way to screen for depression and anxiety, with limited success (Guntuku et al., 2017). As we covered in our post there can also be a lot of benefits to using social media.

4. Watching TV does not make you dumb

Vegging out on the couch, watching your favorite TV show by yourself or with a friend, does not make you less smart or kill brain cells or perform worse on tests (Zavodny, 2006). TV is generally a social activity even if you’re watching alone, since you’ll probably talk to someone about it (Simons, 2015). Watching TV can also be incredibly relaxing, as long as you aren’t spending all that time telling yourself that you’re wasting time (Tonietto et al., 2021).

Bonus myth

1. The term “digital natives” is not real

You may have heard of the term “digital natives” before, referring to the generation who grew up in the digital age, surrounded by computers and cell phones. First of all, the original “digital natives” were identified as kids born around 1980 (aka Millenials), so if you’re reading this, you are probably a “digital native” – congrats! These days that term is applied to school-aged kids and teens, who are said to be incredibly tech-savvy and learn differently than earlier generations. On the contrary, researchers have found that children who use types of technology that don’t require knowledge of the inner workings, like tablets, are less knowledgeable about how to use technology (Šorgo, Bartol, Dolničar, & Boh Podgornik, 2017). The “digital natives” are more familiar with the most popular and established technologies than people who use technology less frequently because they use it so often, but they are not better at understanding any new technology (Warschauer, 2002; Warschauer & Matuchniak, 2010). Skills around using technology are learned the more you have access to technology and are explicitly taught about it, not simply inherited based on when you were born. Now more than ever, we need to focus on digital literacy so that children can be informed as they navigate the online world. In their third podcast episode of Screen Sense, Pete Etchells and Andy Przbylski have a good segment on this topic.

Moral of the story: Correlation does not equal causation, but it does equal flashy headlines that get media attention. Also, there is no good substitute for loving caregiver interactions, so make sure to spend some time with your kids – even ask them about what they are watching or playing – but letting them use screens won’t undo the benefits of your interactions.

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References

Video games and obesity

Wang, X., & Perry, A. C. (2006). Metabolic and physiologic responses to video game play in 7- to 10-year-old boys. Archives of Pediatrics & Adolescent Medicine, 160(4), 411–415. https://doi.org/10.1001/archpedi.160.4.411

Wake, M., Hesketh, K., & Waters, E. (2003). Television, computer use and body mass index in Australian primary school children. Journal of Paediatrics and Child Health, 39(2), 130–134. https://doi.org/10.1046/j.1440-1754.2003.00104.x

Kracht, C.L., Joseph, E.D. & Staiano, A.E. (2020) “Video Games, Obesity, and Children.” Current Obesity Reports 9:1–14. https://doi.org/10.1007/s13679-020-00368-z

Robinson, Thomas N. 1999. “Reducing Children’s Television Viewing to Prevent Obesity: A Randomized Controlled Trial.” Journal of the American Medical Association 282:1561–67. https://doi.org/10.1001/jama.282.16.1561

Video games and social skills

Lenhart, Amanda, Aaron Smith, Monica Anderson, Maeve Duggan, and Andrew Perrin. 2015. Teens, Technology, and Friendships. http://www.pewinternet.org/2015/08/06/ teens-technology-and-friendships

Domahidi, Emese, Johannes Breuer, Rachel Kowert, Ruth Festl, and Thorsten Quandt. 2018. “A Longitudinal Analysis of Gaming- and Non-Gaming-Related Friendships and Social Support among Social Online Game Players.” Media Psychology 21:288–307. https://doi.org/10.1080/15213269.2016.1257393

Grooten, Jan, and Rachel Kowert. 2015. “Going beyond the Game: Development of Gamer Identities within Societal Discourse and Virtual Spaces.” Loading... The Journal of Canadian Game Studies Association 9:70–87. https://loading.journals.publicknowledgeproject.org/index.php/loading/article/view/151

Kowert, Rachel, and Linda K. Kaye. 2018. “Video Games Are Not Socially Isolating.” In Video Game Influences on Aggression, Cognition, and Attention, edited by Christopher J. Ferguson, 185–95. https://link.springer.com/content/pdf/10.1007/978-3-319-95495-0.pdf

Video games and depression

Olson, C. K. (2010). Children’s motivations for video game play in the context of normal development. Review of General Psychology, 14, 180 –187. https://doi.org/10.1037/a0018984

Aldao, A., Nolen-Hoeksema, S., & Schweizer, S. (2010). Emotion-regulation strategies across psychopathology: A meta-analytic review. Clinical Psychology Review, 30, 217–237. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cpr.2009.11.004

Video games and violence

Ramos, Raul A., Christopher J. Ferguson, Kelly Frailing, and Maria Romero-Ramirez. 2013. “Comfortably Numb or Just Yet Another Movie? Media Violence Exposure Does Not Reduce Viewer Empathy for Victims of Real Violence among Primarily Hispanic Viewers.” Psychology of Popular Media Culture 2:2–10. https://psycnet.apa.org/doi/10.1037/a0030119

Krause, Karlie A., Chelsie Smyth, and Kate L. Jansen. 2020. “Exploring the Effects of Violent Video Games on Healthcare Trainees.” Simulation and Gaming 51:653–65. https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/pdf/10.1177/1046878120932298

Szycik, Gregor R., Bahram Mohammadi, Maria Hake, Jonas Kneer, Amir Samii, Thomas F. Münte, and Bert T. te Wildt. 2017. “Excessive Users of Violent Video Games Do Not Show Emotional Desensitization: An fMRI Study.” Brain Imaging and Behavior 11:736–43. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11682-016-9549-y

Markey, P. M., Ferguson, C. J. (2017). Moral Combat: Why the War on Violent Video Games Is Wrong. United States: BenBella Books.

