Games v. Grades

“All work and no play makes Jack a dull boy.”

We’ve all heard this saying time and again, but is Jack’s playtime causing his grades to slip? According to a recent study the average person of college age spends 22 hours a week playing video games, while another study shows that college students spend an average of 17 hours a week studying.

It’s nothing new that some people think that video games can be bad for young people’s development, but should we be doing some more research on this, or putting in some more thought into this hypothesis?

Home video games have been around longer than most Mt. Hood students have been alive – and for the majority of MHCC’s history. For most of us, they have been a part of our daily lives and entertainment as much as television, or movies. But as with any form of entertainment, we need to be mindful of how much we consume, and to do these activities in moderation, especially if we are finding we don’t have the time to do the things – like studying – that we should be putting higher on our priority list.

I am 36 years old, and have been playing video games since I was 7 and got my first Nintendo entertainment system complete with the original “Super Mario Brothers” game. Since then, I have purchased or played with every major game console, as well as PC games. I am a gamer, through and through. But, when I see statistics like this, I think to myself, am I spending too much time doing something that is hurting me in the long run?  How do I know if I am focusing too much on playing video games and not enough on my study time?

I spent the last week monitoring my video game time as well as the time I spent studying and doing homework. I realized that I was spending far too much time playing games than I should be if I wanted to be as successful in my classes as I wanted to be.

Luckily, just keeping track helped me to manage my time a bit more wisely and put a bit more effort in my studies.

Look, I’m not saying you have to run home and toss your PC and Xbox into the trash, but what I am saying is that time is precious and limited. We should all be making sure that we fill the little amount of time we have here at MHCC with more than just “Call of Duty” and “League of Legends.”

When you look back at the experiences we shared here, are you going to be able to say that you did your best, and you studied as hard as you could to get where you wanted to be? Or are you going to let life pass you by with a controller in your hand?

Remember, you control what you do, and that there are no cheat codes in life.

Advocate Staff