Video Games and Attention: Separating Signal From Panic

By Laura Lurns · Reviewed by Philip Weaver · Last reviewed 2026-10-30

What the long-term studies found

Studies of video games and attention disagree. Here is what each study we cite found.

Two studies that found a link. One study followed 1,323 children for 13 months (Swing and colleagues, 2010). More TV and game time went with more attention problems later. Teachers rated those problems. That shows a link, not a cause. We could read only its summary.

A second study followed 3,034 children and teens in Singapore (Gentile and colleagues, 2012). It ran for three years. More game time went with more attention problems later. More attention problems also went with more game time later. That shows a link, not a cause. We could read only its summary.

A large study that found no link for games. A study followed over 8,000 U.S. children for four years (Nivins and colleagues, 2026). It found no link between video games and ADHD symptoms. It found no link for TV or videos either. Social media use did go with more trouble paying attention over time. That shows a link, not a cause. We could read only its summary.

A study where the link ran both ways. A Quebec study followed 1,703 children for four years (Tiraboschi and colleagues, 2025). Teachers rated their ADHD symptoms. The children were a general group, not children diagnosed with ADHD. Early in that study, children with more symptoms went on to game more. Later in that study, more gaming went with more symptoms two years on. That shows a link, not a cause. The link may run the other way. We could read only its summary.

The honest bottom line. The studies on this page do not show that games cause or worsen ADHD. Social media and video games are not the same thing.

What lab studies of action games measured

One review pooled lab studies of action video games (Bediou and colleagues, 2018). The studies were mostly of young adults. They used lab tasks, not attention in class. No children with ADHD were in them. The authors found no training studies with children in them.

In our view, the review cannot say whether a game affects your child's focus.

What one survey of boys with ADHD found

One survey asked parents once about their sons' gaming (Mazurek and Engelhardt, 2013). It did not follow the boys over time. Parents gave all the answers. Boys with ADHD had more problem game use than typically developing boys. More trouble paying attention went with more problem game use. That shows a link, not a cause. We could read only its summary.

What the research we hold says, and where it stops

The long-term studies on this page do not agree. Some linked TV or game time with later attention problems. One large study found no link for games. In another, early symptoms went with more gaming. Then more gaming went with later symptoms. In that one, the link ran both ways.

Each long-term study on this page just watched what families did. These long-term studies do not show that games cause or worsen ADHD. No study here tested whether games worsen ADHD in children who have it.

The lab studies of action games used lab tasks (Bediou and colleagues, 2018). Most of the people in them were young adults.

Nothing in the studies on this page tested a Learning Success program.

What we suggest

In our view, what the game crowds out matters too: sleep, homework, time outside.

• Look at a usual week. Notice what game time takes the place of.
• Keep sleep, meals and time outside in the week first. Fit games around them.
• Ask about social media on its own. In our view, it is a separate question from games.
• Play a game with your child now and then. Ask what they like about it.
• Notice attention across the whole day, not only near a screen.

These steps are our own practice, not a tested method.

Our page on screen time limits covers how much screen time. Our page on screen time battles covers ending screen time without a fight.

When to ask for help

Each of these is a reason to ask for help on its own.

• Little change, even with steady practice and good teaching.
• Schoolwork well below what school expects.
• A teacher who raises a concern about learning.
• Extreme upset about schoolwork.
• Complete avoidance of school or learning.
• Hopelessness about learning.
• Sadness or worry that lasts.
• Significant delays in speech, language or motor development.
• A skill that was there and has gone. Our position is that a lost skill goes to a doctor first, not a tutor.

If no skill has gone, start with the teacher. Say what you are seeing at home, and what you have tried. Beyond the teacher, the right person depends on what it turns out to be about. If the work is too hard, someone who works on that school skill. If worry or mood is the thing, someone who works with children's mental health. In our view, delays in speech, language or movement are worth raising with your child's doctor. In our view, if you are worried enough to ask, a professional evaluation is worth asking about.

Any talk of hurting themselves is a same-day call to your doctor or a crisis line.