Section Article

Impact of Online Gaming on Academic Performance of Students
Author(s): Prof. Deepti Sagar

Abstract
Online gaming has become one of the most pervasive and rapidly expanding forms of digital entertainment among students in the twenty-first century creating a profound shift in how young learners interact with technology manage their study habits and experience learning outcomes. The explosive growth of smartphones affordable data plans cloud gaming platforms and competitive e-sports ecosystems has transformed gaming from a casual recreational activity into a structured and highly immersive digital environment that continuously influences students’ psychological cognitive and academic behaviours. As online gaming becomes deeply integrated into the daily routines of school-going and college-going students it has emerged as a critical area of academic inquiry especially in contexts like India where youth digitalization is accelerating at an unprecedented pace. The impact of online gaming on the academic performance of students is not a simplistic linear phenomenon rather it operates as a multi-layered interaction between the frequency of gameplay the emotional experiences associated with gaming the type of games played the time spent on gaming during academic hours and the overall digital lifestyle of the student. Extensive evidence indicates that online gaming carries both positive and negative academic implications depending on the balance and behavioural discipline maintained by individual learners. On the positive side online gaming enhances several cognitive abilities such as problem-solving speed strategic thinking spatial visualization decision-making under pressure hand-eye coordination and collaborative teamwork in multiplayer environments.