Teens And Education: Online Gaming Can Improve School Scores, Social Media Does Not

A lot of teenagers spend their time engaged in online games but this does not necessarily mean that it can dampen their school scores. A study from Australia published in the International Journal of Communication has revealed that online gaming can actually help teenagers get better scores in school, while social media can result to lower scores.

"Students who play online games almost every day score 15 points above the average in maths and 17 points above the average in science," said Associate Professor Alberto Posso, as per Science Daily. Posso looked into data from the Program for International Student Assessment regarding the math, reading and science scores of over 12,000 Australians aged 15 years old, together with their online activities. 

Online gaming may have a positive effect on school scores, says study https://t.co/d01bUF0nWs pic.twitter.com/EqdVrlkqVE

— Mashable (@mashable) August 9, 2016

In contrast, Mashable reported that the teenagers who used social media daily fared worse than average on their test scores. Posso was quoted as saying that these teenagers were found to have obtained scores in math that were 20 points lower compared to other teenagers who were not social media users.

According to ABC.net, Posso said that playing online games involves solving puzzles as players move on to the next levels of the game. The player would then use skills in math, science and reading taught in school in order to progress in the game. Posso is from RMIT's School of Economics, Finance and Marketing.

The Mashable report pointed out that the study was based on 2012 data and may not accurately depict the kind of technology currently used by teenagers in the present. It added that the teenagers involved in the study were asked to self-report their use of social media and online gaming in broad strokes such as "never, to once or twice a month, to once or twice a week, to almost every day, to every day" and that self-reportage was said to be "always problematic."