What's happening?

The child sits in a dark room, his eyes fixed to the screen. This is his third hour of the day playing video games. 

A knock at the door! His parents have arrived to take away the controls. But perhaps they should rethink. 

A new study has found that playing video games may make children cleverer. Scientists in the US looked at nearly 2,000 nine and ten-year-olds. Some spend three hours or more every day playing video games.

The children who played video games did better at a series of tasks that measured their brainpower. They had better memoryThe power to remember things that happened in the past. skills and could respondReact. very quickly to events. 

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But others warn that people should not spend too long playing video games. In the UK, leaders say that children should not spend more than two hours a day looking at screens. And the study does not look at which types of video games may be helpful - and if any are harmful. 

Could video games be good for us?

Yes! They can boost your brain and make you a quick-thinker. Everyone should play more video games.

No! It is not good to spend too long looking at screens. We should spend more time with friends in real life instead.