Tag: STUDY

Well, 'Grand Theft Auto,' you've done it again. According to a Continental Tyre study, enthusiasts of driving games "take more risks than non-gaming drivers" and more frequently engage in dangerous street maneuvers. The statistics (culled from 1,000 gamers and 1,000 non-gamers) indicate that driving gamers crash, hit parked vehicles, sideswipe other cars, violate one-way streets and run red lights ...

Girls continue to represent a steadily expanding video gamer demographic. According to a recent study from Brigham Young University's School of Family Life, that's definitely a positive trend -- and not just for game manufacturers. The study involved 11- to 16-year-old girls, and determined that the ones who actually game with their parents perform better in many social areas than girls who play ...

To most people, Wikipedia represents the ultimate in egalitarian encyclopedias. It's a place where any Internet user can go to add their own knowledge on virtually any subject in the world, regardless of individual expertise or background. But recent statistics show that, in spite of its intrinsic openness, Wikipedia's playing ground may not be as level as it seems -- especially when it comes ...

Share Take it from a lady: Nothing gets a gal's heart racing like longing, hand-written missives, promising sweet nothings and slipped into hands or lockers, bags or under doors. Or, you know, a 160-character text message drunkenly sent at 3 a.m. Apparently, lovelorn romantics of the digital age no longer sit up all night on the phone, draining the battery on the cordless and then sneaking ...

Just because your young daughter types "CU L8R" when she texts her friends doesn't mean she won't be able to spell real words when she grows up. In fact, one new study claims that, contrary to popular belief, texting will actually improve her spelling skills. The study, conducted by researchers at Coventry University, examined 114 9- and 10-year-old children who did not already use cell phones. ...

Share There's a good chance that young children growing up in today's world will learn how to use an iPad before learning how to tie their shoes. That's the takeaway from a new study by online security firm AVG, which found that 58-percent of kids between the ages of 2 and 5 know how to play a "basic computer game," while a full 63-percent know how to turn a computer off and on. Most young ...

Surfing the Web may be a relatively solitary activity, but, according to a new study, Internet users are a lot more active than they appear. In a national survey, the Pew Research Center's Internet & American Life Project found that 75-percent of all Americans are currently involved in some sort of volunteer group, but Internet users are noticeably more likely to participate in them; ...

Video games may detract from your child's physical activity and social life, but can they also drive your kid mental? According to a controversial new study, they can. Recently published in Pediatrics Journal, said study examined 3,000 children in Singapore over the course of two years. Researchers found that about one out of every ten children ultimately became addicted to video games, and ...

No matter how many times scientists, the Mythbusters, the government or even we bloggers tell you that driving while talking on the phone is dangerous, you just don't listen. So, why isn't the road littered with the shells of burned-out cars and the bodies of drive-time chatterboxes? A new study from economists Saurabh Bhargava, at the University of Chicago, and Vikram Pathania, of the London ...

A recent study claims that smokers who received personal phone calls from counselors for 18 months and participated in QuitNet.com, an online smoking cessation program, had double the quit rates of smokers who only used the online program. According to a Reuters report, about 2,000 smokers participated in the large-scale study, which was conducted at the American Legacy Foundation's Schroeder ...

Share Got Facebook on the brain? It could be because Facebook is your brain. Sort of. That's what Carnegie Mellon neurology researcher Alison Barth claims in a new study published in the December 22nd issue of a journal called Neuron. As LiveScience explains, Barth and her team of researchers arrived at their conclusion after identifying and observing a small group of highly active neurons in ...

The majority of Americans still rely on television as their primary news source, but, according to a new study from the Pew Research Center for the People & the Press, the Internet is gaining ground. In a Pew national survey, 66-percent of all Americans cited TV as their main source for national and international news, down from 74-percent three years ago, and 82-percent in 2002. The Internet, ...

A recent survey by JP Morgan shows that 28-percent of cable subscribers would consider cutting the cord and going with Web-based video for their entertainment needs. Sure, 28-percent isn't a majority, but it's still a healthy chunk of customers -- and if those subscribers up and left, it would seriously eat into Big Cable's profits. Of course, most of those customers aren't jumping ship just yet. ...

Share Do you open your laptop as soon as you wake up? Do you sneak out of the office to tweet from your smartphone? Do you get the shakes if you go several hours without visiting Switched? If so, you're not alone, because, according to a new study, we're all physically addicted to the meth of new media. The study, titled 'Unplugged,' was undertaken by the University of Maryland's International ...

Last summer, researchers from the Channing Laboratory at Brigham and Women's Hospital in Boston concluded that teen hearing loss has drastically increased over the last 20 years. The scientists based their conclusions on separate, extensive studies conducted for the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey. The first survey analyzed the hearing capabilities of 2,500 adolescents between ...