Author: Jonas Heide Smith

Video games threaten… board games

Ludo the game of dice.
According to Politiken Danish neuroscientist Kjeld Fredens is worried that video games are replacing board games in many children’s lives. Fredens, apparently, is convinced that board games stimulate different cognitive functions than do video games:

A board game such as chess challenges the intellect of children. It challenges their ability to combine and it challenges their ability to think ahead. The slow pace of traditional board games mean that children train the ability to think thoroughly whereas video games depend more on routine and reflexes. But both things have advantages so it is good if children play both video games and board games.

Of course, this statement disregards the vast difference between video game titles. But apart from that it’s quite interesting, perhaps even plausible. One only wonders if there is any documentation at all behind those claims.

More on method

I think one will do well to be aware that one is unlikely to ever come up with a methodological claim so outlandish or grotesque that one cannot find support for it in the research literature should one search long enough.
Being able to cite somebody does not relieve anyone from thinking critically. I’ll see what I can do to remember this myself.