Jan 26 2009
Video Games and Non-Causal Links
Whenever a non-experimental study (one that doesn’t manipulate a variable to test its influence on another) reveals a link between variables, we’ve got to be critical. Not to reject it, just to question.
Sometimes the authors of the study themselves do the job for us. As in the case of this study: Video Games Linked To Poor Relationships With Friends, Family.
Yes, the researchers discovered a link -
A new study connects young adults’ use of video games to poorer relationships with friends and family.
But the lead author does remind us of something important.
“It may be that young adults remove themselves from important social settings to play video games, or that people who already struggle with relationships are trying to find other ways to spend their time,” Walker said. “My guess is that it’s some of both and becomes circular.”
In the same study, another statistical link was discovered. Let’s think critically about it.
Statistical analyses also revealed that the more young adults play video games, the more frequent their involvement in risky behaviors like drinking and drug abuse. Young adults who played video games daily reported smoking pot almost twice as often as occasional players, and three times as often as those who never play.
The sloppy thinker is likely to conclude that playing video games causes drinking and drug abuse. Yet addictive behavior in general is linked to lower dopamine levels. It could very well be that lower dopamine levels cause both impulsive video game-playing and drinking/drug use. From this type of statistical analysis we can’t tell. So we must be patient.
If you have trouble being patient, you might want to fill your time by playing video games.
I briefly looked at this study and thought, “Wow, this contradicts what I see *every* day.” In my house, my 14-year-old and 16-year-old sons are joined by an ever-changing number of friends (from 1 to 10 friends) who play video games. We have a Wii and an X-Box 360. We also have a lot of board games. Lately, they’ve gone the paper and pencil route of playing D&D. All of them are straight-laced when it comes to drugs and alcohol. They aren’t wandering around getting into trouble. Most have been formally identified as gifted and talented (the two or three less academically gifted boys complain “They’re making me do math!” when they play D&D). To me, a non-video game player, it seems that playing video games is a highly social endeavor (think Rock Band).