Why Video Games Are Actually Good For You, And Banning Them Doesn't Work

There's often talk about how bad video games are for you, especially when it involves incidents of kids and adults getting addicted and some even committing suicide or getting violent when made to stop.

The thing is video games can be good for you too, and scientists just proved that.

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Two researchers from the Universit¨¤ Cattolica del Sacro Cuore in Italy have just published a study in the 'Games for Health' Journal. In it, they talk about an emotional intelligence training programme they designed that uses video games as learning tools.

In the study, a group of teenagers participated in eight sessions with the programme, with their emotional competence measured before and after. The researchers, Claudia Carissoli and Daniela Villani, as part of the programme built a video game that could improve the emotional intelligence of adolescents.

Based on their findings, the teenagers that played the game exhibited a greater ability to cope with their emotions and manage stress, among other things.

"This is an important first step in designing a game to learn to manage emotions. While the impact was limited, further enhancements to the game may have substantial additional effects." said Tom Baranowski, Editor-in-Chief of Games for Health Journal.

Video games aren't bad

It's a perfect example of what experts have been saying for years, that video games aren't inherently bad. Rather, like a number of other choices of pastime, they only have negative effects when abused, or when the person taking part is immature.

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That's why we've said before, games like PUBG aren't truly addictive just because they're entertaining. It's that the kids (and sometimes adults) playing don't know the meaning of restraint, whether it's knowing when to stop playing, or don't know how to control themselves when on a losing streak.

Dealing with those sorts of issues involves tackling a person's emotional and behavioural issues, not banning the game itself.