The central theme is to debunk the myth that video games "rot your brain," exploring the scientific and historical perspectives on video game effects, emphasizing that the impact depends on the type of game and the amount of play.
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you're listening to brainson where we're
serious about being curious brainson is
supported in part by a grant from the
Foundation you've just reached level 4
journey through deep expanse asteroid
no Take that nasty asteroids no Nobody
messes with me fuzz butt pickle star on
her coest for Earth that's right fuzz
butt we're going to make it to Earth this
this
time asteroid debris Direct Hit damage
to engine must repair mechanics
mid-flight it's okay I have a reserve
for this if I
just honey time's up Mom I just got to
level four I've literally never made it
this far I'm sure sure you remember the
deal we made oh
man game paused wait wait wait don't
pause hold on you know I paused yeah how
could I not look at me I'm frozen midair
doing nothing this is so cool if by cool
you mean it's cool to leave an alien
floating in suboptimal temperatures in
the bowels of an asteroid field then
yeah it's cool now how about you hit
play and let's see if we can get me out
of this disaster in one piece I wish I
could but I reached my time limit for
this weekend excuse me you have a time
limit on my life trust me there is
nothing I'd rather be doing than sitting
here on this couch using my Nimble
fingers and 8-year-old deduction skills
to help you muddle through this hostile
space environment but my mom says if I
play any longer it might rot my brain
rot your brain rot my brain rot your
brain rot your brain your bra your brain
your brain
bra your [Music]
[Music]
bra well now I feel bad am I really
contributing to your mental Decay no or
I mean maybe if I play too much or maybe
it's just something my mom says or wait
a lot of adults say that I don't don't
know aha a quandry for the ages fuzz but
pickle star loves an Earthly [Music]
challenge you're listening to brains on
from APM Studios I'm Molly Bloom and
with me today is Cen from Buffalo New
York hi Cen hi Molly Cen you're here
because you asked us a question about
video games what was that question do
video games rot your brain and if not
why do people say this so how did you
come up with this question when I was
younger my parents every time if I
played too long they'd be like get off
or your brain will be rotten and I'm
like what and they were like video games
rot your brain so I I sent in this
question when when there was like covid
so I I could like find out in case like
cuz I was pretty bored during Co yeah
there was not a lot else to do besides
play video games so I get it so do you
play a lot of video games now yeah I
play in the morning a lot when my mom's
home like before school yeah I play like
Roblox Minecraft I play a lot of variety of
of
games I play like sports games like
games where you create stuff games where
you have to work as a team it helps me
work better with people so it sounds
like you're getting a lot out of the
games you play so what other things do
you like to do besides playing video
games I like playing soccer basketball
and sing
obnoxiously question for you would you
rather watch TV or play a video game
play video games cuz I get to choose my
option and I'd rather do that than sit
there and watch the people in the TV
show choose the wrong option so you want
to have some say in what happens in The
Narrative and that's why you like video
games yeah
let's get to it do video games rot our
brains PE PE Let's laser the answer out
of the sky what the what excuse me um
who are you the real question is who am
I that's what I and the answer is
Captain fuzzbutt pickle star of the Gastropub
Gastropub
nebula I am just a humble fuzzy alien
with cute ears an asteroid blasting
laser and a dream
to one day reach Earth and taste a
sandal sandals are shoes to one day wear a
a
sandal oh you're from that video game
quest for Earth I've played that exactly
but I left my comfortable pixelated
realm to venture to your beautifully
rendered Homeland in search of the
answer to the same question you are
asking do video games rot your brain I
mean I should hope not but honestly I
have no idea it's like that age-old
question of whether pants go on the
human top or bottom the bottom no one
knows well you're just in time we're
going to answer that question today the
video game one not the human pants one
first let's start with the basics what
do we mean by rotting your brain are we
talking about destroying your brain like
it's being eaten by a brain munching
zombie parasite I've seen those real
nasty creatures or do we mean it'll get
brown and mushy like an override banana
that's attracting flies also nasty what
most people mean is they think games
will make your brain weak like you'll do