Beerthuizen, Marinus GCJ, Gijs Weijters, and André M. van der Laan. 2017. “The Release of Grand Theft Auto V and Registered Juvenile Crime in the Netherlands.” European Journal of Criminology 14:751–65. https://doi.org/10.1177/1477370817717070

Ferguson, Christopher J.2015. “Do Angry Birds Make for Angry Children? A Meta-Analysis of Video Game Influences on Children’s and Adolescents’ Aggression, Mental Health, Pro-social Behavior and Academic Performance.” Perspectives on Psychological Science 10:646–66. https://doi.org/10.1177/1745691615592234

Hilgard, Joseph, Christopher R. Engelhardt, and Jeffrey N. Rouder. 2017. “Overstated Evidence for Short-Term Effects of Violent Games on Affect and Behavior: A Reanalysis of Anderson et al. (2010).” Psychological Bulletin 143:757–74. https://psycnet.apa.org/doi/10.1037/bul0000074

Screens and sleep

Eggermont, S., & Van den Bulck, J. (2006). Nodding off or switching off? The use of popular media as a sleep aid in secondary‐school children. Journal of paediatrics and child health, 42(7‐8), 428-433. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1440-1754.2006.00892.x

Magee, C. A., Lee, J. K., & Vella, S. A. (2014). Bidirectional relationships between sleep duration and screen time in early childhood. JAMA pediatrics, 168(5), 465-470. https://doi.org/10.1001/jamapediatrics.2013.4183

Thompson, D. A., & Christakis, D. A. (2005). The association between television viewing and irregular sleep schedules among children less than 3 years of age. Pediatrics, 116(4), 851-856. https://doi.org/10.1542/peds.2004-2788

Przybylski, A. K. (2019). Digital screen time and pediatric sleep: evidence from a preregistered cohort study. The Journal of pediatrics, 205, 218-223. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jpeds.2018.09.054

Screens and language skills

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Morsbach, S.K., Prinz, R.J. (2006) Understanding and Improving the Validity of Self-Report of Parenting. Clin Child Fam Psychol Rev 9, 1–21. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10567-006-0001-5

Sundqvist A, Koch F-S, Birberg Thornberg U, Barr R and Heimann M (2021) Growing Up in a

Digital World – Digital Media and the Association With the Child’s Language Development at

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Martinot, P., Bernard, J.Y., Peyre, H. et al. (2021) Exposure to screens and children’s language development in the EDEN mother–child cohort. Sci Rep 11, 11863. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-021-90867-3

Mendelsohn AL, Berkule SB, Tomopoulos S, et al. (2008) Infant Television and Video Exposure Associated With Limited Parent-Child Verbal Interactions in Low Socioeconomic Status Households. Arch Pediatr Adolesc Med.;162(5):411–417. https://doi.org/10.1001/archpedi.162.5.411

Khan, Kiren S., Purtell, Kelly M., Logan, Jessica, Ansari, Arya, Justice, Laura M. (2017) Association Between Television Viewing and Parent-Child Reading in the Early Home Environment. Journal of Developmental & Behavioral Pediatrics 38(7):p 521-527 https://doi.org/10.1097/DBP.0000000000000465

Mendelsohn, A.L., Brockmeyer, C.A., Dreyer, B.P., Fierman, A.H., Berkule-Silberman, S.B. and Tomopoulos, S. (2010), Do verbal interactions with infants during electronic media exposure mitigate adverse impacts on their language development as toddlers?. Inf. Child Develop., 19: 577-593. https://doi.org/10.1002/icd.711

Dore RA, Logan J, Lin T-J, Purtell KM and Justice LM (2020) Associations Between Children’s Media Use and Language and Literacy Skills. Front. Psychol. 11:1734. https://doi.org/10.3389/fpsyg.2020.01734

Ribner, Andrew, Fitzpatrick, Caroline, Blair, Clancy (2017) Family Socioeconomic Status Moderates Associations Between Television Viewing and School Readiness Skills. Journal of Developmental & Behavioral Pediatrics 38(3):p 233-239 https://doi.org/10.1097/DBP.0000000000000425

Social media and depression

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https://doi.org/10.1080/02673843.2019.1590851

Guntuku, S. C., Yaden, D. B., Kern, M. L., Ungar, L. H., & Eichstaedt, J. C. (2017). Detecting depression and mental illness on social media: an integrative review. Current Opinion in Behavioral Sciences, 18, 43-49.

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cobeha.2017.07.005

TV and intelligence

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Šorgo, A., Bartol, T., Dolničar, D., & Boh Podgornik, B. (2017). Attributes of digital natives as predictors of information literacy in higher education: Digital natives and information literacy. British Journal of Educational Technology, 48(3), 749–767. https://doi.org/10.1111/bjet.12451

Warschauer, M. (2002). Reconceptualizing the digital divide. First Monday, 7(7), 1–11. https://firstmonday.org/ojs/index.php/fm/article/view/967

Warschauer, M., & Matuchniak, T. (2010). New technology and digital worlds: Analyzing evidence of equity in access, use, and outcomes. Review of Research in Education, 34(1), 179–225. https://doi.org/10.3102/0091732X09349791