A kid plops down in front of the television and powers up his video game console. As he reaches for his controller, his mother has one point of view in her mind, more time wasted, another day wasted, video games rot my children’s brain. Or do they? Video games have a horrible stigma of “rotting our brain’s” because many believe that they are pumping our children’s minds with senseless violence and explicit content. Although many video games do include a substantial amount of violence, it comes second to the fact they can actually make you smarter according to many scientists and academics. They are seen to be good learning devices because of the problem solving and strategic thinking that is utilized to play video games. While there is obviously no substitute for classroom learning, video games can exercise the brain in many different ways.
Most kids would rather pick up a joystick than pick up a textbook. Much to they’re unknowing they are exercising their brains. While traveling and discovering this exciting virtual world, they begin to figure out the rules and understand their goals in order beat the game and win. What might seem like a mindless zombie sitting on the couch for hours is actually someone solving a profuse amount of puzzles that are instilled in their video game. Someone playing a video game must solve and complete direct conflicts while keeping their overall goal in perspective. Playing a video game is similar to solving a science problem. Video gamers must come up with a hypothesis while trying to accomplish a goal, much like a student conducting a lab would do. For example: if a gamer is searching for a hidden item and they hypothesize that the item is in a dragon’s belly, they will attack the dragon and discover whether their hypothesis was correct or false. If they don’t find the item they must modify their hypothesis the next time they play. Video games are driven by goals and objectives, which are essential