worse on a test and stuff or games will
change your personality in some way the
answer to the first two ideas is a hard
no playing video games will not destroy
the actual matter of your brain or turn
it to literal mush
closed but the answer to the third idea
whether games harm your brain in some
other way that's less clear say what now
lots of scientists are trying to figure
this out scientists like sha green so
I'd probably start by saying video games
aren't one thing um and so it makes it a
really tricky question Sean studies
video games and the Brain at the
University of Wisconsin in Madison the
analogy that we use often is what's the
effect of eating food on your body right
are you eating ice cream and chocolate
are you eating broccoli and spinach you
need to know what type of food it is to
know how it's going to impact your body
the same is true of video games there
are many types of video games with
completely different characters and
goals and worlds like Minecraft where
players build things and go on
adventures or fortnite where players
battle out in a fictional world or
Tetris a puzzle where you try and land
the falling blocks in a neat pattern oh
my favorite game only on my planet we call
call
it each game requires different skills
and might affect the brain in different
ways yep a lot of the Time video game
research only looks at one specific game
no study can look at all of them but
Sean says there's been enough research
that we can probably be sure of a few
things and it's good news for gamers oh
joy lay it on me he says that some types
of video games seem to boost something
called our perceptual skills these
skills help us do all kinds of things
from reading and drawing to playing
sports so kind of how well you see or
hear or what we would call cognitive
skills how well you can kind of reason
or think or um plan for example there's
a video game called Raymond RAV rabids
that researchers have studied in the
game you play a cartoony character who
shoots plungers at Targets and does
dance offs with rabbits playing a game
like this might make you faster at
noticing quick changes in the
environment or you might get better at
doing complicated movements with your
fingers you might even become a better
puzzle or Problem Solver some research
shows certain games can help improve
your short-term memory too so you might
remember things that happened recently a
little better does any of this seem true
to you based on your time playing games golden
golden
definitely because I'm the goalkeeper so
I'm my soccer team so I have to use my
hands and see what they're going to try
and do next by watching their eyes and
see if they're going to try and change
what they're going to do wow so video
games are helping you with soccer very
cool there are also video games designed
to teach us stuff like math or a new
language and there's even a game for
doctors to help them get better at
surgery Shawn says some of these games
have been shown to really help people
learn so that's the good news now for
some bad news the brain eating zombie
parasites are back quack put on your
titanium beanie caps no what I meant was
there are some games that seem to
negatively affect us specifically games
with a lot of fighting and violence oh
well that's different and we're talking
about games with very intense and
realistic violence not more Mario
jumping on a turtle or angry birds
flying out of slingshots here's game
researcher Sean green again I would say
kind of most research in that space has
kind of pointed to there being a small
effect where more and more exposure to
um violent video games can cause um kind
of more aggressive thoughts or more
aggressive uh feelings or maybe even
more aggressive um behaviors Shawn says
that scientists are still debating that
last Point many scientists think it's
true that violent games might make some
people act a tiny bit more violently but
others think we need to do more research
to be sure and either way he says these
effects are small so most people who
play violent games don't feel more
aggressive or never do anything violent
because of them but it's something to
think about when picking which games to
play for you know parents in particular
knowing what types of content is in
games is actually
really important so games have some
benefits and some games might have a
downside too but none of them turn your
brain into literal mush that's probably
just something parents say to help their
kids do what they think is the right
thing yeah parents are always saying
stuff my father once told me if I ever
left my home planet of korpus I would
disintegrate into a pile of cosmic dust
obviously that didn't happen and now I'm
here with my friends malri and kwag not
even close it's Molly and
Cen good one MRI the wise so Cen and
fuzzbutt did we answer your question
yeah I think so video games can help
boost some skills but really violent
