Parents of video-gaming children, take heart: Your kid is not destined to become an anti-social hermit who lives at home until he's 35. In fact, a new study shows that all that game time could actually be making him a better citizen.
No, this isn't a study funded by the video-game association. It's from the respectable folks at the Pew Internet & American Life Project. And it's the first, says study co-author Joe Kahne, to track the sorts of things kids do when playing not just how much time they spend playing. "It's really valuable to focus heavily on the quality of those experiences," he says.
Kahne, a professor at Mills College in Oakland, Calif., worked with Pew to conduct this particular survey, which focused specifically on the relationship between gaming and civic experiences among teens. It was part of a larger, USD 50 million initiative by the John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation aimed at assessing how digital media is affecting how kids learn, play and participate in civic activities.
If high-school social studies are but a distant memory, a quick refresher: Anything that has to do with engaging in public life qualifies as a civic activity. Reading up on current affairs is one way to be civically involved; so is raising money for a walk-a-thon, or showing up at a protest.
So, how can playing "Madden" or "World of Warcraft" influence your teenager to get psyched about the three branches of government? It's not as incongruous as it might sound, says Kahne. Game experiences "can be quite valuable from the standpoint of civic and political engagement."
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