Australian Broadcast Corp reports [abc.net.au]:
Research released from RMIT University has found gaming helps boost results in maths, science and reading.
But researchers said scrolling through Facebook, Instagram or chat sites had the reverse effect, by hindering academic success in high school.
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Associate Professor Posso used data from the Program for International Student Assessment (PISA) to analyse the online habits of 12,000 Australian 15 year olds, which he then compared to their academic results.He said the PISA data revealed that online gaming helped young people develop analytical and problem-solving skills.
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Perhaps unsurprisingly, the study found spending hours on social media was mostly wasted time for teenagers, in terms of academic performance.Australian teenagers who used Facebook or chat sites every day scored 20 points worse in maths than students who never used social media, the research said.