CNN and Kotaku says...

9 - 12 percent of boys qualify as addicted to video games

The first thing you notice about the professional video game players are their fingers -- spindly creatures that seem to flail about at their own will, banging at the computer keyboard with such frequency and ferocity that to visit their live-in training centers in South Korea is to be treated to a maddening drum roll of clicks and clacks.
The clatter is loud enough to drown out conversation. And it's constant. Rows of expressionless young men sit at cubicle-like workstations tapping at a galactic military strategy game, "StarCraft II," sometimes for 18 hours a day -- from 10 a.m. to 4 a.m.

 (CNN) - Parents who believe that playing video games affect attention span of children less than do television, you may want to reconsider ... and incidentally, disconnect the Xbox.One study suggests that video games can affect children's attention as much as television, according to Health.com site.Elementary school children who play video games more than two hours a day are 67% more likely to develop attention problems, according to a study published in Pediatrics.Apparently, playing video games and watching television have the same relation to this problem, even when video games are considered a less passive activity, the researchers said."Video games, like television, are linked to attention problems," said study lead author, Edward Swing, a doctoral candidate in the department of psychology at Iowa State University in the United States. "They have the television same intensity as to predict attention problems ".Anyway, the study does not prove that video games are a direct cause attention problems; it is likely that children with short attention span are more likely to take control of game that a book, for example.The relationship between video games and attention is probably a two-way street, Swing said, it would not surprise him that children with attention problems appear more attracted to the media, and the media attention problems increase, he said .Swing and his colleagues studied more than 1,300 children in third, fourth and fifth grade for a little over a year. The researchers asked both children and parents how many hours per week spent watching television and playing video games, and studied the attention span of children by their teachers guesswork.Previous studies have investigated the effect of television or video games on attention problems, but not both. Swing and his colleagues were able to show, first, that both activities have similar relationship in attention problems.Dr. Shawn Green, who works in the department of psychology at the University of Minnesota in Minneapolis, said the study does not distinguish between the type of care required to excel in a game and required to excel in school."A child who is able to play a video game for hours obviously has a general problem of attention," Green, who has researched games but did not participate in that study."The question is why they can pay attention to a game but not school issues and what experiences offer games that are not used in school models."Experts have suggested that the current TV programs are as exciting and assets that make reading and school work look dull in comparison, and the study suggests that the same could apply to video games.But this is not clear from the study because Swing and his colleagues studied the specific games that children played."We fail to differentiate between educational and non-educational games and violent and nonviolent," Swing said, adding that the impact of different types of games in care is a topic for future research.Children are not the onlyThe study also suggests that adults can see their altered due attention to video games.In addition to survey primary school children, researchers studied 210 college students to analyze their use of video games and television and the way in which the media affect their concentration. Students who watched more than two hours of television or the time spent playing video games, were twice as likely to develop attention problems.These problems may be the result of a cumulative thing in a while or something that happens in a life stage and stay with the person forever, Swing said. "Anyway, there are implications that compel us to reduce the time children spend watching television or playing video games."The American Academy of Pediatrics and Pediatric leader responsible for organizing the journal Pediatrics recommends that parents limit the time "in front of screens," including the time children spend playing video games and computer games, less than two hours a day.For his part, Green says that the time children spend playing video games should be a matter of common sense and should be set according to the judgment of the parents. "A limit as two hours is completely arbitrary," he said. "Children are individuals, and what makes sense for one does not necessarily work for another."

A video producer visited South Korea, which is said to be the global hub for gaming addiction.