Does gaming improve motor skills or inhibit them?

 

A vast majority of people believe that playing video games day in and day out sat at a desk or on the sofa will inhibit your motor skills and genuinely make you less fit and active but what if it was actually the opposite?

I’ve been doing some research into this study and found some intriguing results.

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While being sat down for hours on end playing games would make you less fit and healthy it’s in fact no different from somebody being in an office for 9+ hours a day. The Gaming industry has become so huge that hundreds of thousands of people are trying to make a living off gaming every day and turn it into a full-time career. Be that on one of the various streaming websites (I.e. Twitch / Youtube) or joining a professional Esports team, more and more people are joining this industry everyday.

While studies have shown that the lack of movement that comes with playing games can inhibit your health, there are some games and activities out there that improve your general health. Virtual Reality Games or VR Games encourage movement in your own home and before that WII Sports and WII games had players dashing and jumping around their living rooms. I for one have been on the verge of collapsing from tiredness after trying to beat my friends in Just Dance or SuperHot VR, some games demand more physically from you than other do.

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I’ve talked about VR Games and Movement Based Games but what about games that require next to no movement at all, no keyboard, no mouse and no controller, That’s right Phone Games. What physical benefits do games on your phone have that would increase your motor skills? It’s believed that people who were born into an earlier generation and had access to smart phones (I.e. Apple / Android) in fact have faster thumb and finger movement learnt from texting and playing phone games than an older generation or people who didn’t have these phones. The benefits of faster thumbs and fingers isn’t a huge one for people but when everybody spends hours of their day texting and scrolling on Facebook it turns into quite a big deal.

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Another form of faster thumb and finger motor skills is learnt from typing on a keyboard. Schools are becoming more and more aware of the growth in technology and how it affects our everyday lives, so they are adjusting to the need's students have. Schools have implemented touch typing into ICT lessons which allows students to comfortably write more and more words a minute. When I was in secondary school, I wasn’t given that opportunity, I learnt touch typing from playing video games on my computer at home. I would be in a situation where I needed to look at the screen but also type to other players about what to do or where to go.  I learnt how to touch type on my own and video games allowed me to do that, it has been an invaluable skill I’ve learnt and has made writing essays or CV’s a lot easier and quicker so I’m not spending hours behind a screen straining my eyes over what I’m writing.

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In conclusion video games will always have two sides to motor skills and health benefits, where some force you to move around and be active others will only require you to move your thumbs. It’s all down to what games you play and how long you spend on them, everything require moderation.