ones can be bad for some people it's a
lot to take in honestly your world is
too complicated for this pixelated pal
I'm going to go back to my game where
things make sense you see an asteroid
you blast it with a laser you see a
black hole you fly around it you see a
human pants you put it on your head
probably again pants go on the bottom
half pants such a mystery well see you
on hello it's me
gang hey and me Captain fuzzbutt pickle
star today gangor is dancing monster
friend but long ago gador was part of a
video game called most epic fighting
battle realm we're monsters F and there
is no dancing so sad and I am the
extremely lovable but tough star of the
Quest for earth I shoot asteroids and
travel through wormholes to get to Earth
Gang and fuzzy here to tell you that
video games sometimes addictive make you
want to play play play that's right much
like the hand biting aliens from planet
mud flap once you pick up a game it can
be very hard to put it down that because
when players do good at game Brain of
player release chemical called
dopamine and with every asteroid blasted
every evil alien avoided your brain
rewards you with a little burst of happy
good time feelings and once your brain
gets a taste it wants
more like sour cream and onion
chips G's favorite exactly games are
often specifically designed to keep
giving you little winds so those happy
brain chemicals keep coming and that
makes your brain want to play on and on
and on until next thing you know you've
missed your exit on the galactic Super
Highway and your ship is running out of
fuel and the only planet to gas up on is
bangula Prime and as you know everyone
living there will talk your ear off if
you even try Landing there I mean as an
example sure sure like tiny fuzzbottom
says games hard to stop but playing too
much can make player forget to do other
important things like riding bikes with
friends or combing your tail hairs so
they don't tangle or watering tiny
flowers or working on your self-portrait
skills hey does this look like me by the
way no real fuzzy much
cuter so remember just because game is
fun don't let it take over your life if
gador didn't stop playing most epic
fighting battle realm gangor never would
have known how good dancing
dancing
feels twirl Cha Slide spark your fingers
oh so this is a dance party now the hle
are we done with the public service
announcement I think I'll just
just [Music]
[Music]
bye now let's play a game with no
controllers or buttons or even screens it's
[Music]
the are you ready Cen yeah here it [Music]
is what's your guess is that a game
glitching app Out ooh very nice guess
what do you hear in that sound I hear
like someone siipping up like some kind
of jacket yeah there's like almost something
something
metallic it's a very particular sound
yeah well we will hear it again and
reveal the answer after the credits so
stick around [Music]
you're listening to brainson from APM
Studios and I'm Cen and I'm Molly some
video games are probably good for us in
certain ways but there's a catch yeah
there's always a catch according to
scientific research playing more doesn't
equal more skills at some point you
don't really get much better at those
perceptual skills we talked about and in
fact if you play too much you might run
into other problems like not getting
enough exercise or skipping your
homework hear me out Molly it's like
flossing flossing like your teeth yeah
you floss for a few minutes and it does
a lot of good popcorn kernels vanquished
plaque busted mouth cleaned and if you
keep at it for maybe 15 minutes sure
you'll probably scrape off even more
tooth Gunk at some point you floss all
the stuff you can and eventually it'll
just hurt your gum
and even make them bleed hm okay
interesting example but I love it so
video games like most things are best if
you don't overdo them we all need
balance in our lives but Molly If Video
Games don't actually rot your brain why
are so many people afraid they will well
people tend to be worried about new
technology especially how it'll affect
kids and video games are not the first
bit of technology to get people all in
an up Ro people were really upset about
novels in the 19th century that's
Katherine Clark she's a historian at the
Massachusetts Institute of Technology
wait I'm sorry did she just say novels
as in chapter books yep around 200 years
ago fictional books meaning stories made
up and written down for people to read
were still a pretty new thing today we
call them novels the novel is like an
invention of the 18th century the idea
that you have fictional
stories being narrated Often by
first-person narrators does not exist in
the 14th century in the same way that it
does in the 18th century and when things
like the printing press and less
expensive paper came along and made
books a lot easier to make suddenly
these novels were everywhere lots of
