Is This the Future of Medicine?
Technology has come a lot in the last few decades, just like video gaming. We’ve developed new technologies, new medicines, and taken advantage of the internet to coordinate responses to new diseases. After all, before the ongoing pandemic the last one was around a century ago and resulted in the deaths of half a billion people. As bad as things are now, without the technological advances of the last century it could have been much worse.
This video game built to treat kids with ADHD is the first of its kind to be approved by the FDA pic.twitter.com/RhFCsDekUF
— NowThis (@nowthisnews) December 9, 2020
Now, people are merging medicine with video games, And tech company Akili Interactive have created the world’s first medicinal video game.
Of course, that’s not to say that video games don’t have a beneficial effect on people’s lives, like all hobbies do, but the benefits on a medicinal level have been disputed – despite what those Brain Training games have said. ANything with medicinal purpose needs to be FDA approved for its benefits to be acknowledged, and Aliki’s EndeavorRX is the first game in the world to receive that certification for its affect on children with ADHD.
Seemingly aking cues from games like Crash Bandicoot, EndeavorRX puts players through a series of levels where an algorithm creates obstacles and challenges created to specifically stress the user’s attention in specific ways. According to the company, the game has been clinically proven to improve the attention spans of children aged 8-12. This works by overstimulating the part of the brain responsible for the condition so that it gradually improves its abilities.
Of course, being the first FDA approved game does mean that they’re still on uncharted ground, and co-founder Eddie Martucci does seem to be a little misinformed – he claims that he’d like to see all medicine come with a digital alternative, but as much as it would help millions of people with chronic illnesses, for example, it’s unlikely that a gaming session can relieve the symptoms of Ulcerative Colitis, for example.
The game is coming soon for iPad and iPhone, and is free for families with a prescription.
Let us know what you think of the breakthrough in the comments, on Twitter, or on Facebook.
Source: Twitter