Boys perform more poorly in school than girls because they play too many video games, according to a study from Statistics Canada's Community Health Survey.
- The study found that 76% of the boys had played video games in the previous three months compared to only 35% of girls.
- About 16% of the boys played more than 11 hours of video games a week during that time compared to only 2% of the girls.
- The long hours that the boys spent playing video games cut down on time spent reading.
- Among the heaviest users of video games, 27% said they had not read anything over the past three months.
- Children who spent a lot of time watching television or on the computer tended to read more often than the most active video gamers.
Among the children ages 12 to 19 years old, twice as many girls --or 45% -- read for 11 or more hours per week compared to the boys.
"Given the amount of time that young boys spent playing video games versus the amount of time that they read, the data may offer some insight as to why boys are performing less well than girls in high school," according to Jack Jebwab, author of the study.
Excessive video gaming and obsessive Internet use have been identified as risk factors and symptoms of a range of problematic issues among children, adolescents and teens.
Labels: video_games, internet, boys
Posted By: Jane St. Clair