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Why children’s gaming does have benefits

Best is chief executive and founder of FYI play it safe, an AI-powered monitoring app.

THE warnings about letting your children become video and digital gamers can be overwhelming. The list of risks is a litany of parental fears – addiction, social withdrawal and isolation; stunting in the development of empathy and numbness in the face of violence; disinterest in healthy enjoyments such as playing with a variety of toys, reading books and physical activities.

In response to the pervasive fearmongering, some parents ban gaming outright, others uneasily make it possible but keep fretting about whether they have done the right thing.

Gaming has been around long enough for there to be substantial research that points to an array of benefits and debunks many of the common myths about the negative impacts on children and youth.

As with anything in life, gaming is all about balance and how you manage this possible form of skills-building entertainment. Age-appropriate gaming for children can also be a way of making social connections rather than fostering isolation. Parents setting and enforcing sensible ground rules for safe, familycentred gaming can ensure that their child can get the best out of it.

Gaming benefits:

◆ Brainpower: There are many studies that show gamers may experience an array of cognitive boosts when it comes to developing visual-spatial skills, logical thinking skills, problem-solving capacities and eye-hand co-ordination.

◆ Improved basic mental processes: Gamers shine when it comes to attention, memory, perception and decision-making, thanks to video games that require them to make rapid decisions, move fast, keep track of multiple things and retain a lot of information at once.

◆ Social inclusivity: The gaming world is undeniably social. It’s estimated there are more than 3.2 billion gamers in the world. Multiplayer games are among the most popular. For some kids, gaming opens up a community where they can feel they belong. It may give them an opener to make in-person friends with other gamers in their school or in their neighbourhood, as well as give them the opportunity to enjoy supportive online connections. Instead of being a solitary activity for your child, consider gaming together as family. This helps parents keep track of the games their child plays and who they interact with online.

◆ The feel-good factor: Gaming is fun; it can enable the release of endorphins and promote physical and mental relaxation. The key is gaming in moderation and having a balance with off-screen activities.

◆ Digital literacy: Our kids are growing up in a world with a significant and ever-expanding digital realm. They will make their living one day in an even more digital-driven world. Gaming technologies such as virtual reality and augmented reality are already being incorporated in many aspects of life and commerce. Gaming elements are also increasingly used in school and tertiary educational curricula. Children who game are getting a particular and valuable experience as digital citizens.

All of these benefits of gaming are not to say that there are not real risks.

One of most common parental fears is that gaming can open the virtual doors to your child being exposed to cyberbullying and online predators.

If your child does gaming, you need to be aware of who your child is engaging with, and that they understand the difference between the actual person and the avatar representing them.

Parents also need to set the limits and ensure their child is gaming in moderation. Warning signs are social withdrawal, secretive behaviour and mood swings when they have to stop gaming and transition to other activities.

The question for parents of a child who wants to start gaming is not: “Should I or should I not let my kid play video games?” But rather: How can I enable safe and responsible gaming so they can experience the benefits?

It’s important that the games you provide or allow are age-appropriate, that the screen time limits are adhered to, that gaming doesn’t lead to sleep deprivation or skipped meals, and that you have safety measures in place if your child is playing multiplayer games and interacting in chatrooms.

As a mother of a teen, and the provider of an advanced tool in the online safety ecosystem, I’m acutely aware of risks of children encountering cyberbullying, inappropriate content and online predators.

These, of course, are dangers any child or teen with a connected device might face, not just those who are gaming. It’s important for parents to take a healthy interest in their children’s gaming activities and keep up to date by having ongoing, open conversations with them about what they enjoy, how they are doing and who they are interacting with.

Your child needs to know about the risks of participating in in-game chats or interacting on gaming-related messaging platforms, and together you need to agree on the best ways to keep them safe while gaming.

Whether it’s gaming or interacting on social media and other platforms, our children need to learn how to engage safely in the digital world, just as they learn to ride a bike or cross the road safely in the real world. As parents we need to know the risks and then use the tools available in the online safety ecosystem to mitigate them. That way we can help our kids develop resilience and learn how to become adept, responsible digital citizens.

Health

en-za

2022-08-10T07:00:00.0000000Z

2022-08-10T07:00:00.0000000Z

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