علیرضا نظری انامق

This research examined the relationship between video games and cognitive skills including critical thinking and creative thinking. This was an analytical and cross-sectional study. The population of the present research consisted of high school students of Ardebil in the academic year 2013-2014. A sample consisting of 105 students, (54 female and 51 male), was selected using multi-stage cluster sampling. They filled out two questionnaires, namely the California Critical Thinking Skill Test (CCTST) and Critical Thinking Test (CT). The data collected from the questionnaires were analyzed by SPSS through one-way analysis of variance (ANOVA) as well as the Scheffe test. To conduct the analysis, the participants were divided into four groups based on the number of hours spent playing video games every day, namely no gaming, less than 1 hour, between 1-2 hours, and more than 2 hours of gaming; they were also divided into four groups based on the number of years they had been playing video games, namely no gaming, less than a year, 1-2 years, and more than 2 years. The results of the one-way ANOVA revealed significant differences in creativity between the four groups based on the hours spent playing and the number of years the subjects had been playing video games (P<0.05). The differences between the four groups in terms of critical thinking were also significant (P<0.05). The findings indicated that the individuals spending up to two hours playing video games on a daily basis had higher levels of creativity and critical thinking compared to non-gamers.

The mobile phone by its entering to human’ life, has caused extensive changes, but sometimes cause problems as well. It seems that people who use the mobile phone in a problematic way are vulnerable to psychological damage. According to existing research, the purpose of this study was to compare the general health of students with problematic use of mobile phones and normal users. In this cross-sectional study, the study population was all students of Ardebil universities in 2013, out of which 116 were recruited using convenience sampling method. For collecting data, the Cell-Phone Over-Use Scale (COS) and General Health Questionnaire (GHQ) were used. Data were analyzed using SPSS16 software.There was a positive and significant relationship between problematic use of mobile phones and general health (p<0.01). Also, there was a significant difference between two groups of problematic users and normal users of mobile phones in terms of general health (p<0.01). According to the results, students with problematic use of mobile phones have a lower general health level. Therefore, interventions to improve their health and reduce their problematic use of mobile phones should be considered.