Study: Playing video games a little bit each day can actually be good for kids

Don't tell your kids, but playing video games might actually be good for them. The University of Oxford published a new study Monday that revealed that in children 10 to 15 years old, playing video games daily — albeit for less than an hour each day — was actually associated with "higher life satisfaction and prosocial behavior and lower externalizing and internalizing problems."

The researchers rated participants in various categories, including how satisfied they were with their lives, how well they got along with others, and whether they exhibited signs of hyperactivity or inattention. The group that played video games for less than one hour each day showed the highest levels of "positive social interactions" and were more likely to indicate satisfaction with their lives.

Of course, moderation is the word here, as once gameplay time reached the one- to three-hour range, gamers showed no more positive qualities than their non-playing counterparts. And when playing time topped three hours, children actually exhibited negative effects.

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Read the full study in the journal Pediatrics.