people could suddenly read this new type
of Storytelling but some people were
worried these new fangled books would
rot your brain so if you like to read
novels you liked things like romance and
adventure and that if you liked those
things in novels you would not be able
to pay attention to things that were
better for your mind those things like
philosophy science um religion so
they're worried about the mind being
weakened my sight is everywhere offended
by These Foolish yet dangerous books if
my sensitive daughter should merely open
the pages of one of these Toms of moral
turpitude I Fe her growing mind will be
deprived of nourishment it will languish
and diminish
thusly allow me to interpret I speak
19th century English he's saying novels
will Rush your brain thank you colon and
this is just one example throughout
history people especially adults were
worried that new technologies would
distract young people weaken their minds
and make them lonely when radio was
first inv Ed and kids and teens were
suddenly listening to music and stories
and game shows parents were concerned
will you listen to that infertile racket
constantly pouring from the radio she
Willers poor Timmy's brain will surely
turn into mush then they got worried
when comic books came along I can't
abide dot staring at those pictures all
day her brain's going to shrink from all
these silly stories TV too w-e how many
times do I have to tell you that darn
thing will rot your
brain being a parent is hard you want
what's best for your kids but when new
things get introduced into the world
that you aren't familiar with you're
worried about how they'll affect your
kids and again too much of anything can
spell trouble but many adults today grew
up playing video games themselves even
our historian friend Katherine I love
video games I played a lot of Zelda as a
child I was a Kirby's pinball land gal
myself and now I play video games with
my daughter any ooblets fans out there
it's a great game so parents worrying
about video games is a long tradition of
grown-ups trying to help their kids live
good lives yep and because there's
always new technology in the works
Catherine says there's always something
new to worry about so in the 50s it's
television in the 20s it's radio and
then in the '90s when with Nintendo it
starts to be about video games as well
um and who knows what the next thing
will be oh I do worry about quinland
spending so much time in the molecular
reconfiguration chamber why can't they
instead so video games don't actually
rot your brain and they may be good for
building some skills like problem
solving or hand eye coronation but some
scientists also think playing really
violent games might be bad for you and
remember adults are always a little
nervous about the effect that new
technology will have on kids but it
seems like the answer to these worries
is always to remember the motto
everything in
moderation that's it for this episode of
brainson this episode was produced by
Molly Bloom Anna wle Aron walis ly Nico
Gonzalez Whistler Rosie Dupont Anna
Goldfield Molly quinland Ruby Guthrie
and Mark Sanchez our editors are sand
and Totton and Shayla farzon this
episode was sound designed by Rachel
Breeze and we had engineering help from
Aaron hen and Jess Berg Beth Pearlman is
our executive producer the executives in
charge of APM studios are Chandra kavati
and Joan Griffith special thanks to
Analisa Calbert Chris eert Kennedy
Calbert Vicky kler and Coco BRS on is a
nonprofit public radio program there are
lots of ways to support the show head to brains
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submit your birthday songs questions and
Fan Art have I mentioned how much we
love your fan art we cannot get enough of
of
it okay colen are you ready to listen to
that Mystery Sound again of course all
right here it is [Music]
what are your thoughts um I think I'm
going to stick with the zipper okay or I
feel like they're like rubbing plastic
together ooh very
interesting you ready to hear the answer
yeah hi I'm Jude and I'm from
Hudsonville Michigan and that was the
sound of two magnets when they connect
have you ever done that before like have
two magnets bump together yes I did that
in my class before recently so now I'm
surprised I didn't get that I know it's
so hard these sounds are so hard out of
context but you did say two pieces of
plastic bumping together and a lot of
magnets I've played with are covered in
plastic so I think you got like halfway
there so good job yes [Music]
thank you for watching if you enjoyed
this episode don't forget to hit the
Subscribe button make sure to check out
all our great podcasts brainson smash
boom best forever ago and moment of um
[Music] the
the [Music]
[Music]
we'll be back next week with more
answers to your questions thanks for listening
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