Fifteen-year-olds who play online video games score above average in math, reading, and science, while those who engage in social networking tend to score below average, according to an analysis of international assessment data.
The study, conducted by Albert Posso, an associate professor at the Royal Melbourne Institute of Technology in Australia, and published in the recent issue of the International Journal of Communication, looks at results for about 12,000 Australian students from the 2012 Program for International Student Assessment.
The study found that a student who uses social networks, such as Facebook, daily scores 20 points lower in math than a student who never uses social media. (The average math score in Australia for 2012 was 504 points based on a scale of 1 to 1,000.)
Playing video games is associated with higher math, reading, and science scores on PISA, the study found. But students who play almost every day do better than those who play every single day and also better than those who play just once a week.
