The Impacts of Video Games on Cognition (2015) [pdf]
Having only read the abstract and key points: The question is if video games have a better positive impact on cognitive abilities than other things you could do in the meantime that may also improve other abilities as well.<p>I write this because I quit video games almost entirely a year ago. I played probably 500-700 hours of video games in 2015. I played occasionally simple games on my phone in 2016.<p>The major downside for me was that I felt video games only improve my ability to play video games. I favored online games over single player games, but at the same time, I felt the addiction behind it. I can&#x27;t play video games &quot;for fun&quot;. I want to be good and that costs time. Video games have the downside of giving players easy rewards. I think it does something bad to your brain. Not necessarily altering it forever, but at least turning one into a little dopamine junkie.<p>In 2016, I spend about 40 times 3 hours in a private art school. I improved my drawing and painting skills a lot in merely 120 hours. That was a much better investment of my time than video games and I wonder if the forced concentration of looking at objects and colors for 3 hours straight had comparable improvements of cognitive abilities.<p>Anyways, what I want to say is this: If you feel that you&#x27;re wasting too much time on video games, despite what research tries to spin positively about it, try to quit them and see what happens.