Teenagers who play online games every day are more likely to see higher grades in school, a new Australian study has found.
Albert Posso, from the Royal Melbourne Institute of Technology, examined the results of 12,000 students who had been tested by the Program for International Student Assessment.
The program involves testing 15-year-olds on their abilities in mathematics, science and reading.
The goal of Posso's study – – was to investigate the effect Internet usage had on teenagers and whether there was a correlation to their education.
"Although there may be an opportunity cost of gaming in terms of educational outcomes, it is possible that a number of skills associated with online gaming correlate positively with generalized knowledge and skills tests in math, reading, and science," the study found.
The reasoning is that online games generally ask players to solve puzzles, which require competency in math, reading and science.
"When you play online games you’re solving puzzles to move to the next level and that involves using some of the general knowledge and skills in maths, reading and science that you've been taught during the day," Posso .
Students who played online games almost every day scored 15 points above the average in math and reading and 17 points above the average in science, the study found.
But there's bad news for teens who like to spend their days on Facebook, Instagram and other social media feeds.
Students who used social media every day were found to have significantly lower academic performances in math, reading and science.
In the math section alone, teens that used social media were found to have scored 20 points less than those who had never used social media.
Posso says the study's findings should encourage teachers to use both social media and online gameplay in the classroom.
Online games – that aren't violent – could be used to reinforce lessons.
While social media was shown to hurt students’ grades, Posso noted that an increased use of social media might indicate that students are struggling with their abilities in math, science and reading and are going online to socialize to avoid the issue.
Teachers, he said, could harness that desire to socialize and use Facebook to encourage students who struggled academically to engage in class and see their grades improve.
