The Brain Workout: In Praise of Video Games

New media have always met with suspicion: As The Economist editorialized a while back, a “neophobic” tendency dates from antiquity, with Plato’s argument in the “Phaedrus” that the relatively newfangled medium of writing corrupted the memory-building powers of oral culture. Of course sometimes the new is bad. Yet the critics of video games are not only conjuring up a threat where none exists; they’re ignoring the positive moral lessons and cognitive benefits that many of today’s sophisticated games offer. —Brian C. AndersonThe Brain Workout: In Praise of Video Games (Opinion Journal)

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  • There are absolutely benefits - I turned out OK ;). However, the risks are in the overuse of the games. I read an article about a "detox" center in Sweden (I think it was, anyway) for video game addicts. These people played 20 out of 24 hours, in some cases.

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Dennis G. Jerz