A Great Way For Parents To Save Money

The gold standard of research is a randomized study.  You get a group of subjects, and divide it into two groups chosen completely at random.

Then you do something to one of the groups, but not the other, and then look at how the group that had the thing done to it turned out compared to the control.

The brilliant thing about this technique is that you don't have to worry about confounding effects, and instead have nothing to fear but the placebo effect.

Recently something that happens all too rarely was done: A randomized study was done of something other than a medicine, something where you have much less cause to fear the placebo effect leaking in, and where the result is actually of interest to people who aren't sick.

What they looked at was Video Games:

"Parents who buy their children a video game system might want to be careful that all the fun doesn't interfere with their learning. A new study suggests owning a game system could hinder academic development, at least for young boys.

The results show that boys given a PlayStation II are slower to progress in their reading and writing skills and have more learning problems reported by their teachers than those not given a system.

The study is the first controlled trial to look at the effects of playing video games on learning in young boys. That is to say, the findings aren't based on survey data of kids' game habits, but instead on a specific group of children that were randomly assigned to receive a PlayStation or not, and followed up for a certain period of time.

Here's your PlayStation

While several studies have found an association between playing video games and poor academic performance, they don't reveal which direction the cause-effect arrow points. For instance, it could be that children who struggle academically turn to video games, because they enjoy it more than homework, Weis said.

Weis' new study involved 64 boys aged 6 to 9 who didn't currently own a video game system, but whose parents were thinking of buying one. The boys did not have previous learning or behavioral problems. The parents were told this was a study looking at child development, and they would get a video game system for participating. The scientists chose not to include girls, because they wanted to look at the effects of playing video games, and they were worried that girls might not play as much as boys would, according to Weis.

Half of the children were randomly chosen to receive the PlayStation right away, and half got it at the end of the four-month study period.

Not surprisingly, the children with the game system immediately spent more time playing video games than those in the control group, though the latter group did spend a little time playing video games, presumably at friends' houses.

Those with PlayStations also spent less time engaged in educational activities after school and showed less advancement in their reading and writing skills over time than the control group, according to tests taken by the kids. While the game-system owners didn't show significant behavioral problems, their teachers did report delays in learning academic skills, including writing and spelling.

The researchers think the learning problems result from the drop in after-school actives with educational value.

'The amount of time you have is zero sum, so if you spend your time playing video games you can't spend your time doing other things,' Weis told LiveScience.

Playing video games might displace not only traditional academic activities, such as homework and reading, but ones that, while not strictly academic, could help them in school, such as discussing what they learned that day with their parents, or having parents read to them." -LiveScience.com

Now here's the thing:

I looked it up and it looks like a Playstation 2 costs at least $60, and that doesn't even count the expense of the actual games the capitalists expect you to buy. 

But in contrast, a used baseball bat can be had for less than $13!

I think the implication of this is obvious: The next time your son asks you shell out your hard earned money for a Video Game system, get the same effect for a FRACTION of the cost by hitting him in the head with a used baseball bat instead.

Note: It is the opinion of many that damaging the brain of your child isn't a good idea, whether the damage is done by video game or used baseball bat.  For this reason one may wish to consider the advantages of simply telling your children that you won't buy them a video game system, and that they should go play outdoors if they can't think of anything to do inside the house.