Is it enough to just have conversations and read books to keep the mind sharp?
Al Wadi Al Kabir used to have a building with a structure of a pencil. Everyone called it the 'Pencil Building.' It was a tall pencil indeed. I am not sure when it came up — the 80s or the 90s. If you were in Oman during that period, you would recollect the building.
The digital map had not made its debut then, and that meant people described the routes with specific street numbers and names but, most importantly, the roundabouts and building names.
Gen Z may not remember the frankincense burner roundabout in Al Wadi Al Kabir, which was a busy place with traffic then. It made the transition to a traffic light.
But the funny part is that our 'Pencil Building' is still referred to as that, even though the lean, tall pencil is not visible anymore. It was only recently, as an ode to the landmark, that we went past the building, and to my surprise there was a smaller pencil on the wall of the building.
It is shorter, but it is there. So we can still call it the pencil building. These memories are a comfort to the mind.
The mind is a phenomenon. It can also become a bit too comfortable at times, and this is why I felt playing a few games on the mobile might keep the brain agile. But I also like winning, and just when I was beginning to wonder if I was getting obsessed with winning, I went on a holiday and came across a couple who were blue-collar employees. The husband has not been feeling well lately, and the wife was managing the household expenses. But the usually understanding husband was beginning to have mood swings. She noticed he had begun to spend a lot of time on his mobile phone. One day, he confessed that he was stressed out because he had started to play a mobile game with money and that he had lost money. But he assured his wife that he would win the total amount. The debt grew, and one fine morning, the wife broke the phone.
So mobile phone games that were meant for the brain have become antisocial elements.
A friend of mine said the current trend is that one continues to play so well until they reach a top score and is able to sell the account to whoever comes up with the highest bid. What began as entertainment for the brain is actually beginning to bring in monetary benefit. But it is beginning to have consequences for the mind.
Now came another friend, who said his teenage son, who was into video games, is enjoying the benefits of his skills by implementing them in the college projects.
Recent American Psychological Association (APA) research indicates that video games provide immersive cognitive, social, and emotional experiences. Studies highlight benefits, including brain health benefits of video games like enhanced problem-solving, stress relief, and improved spatial skills, provided play is balanced with other lifestyle habits.
Research published by the National Institutes of Health (NIH) demonstrates that children who play video games regularly can show superior neurocognitive performance in areas like memory and attention.
Action games specifically are tied to faster reaction times and heightened visual processing speeds, functioning as training engines for the brain.
Meanwhile, a Boston University study found that immersive gaming serves as an effective medium for stress management and emotional regulation— "By letting players tackle escalating challenges and overcome failure in a controlled environment, games build resilience and offer a mood boost."
To top it all, I came across two other friends on the same day of the discussion engrossed in a game of chess.
They asked, Do you play?
I replied no and said I like carroms.
"Ah," one of the friends shrugged and said it doesn't use a brain.
I disagreed in support of the carrom board game and said it has strategy.
And I remembered how the elders in the family used to get concerned if the games lingered on.
Everything is about finding the balance.
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