How Video Games Effect Social Ties
source: http://www.redorbit.com/news/technology/1557572/study_shows_how_video_games_effect_social_ti...
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A new national survey from the Pew Internet & American Life Project illustrates just how ingrained games have become in youth culture.
The survey noted that while young Americans don't necessarily play the same thing, nearly all of them - girls included - play video games of one kind or another.
The study found that 52% of the teenagers played games that involved thinking about moral and ethical issues, 43% played games in which they made decisions about how a community, city or nation should be run, and 40% played games where they learned about a social issue.
Nearly two-thirds play video games to socialize face-to-face with friends and family, while just over a quarter said they play with Internet friends.
Amanda Lenhart, a senior researcher at Pew who led the report on the survey, said the data shows that gamers are social people. "They communicate just as much. They spend time face-to-face, just as much as other kids. They e-mail and text."
Released Tuesday, the survey combined the telephone responses from a nationally representative sample of 1,102 young people, ages 12 to 17, and their parents. Performed from November 2007 through February of this year, and partly funded by the MacArthur Foundation, it had a margin of error of three percentage points.
Joseph Kahne, a study co-author and dean of the education school at Mills College in California, said that even games with violent content, such as "Halo," provided "more than average opportunities for players to help one another."
He also looked at games' effect on civic engagement, anything from political involvement to raising money for charity. He found that those who spent the most time playing video games weren't any less likely to be involved in their communities.
The survey noted that while young Americans don't necessarily play the same thing, nearly all of them - girls included - play video games of one kind or another.
The study found that 52% of the teenagers played games that involved thinking about moral and ethical issues, 43% played games in which they made decisions about how a community, city or nation should be run, and 40% played games where they learned about a social issue.
Nearly two-thirds play video games to socialize face-to-face with friends and family, while just over a quarter said they play with Internet friends.
Amanda Lenhart, a senior researcher at Pew who led the report on the survey, said the data shows that gamers are social people. "They communicate just as much. They spend time face-to-face, just as much as other kids. They e-mail and text."
Released Tuesday, the survey combined the telephone responses from a nationally representative sample of 1,102 young people, ages 12 to 17, and their parents. Performed from November 2007 through February of this year, and partly funded by the MacArthur Foundation, it had a margin of error of three percentage points.
Joseph Kahne, a study co-author and dean of the education school at Mills College in California, said that even games with violent content, such as "Halo," provided "more than average opportunities for players to help one another."
He also looked at games' effect on civic engagement, anything from political involvement to raising money for charity. He found that those who spent the most time playing video games weren't any less likely to be involved in their communities.
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