Three decades ago there were many articles that said video games had a negative impact on children's development. Video games are also blamed for mass shootings such as Columbine. All claims are anecdotal and not based on scientific research.
A recent study supported by the United States National Institutes of Health (NIH), video games were found to improve children's cognitive abilities. It is part of the Adolescent Brain Cognitive Development (ABCD) being conducted by the NIH with data collected from 2000 participants.
Data shows that children who spend 3-4 hours a day playing video games have better cognitive abilities than children who do not play video games. In cognitive tests, they were faster while brain MRI scans showed higher activity in areas of memory and concentration.
Studies like this have once again succeeded in erasing the negative stigma of video games that has plagued it for the past three decades. In 2017 a study in Germany found that teenagers who played violent video games did not show a reduction in empathy and a reduction in sensitivity to violence.