Happier, better in their sneakers ... children who play video games 1 hour a day would be more fulfilled than those who do not play at all video games. This is what a study by the University of Oxford * shows.

Wii and Playstation vs. Playmobil and Kappla?

We have everything wrong. While it is often believed that time spent on video games is wasted time or worse, prevents children from reading or playing constructive manual games, Oxford researchers have just proven the opposite. They interviewed 5,000 young people aged 10 to 15 in order to learn more about their gaming habits and the time spent on game consoles. Another set of questions focused on the well-being of these pre-teens and teenagers, their possible hyperactivity or attention problems, their level of empathy and their relationships with other children of the same age.

1 hour a day of video games, that's enough.

This study, unprecedented in its scope, shows that:
- 75% of young people aged 10 to 15 play video games daily.
- children who play an hour a day seem more comfortable in their lives than those who do not play at all.
- playing between 1 to 3 hours a day has no impact - beneficial or negative - measurable.
- children who play more than 3 hours a day in video games are less satisfied with their lives.

Conclusion: Playing one hour a day on Wii (Nintendo) or Playstation (Sony) does not hurt. On the contrary. According to the authors of the study, it is probably related to the fact that by playing a little video games, children can talk to each other and thus have a sense of belonging to a community.

The video game does not do everything

As often, the authors of the study also put down flats. Especially for children addicted to video games, who spend more than 3 hours a day on their computer screen or with a console. "Playing video games for a long time does not seem to be so much related to the relational problems of children in real life," said Dr. Andrew Przybylski. In fact, one can only notice the child's discomfort and the high level of play without drawing conclusions about the causal links. If video games have an impact, this influence remains much less than that of the family, relationships within the family, or even school and material conditions of life.

Researchers are increasingly studying the impact of video games on children and their development . For example, when it was published in July, a Swedish study showed that children aged 10 and 11 who played video games were more likely to understand English ...

Published in the journal Pediatrics