Scientific brain studies appear in my email box weekly, it seems, highlighting new discoveries about the human brain. With advanced technologies such as MRIs, scientists are able to observe brain activity that until very recently lay hidden. What we know about the brain is increasing, but there is still so much left to learn.

Last week the news item summarized a new study about video games and men’s brains. With an MRI the researchers were able to record where brain activity occurred as a group of men and women played video games. It turned out that for men, the part of the brain where feelings of reward and addiction are centered lit up while they played. This activity did not occur as much for women. The researchers think this might explain why men and boys not only play video games more than women and girls, but fall into more addictive behaviors.

What does this have to do with Say Yes to No?  Part of our Say Yes to No message encourages parents to be MediaWise®. Parenting in the 21^st century includes making healthy media choices for our kids and helping them learn how to make healthy media choices for themselves. MediaWise parents pay attention to the content of the media their children use and limit the time their children watch electronic screens. This involves saying “no”. With the new brain studies, we can see how important being a MediaWise parent is, especially, perhaps, for our boys.