Your parents were wrong.

A new study from the University of Maryland shows that more time spent in front of a computer doesn’t hurt a child’s academic performance, and, in some cases, actually improves test scores. Led by family science professor Sandra L. Hofferth, the six-year study followed a group of 1,000 children, who were between the ages of six and 12 in 1997, and continued through 2003. As the students spent more time on computers, their test scores didn’t suffer significantly, even if they spent most of their time playing games on their PCs.

The results, published in the academic journal Child Development, show that African-American boys’ reading scores improved by four points as they increased their computer time, while girls’ math and reading scores both increased by a point. The only group to experience a decline in academic achievement, however, were white male adolescents, who displayed a small, but statistically significant decline — a trend that Hofferth attributes to too much time spent aimlessly surfing the Web.

The conclusion to draw here, then, is that it isn’t the time spent in front of the computer that will eat away at your mark in school…it’s what that time is spent doing.

Granted, it should have been fairly obvious — and probably was, to Ultima fans — that playing many computer games would have resulted in some manner of academic benefit for the players. Games like Tetris and even Guitar Hero exercise the player’s ability to both recognize and predict patterns, which is a concept that in turn relates to mathematics, and likely stimulates the same area of the brain.

Equally, games like any of the Ultimas, or Mass Effect, or almost any other RPG, feature immense amounts of interactive dialogue; it’s not hard to understand that one might have to grow one’s reading skill a little bit in order to master said games. And don’t get me started about puzzle-based and problem-solving-based games like Myst or any of the modern titles which have followed in its wake and tradition. It really isn’t a surprise that games such as these have a positive effect on the academic performance of children. Even FPS games have been shown to boost reaction time and foster quick thinking and analytical problem solving.

On the other hand, simply surfing the web, updating a Facebook profile, and otherwise not directing one’s energies into a focused electronic pursuit has a detrimental effect on the academic performance of children, and this too is not particularly a surprise; it’s the electronic equivalent of sitting on the couch and aimlessly flipping through the TV guide.

So the next time someone gets on your case for spending too much time in front of Halo: Reach or Ultima 6…