I’m a full on geek about video games from retro to the newest video games that are out today. Many of you believe that video games are a waste of time. What if I told you that video games can have a great influence on your children? For me, I can talk about video games with my friends either about their plot, their gameplay or how nostalgic it is to play retro games. My experience with video games was awesome from my childhood until today. So here is a list about how video games can be a good influence on your life:

1. Stress relief:

It is confirmed and true that video games help us to relive our stress. According to a recent study from Texas A&M University, “103 young adults were given a frustration task and then randomized to play no game, a non-violent game, a violent game with good versus evil theme, or a violent game in which they played ‘the bad guy.’ The results suggest that violent games reduce depression and hostile feelings in players through mood management.”

2. Make you smarter than you think:

Whether it is a violent or non-violent game, they will make you smarter. When comparing to a control group, studies show that gamers trained for two months for at least 30 minutes per day with a platformer game had significant increases in gray matter in the right hippocampal formation, the right dorsolateral prefrontal cortex and bilateral cerebellum.

3. Moral in video games:

Many parents often say that you will never learn any moral values from video games. Wrong. Like many games, most of them will teach you what is right or wrong. They will put in different scenarios with different situations, and you will have to make a decision. Each decision will have a consequence whether it was a good or a bad decision. Video games like these include “The Walking Dead,” “Fallout 4,” “The Witcher 3” and many more. Each of these games will teach you the consequences of your actions and how this action will affect you.

4. Improves your eyesight:

I know what you thinking if you are looking to the screen too much your eyesight might be blurry. False. According to Daphne Bavelier, action gamers would mostly improve their eyesight when compared to non-violent gamers. It will also improve your capacity to recognize the different color of gray in case you are driving through fog.

5. Learning boost:

People say that video games often distract you, and they don’t let you concentrate. Guess again people. Speaking from experience, I have an attentional problem and playing video games lets me concentrate on a conversation in real life. But do not take my word from my actual experience as a gamer, according to with Daphne Bavelier again, playing action video games will let you concentrate more and solve the problem more quickly.

So before you say something bad about video games and ban video games from your children, do some research and plan ahead what video games are adequate for his age before it goes to grown-up games.