Which is better: Traditional or Online jigsaw puzzles?

If you are stressed and looking for a healthy distraction or want to improve your concentration, the best way to do it is to sit with a jigsaw puzzle.

Research has proved that solving jigsaw puzzles improves cognition and visual-spatial reasoning. As assembling the pieces of puzzles to create a bigger picture requires concentration, it improves memory and problem-solving skills. Plus, it can spark imagination and enhance your creativity and productivity. In addition, spending time on a puzzle is also a great way to relax from a tiring day.

Nothing is more satisfying than putting the last piece of the puzzle in its place and celebrating after spending a tiring day on screen. It provides a sense of accomplishment. Working on a traditional puzzle with someone can help you get away from screens and create a personal connection.

Whether you want to step into the world of Disneyland or want to enjoy gardening, the jigsaw australia puzzles can take you on tour!

Today, puzzles come in two major formats: traditional and virtual setups. Well, both traditional and digital puzzles offer multiple health and psychological benefits, but the delivery method can influence puzzle perks.

Let’s take a look at the ways that physical and digital puzzles affect us.

1. Psychological benefits of Puzzles

Physical and digital puzzles both help develop cognitive skills. Whether assembling the real pieces or swiping the puzzles on your screen, it will help enhance your spatial awareness, memory power, and concentration level.

Doubtless, both puzzle-solving ways deliver the same perks. However, traditional puzzles are still preferred, and there are obvious reasons behind them.

Solving digital puzzles means spending a lot of time staring at the screen, which can affect your eyes and brain badly. So, even though both methods of puzzles have cognitive benefits, still traditional puzzles would be more recommended.

2. Physical benefits of Puzzles

Whether you drag the puzzle pieces on the screen or pick and put the physical pieces, both can improve your motor skills. They also involve strong motor control. However, online puzzles don’t offer physical fitness perks compared to traditional puzzles.

The preference for digital puzzles often increases screen time and gaming addiction, resulting in obesity and related effects like heart disease. The biggest disadvantage of digital puzzles is the potential for screen addiction, leading to anger, aggression, and timidity.

3. Social benefits of Puzzles

Puzzles help you enhance your problem-solving, patience, listening, and good sportsmanship and develop a longer attention span. Studies explain that these skills are gained through using physical puzzles. Physical puzzles require interaction to help find the right piece for the right place.

In contrast, digital puzzles often offer hints or have an auto-solve function, so they don’t encourage social interaction. Studies show people who prefer digital games over traditional ones are often slower to talk and have a smaller vocabulary. They also have short attention spans and less patience.

How to unlock the benefits of digital puzzles?

Since the rise of smartphone and tablet apps, digital puzzles are highly in demand. Today we have various ed-tech puzzle games to help students in their academics. No doubt, they can be a good alternative to physical puzzles in situations where physical puzzle pieces are impractical to move, as digital puzzle pieces can’t be lost. The key to availing the benefits of digital puzzles is limiting the duration of online puzzle play and choosing your puzzle wisely.

Bottom Line

While you can gain cognitive, social, and physical skills from physical and online puzzles, physical jigsaw puzzles are always better. The reason is that physical puzzles encourage the exploration and analyse of imagination, strengthen social skills, and develop relevant fine motor skills without being limited by coding or leading to gaming addiction.